The Apple Music transfer tool, which lets you import your song collection from other music streaming services, is now available globally, except for a handful of countries. In other words, you can bring songs from services like Spotify, YouTube, Prime Music, Tidal, Deezer, and others to Apple Music.
The transfer tool was being tested in several countries over the past few months. Now, it"s available everywhere Apple Music is supported except the Chinese mainland, Myanmar, and Russia, according to an Apple support document spotted by MacRumors.
Unlike Move to iOS, you don"t need to download another app on your phone to get started. In fact, you can transfer songs to Apple Music even if you don"t own an Apple device.
While you can transfer songs, playlists, and albums from other services, Apple cautions that "what you can transfer varies and is determined by the service." You can use the music transfer tool on an iPhone, iPad, Apple Music on Android, or the web version of Apple Music. It"s powered by a third-party service called SongShift.
The transfer tool will work if you have an active Apple Music subscription and library syncing enabled on all devices. Your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Music app should be updated to the latest version. On an iPhone/iPad, you can go to Settings > Apps > Music. Here, tap on the "Transfer Music from Other Services" option to get started.
You can find the same option on Apple Music for Android by tapping the More button (three-dot button). On Apple Music web, you can click on your photo or monogram in the top-right corner and choose "Transfer Music."
After you pick one from the list of supported music services and tap "Add to Library," the tool will take some time to find matches in the Apple Music catalog. It will ask you to review songs whose exact matches are not available in the catalog or suggest alternatives. Apple gives you 30 days to review unmatched songs or choose alternate versions, and you can only start a new transfer after reviewing the music.
Note that the Apple Music Transfer tool will copy playlists from other services, but it won"t include the ones created by the service. Moreover, the transfer process doesn"t affect the songs, playlists, and libraries stored on other music services.
Apple"s music transfer tool builds on the already available Apple Music features to improve cross-platform support. Last year, Apple launched a tool that lets you transfer playlists to YouTube Music and added a new option to share music to TikTok.
Apple has also released a series of new features to its Music app in recent months, including the Sound Therapy collection, Viral Chart playlist, Dolby Atmos for Windows, and integration with leading DJ software and hardware.