How do I switch from Apple Music to Android?

ByJael Lawler

Deciding If You Should Switch

With over 70 million songs available, Apple Music offers an expansive music library. However, leading competitors like Spotify and YouTube Music also boast libraries of over 70 million tracks. While library size is comparable across top streaming platforms, Apple Music’s streaming quality is higher, offering lossless audio at up to 24-bit/192kHz.

In terms of price, Apple Music and Spotify both offer premium individual plans at $9.99/month. However, Spotify has a free, ad-supported tier while Apple Music does not. When evaluating exclusives, Apple Music offers some content like certain albums or concert livestreams that are not available on other platforms.

Before switching, consider if you heavily rely on any Apple exclusives or if the higher audio quality is worth paying for. While Spotify and other services don’t offer lossless streaming yet, their 320kbps bitrate delivers excellent audio quality for most listeners.

Weigh the pros and cons and decide if the key features unique to Apple Music are must-haves for you. If Spotify or other services already meet your needs at a comparable or lower price point, you may not need to switch.

Preparing For the Switch

Before switching from Apple Music to an Android music service, there are a few steps you should take to prepare your library and playlists for export:

First, download any purchased music you want to keep. Apple Music does not allow you to export songs that were not originally purchased through iTunes. So if you want to retain access to any non-purchased Apple Music tracks, you’ll need to download them to your computer before cancelling the service.

Next, make your Apple Music playlists exportable. Go to Settings > Music and toggle on “Share Playlist.” This will allow you to export your Apple playlists so you can recreate them in your new Android music app.

Finally, cancel your Apple Music subscription. This will prevent you from continuing to be charged. Just be aware that once cancelled, you will lose access to any downloaded non-purchased Apple Music songs.

Taking these steps before switching prepares your library for a smooth transition to Android.

Choosing an Android Music Service

When switching from Apple Music to Android, you’ll need to choose a new music streaming service. Some top options to consider include:

  • Spotify – With over 80 million tracks, Spotify is one of the largest mainstream music libraries. Features include personalized recommendations, playlists, podcasts, and more. Spotify has both free (ad-supported) and premium paid tiers starting at $9.99/month.
  • YouTube Music – As Google’s music service, YouTube Music grants access to official songs, albums, playlists and more. It also lets you explore the vast amount of music content on YouTube itself. YouTube Music costs $9.99/month after a 1-month free trial.
  • Amazon Music Unlimited – Amazon’s premium music service provides access to 75+ million songs, thousands of expert-programmed playlists and stations, and HD and Ultra HD options. Pricing starts at $7.99/month for Prime members.

When comparing services, look at factors like library size, streaming quality, device compatibility, family plans, student discounts, and free trial options. Make sure the service you choose meets your listening needs at a price you’re comfortable with.

Transferring Your Library

One of the most important steps when switching from Apple Music to an Android music service is transferring your library of playlists and songs. The easiest way to move your Apple Music playlists is with an app like SongShift. SongShift allows you to transfer playlists between different music services, including from Apple Music to Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and others. Simply install the SongShift app on both your iPhone and Android device, select the playlists you want to move, and SongShift will match the songs and recreate the playlists on your Android music app.

For your personal music collection that you’ve uploaded to Apple Music, you’ll need to download these songs and then upload them to your new Android music service. On iPhone, you can download previously uploaded songs by going to Account > Purchased > My Music and selecting any albums or tracks you want to download. Once the songs are downloaded, you can connect your iPhone to your computer and copy them over. Then on your Android device, go to your new music app’s settings and look for options to upload your music library. Select the songs you copied from your iPhone and upload them so they are available in your Android music app.

Using SongShift for playlists and manually uploading your personal collection is the easiest way to ensure all your music is transferred when moving your library from Apple Music to an Android service. Just be patient during the uploading process and soon your full musical library will be available on Android.

Recreating Your Playlists

One of the biggest challenges when switching between music platforms is recreating your playlists. Playlists are highly personalized and remaking them from scratch can be time consuming. Here are some tips for efficiently recreating your top playlists when moving from Apple Music to Android:

First, identify your most-listened to and favorite playlists that you want to prioritize recreating. These are likely the ones you will miss most if they are not transferred over.

Next, use a playlist transfer service like Soundiiz to do an initial transfer of your Apple Music playlists to your new Android service. This will recreate the playlists with as many of the same tracks as possible based on song availability.

Then go through each recreated playlist and make note of any missing or unavailable tracks. You can search for replacements for these songs directly within your new Android music app. Focus on finding songs with similar artists, genres, release years, or musical qualities to best match the original playlist flow. Check lyrics sites or music databases like AllMusic to find suitable substitutes.

