How do I transfer iTunes to Android?

In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps to transfer your iTunes library from an iPhone or iPad to an Android device. We’ll cover how to back up your iTunes content, download your purchased music files, transfer your music and playlists, photos, and contacts to your new Android phone or tablet.

The instructions will focus on moving content from devices running iOS/iTunes to ones running Android 10 and higher. With some adaptations, the general process should also work for older Android versions.

Back Up iTunes Library

Before beginning the transfer process, it is crucial to back up your entire iTunes library. This includes your music files, apps, photos, playlists, and contacts. Backing up ensures you have a copy of your important data in case anything goes wrong during the transfer. According to Apple Support, you should back up your library and media files before attempting to move your iTunes content to another device or platform

To back up an iTunes library on Windows, first launch the iTunes app. Go to Edit > Preferences > Advanced and take note of the location of your iTunes media folder. This is where your actual music files are stored on your computer

Next, connect an external hard drive with enough storage capacity to hold your entire iTunes library. Use the backup utility software provided by the hard drive manufacturer or a third party app like Cloudwards to copy your iTunes media folder to the external drive

You can also back up your iTunes library by syncing it to iCloud. Enable iCloud Music Library in iTunes preferences to automatically save your music purchases and playlists. Additionally, iCloud can back up app data, messages, photos and more from your iPhone or iPad

Be sure to leave your iTunes library intact on your computer until after you’ve completed the full transfer process. The backup acts as a redundancy to restore from if needed.

Deauthorize iTunes

Deauthorizing a computer in iTunes removes the authorization for that computer to play content from your iTunes library and access your previous iTunes purchases. This is an important step before you can authorize your Android device to access your iTunes content. According to Apple Support, you can authorize up to 5 computers on your iTunes account, so deauthorizing an old computer will free up a slot for your Android device [1].

To deauthorize a computer in iTunes, follow these steps:

1. Open the Apple Music app or Apple TV app on the computer you want to deauthorize.
2. Go to Account > Account Settings and sign in with your Apple ID.
3. Under “Settings,” click “Deauthorize This Computer.”
4. Enter your Apple ID password to confirm.

Once you deauthorize a computer, it will no longer be able to play content from your iTunes library. This prevents your purchased content from being accessed on unauthorized devices. Now that you’ve freed up an authorization slot, you can authorize your Android device to start transferring your iTunes content over.

Download Music Files

To download your music files from iTunes on a Windows PC, first open iTunes and click on the “Library” button in the top navigation bar. This will show all of your music content. To select multiple songs or albums, hold down Ctrl on your keyboard and click on each one. Once you’ve selected the music you want to transfer, right click on the highlighted items and choose “Create MP3 Version.” This will save MP3 copies of the songs to your Music folder. You can also click on “File” then “Library” and choose “Export Library” to export your entire music library.

An alternative method is to use a third party software like iMazing ^[1] which can download your iTunes library and make transfers easier. iMazing has an option to export iTunes music, playlists, and more to formats compatible with Android. This provides a simple way to locate all your iTunes music files and put them into a format ready for Android.

You can also use the remote backup feature in iMazing to download your entire Apple Music library to your computer for transfer. This gives you a copy of all your purchased music as well as any Apple Music songs you’ve added to your library.

Transfer Music to Android

After you have downloaded all of your iTunes music files to your computer, the next step is to transfer them to your Android device. To do this, you will need to connect your Android phone or tablet to your computer using a USB cable.

On Windows, you can use the native File Explorer to transfer music files. On Mac, you will need to download and install the Android File Transfer app. This will allow you to manage and transfer files between your Mac and Android device.

Once your Android is connected to your computer via USB, open the Android File Transfer app on Mac or File Explorer on Windows. You will see your Android device and can navigate to the folder where you want to transfer your iTunes music files. Simply drag and drop the files to copy them over.

Most Android devices store music in the Music folder. You may need to create this folder if it does not already exist. Be sure to transfer the files to the internal storage rather than SD card, as many Android music apps do not support SD card playback.

With your music files transferred, you can now access them using any music player app on your Android device. That covers the basics of how to transfer music from iTunes to Android using File Transfer or File Explorer on desktop.

Upload Music to Cloud

One way to transfer your iTunes music library to Android is by uploading it to the cloud. This allows you to access your music from anywhere without having to move files manually.

Services like iCloud Music Library allow you to store up to 100,000 songs in the cloud that you can then download to your Android device.

You can also use other cloud music services like Google Play Music or YouTube Music. Simply upload your iTunes music to Google Play Music and you’ll be able to stream or download it on your Android device using the Google Play Music app.

The benefit of using cloud storage is it gives you access to your music library from any device. So you don’t have to move any files – just upload your music to the cloud and stream it on your Android phone or tablet.

Transfer Playlists

One of the best features of iTunes is the ability to create custom playlists to organize your music. There are several ways to transfer these playlists over to your Android device:

How to transfer your music from iTunes to Android. While Android doesn’t have a direct equivalent to iTunes playlists, there are apps you can use to recreate them.Apps like Soundiiz allow you to connect both your iTunes library and your Android device to automatically recreate playlists. You can also manually recreate playlists in apps like Spotify by searching for the same songs and adding them to a new playlist.

The easiest way is to use an app like Soundiiz that will identify the songs in your iTunes playlists and automatically recreate them on your Android device. If you have extensive playlists, this automation can save you a lot of time. However, you can also manually look up songs and recreate playlists one-by-one if you prefer.

Transfer Photos

One of the most important parts of switching from an iPhone to an Android is transferring your photos. The easiest way is to export your photos from your iPhone and import them to your Android device. You can use the Google Photos app to quickly transfer photos between devices.

To export your photos from your iPhone, open the Photos app and select the images you want to transfer. Tap the share icon in the bottom left and select “Export” to save them to a folder on your iPhone. You can export photos at their full resolution to retain image quality.

The Google Photos app available for Android and iOS allows quick wireless transfer of photos between devices. Install Google Photos on both your iPhone and Android phone. On your iPhone, open Google Photos, select “Import” and choose the folder with your exported photos to upload them. The photos will now be accessible in the Google Photos app on your Android device.

The benefit of using Google Photos is it saves storage space on your Android device while keeping your photos accessible. You can choose to back up the original quality photos to the cloud while only saving device-optimized versions on your phone storage. This makes Google Photos one of the easiest ways to transfer high-quality photos from an iPhone to Android phone.

Transfer Contacts

One easy way to transfer contacts from an iPhone to Android is to use Google Contacts. First, make sure contacts are synced to your iCloud account on your iPhone