Customize the playlists further by adding any new songs or artists you’ve discovered since originally making the playlist. This is a chance to update your lists and inject some fresh tunes.

With some targeted track replacement and tuning, you can successfully recreate your top playlists when moving your music library from Apple to Android.

Uploading Your Collection

Uploading your personal music library to Spotify allows you to listen to your own songs and albums within the Spotify app. This can be done using the Spotify desktop app for Windows or Mac.

To upload your music library to Spotify:(Source)

  1. Open the Spotify app on your desktop.
  2. Click on the downward arrow next to your username in the top right corner.
  3. In the dropdown menu, select Settings.
  4. Scroll down to Local Files and toggle the switch to “On.”
  5. Click Add a Source and select the folder where your music files are stored.
  6. Spotify will scan the folder and add any supported audio files to Your Library.

Spotify supports common audio formats like MP3, WAV, FLAC, and AAC. The files need to be under 50MB in size. Spotify can only upload tracks that are not already in its catalog. Unique or personal recordings should upload without issue.(Source)

Setting Up On Android

Once you’ve chosen your new Android music service and transferred over your library, it’s time to get everything set up on your Android device. First, head to the Play Store and download the app for your chosen service, whether that’s Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or another option.

When you first launch the app, you’ll be prompted to sign in or create an account. Use the same account details you used for the service on Apple devices to sync everything seamlessly. The app should automatically pull in your profile info, preferences, playlists, and library.

You can head into settings to ensure everything looks correct and make any tweaks to preferences. Make sure downloads, streaming quality, and other options are set up to your liking. Now you’re ready to start enjoying your music library, playlists, and recommendations on Android!

Discovering New Music

One of the best parts about switching to Android is getting access to Spotify and the myriad of ways to discover new music. Spotify makes music discovery easy through recommended playlists, artist radio, and more.

Spotify creates recommended playlists for you based on your listening habits, likes, and dislikes. The more you listen, the better the recommendations get. Playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar are updated automatically with new music you may enjoy. You can also browse through Spotify’s many human-curated playlists for any genre or mood.

Following artists on Spotify allows you to stay updated on new releases. Whenever an artist you follow puts out new music, it will show up in your Release Radar playlist. You can also listen to artist radio stations based on your favorite acts. The radio will play similar artists and songs to help you branch out.

Spotify’s radio feature lets you pick any song, album, artist, or playlist and generate a customizable radio station. Just pick something you like and tap start radio to begin discovering more music tailored to your tastes. You can give songs a thumbs up or down to further hone the station.

With all of Spotify’s personalization and discovery features, you’ll have no problem finding new music to enjoy when you make the switch to Android. Check out Spotify’s support article on music discovery to learn more.

Optimizing Your Experience

Once you have Spotify set up on your Android device, there are several ways to optimize your listening experience.

One of the most useful features is the ability to adjust streaming quality. In the Spotify app, go to Settings > Audio quality and choose a quality level that works best for your connection speed and data plan. Lower quality uses less data, while high quality provides better audio fidelity. Spotify Premium users can enable the “Very High” quality streaming option for CD-like quality.

For times when you don’t have an internet connection, you can download songs, albums, playlists and podcasts for offline listening. Just hit the download button on any content you want accessible offline. Downloads are available for Premium subscribers only.

Under Settings, you can customize Spotify to your preferences. Options include enabling explicit content, auto-playing videos, and crossfading songs. You can also manage your account details, connected devices, Facebook integration and more. Take some time to explore all the available settings.

Reference:https://www.wired.com/story/spotify-tips-and-tricks/

Cancelling Apple Music

Once you have fully transitioned to using an Android music service, you’ll likely want to cancel your Apple Music subscription to avoid being charged further. Here is a step-by-step guide to cancelling Apple Music:

On an iPhone or iPad:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Tap your name at the top of the page
  3. Select the Subscriptions button on the first menu
  4. Click the Apple Music subscription
  5. Tap Cancel Subscription and confirm

On Android:

  1. Open the App Store app
  2. Tap your profile icon in the top right
  3. Select Subscriptions
  4. Tap the Apple Music subscription
  5. Choose Cancel Subscription

On the web:

  1. Go to music.apple.com and sign in
  2. Click Account Settings
  3. Under Subscriptions, click Manage
  4. Click Cancel Subscription next to your Apple Music plan
  5. Confirm cancellation

Your subscription will remain active until the end of your current billing cycle, at which point you will no longer be charged. Make sure to cancel at least 24 hours before your next renewal date to avoid an accidental charge.

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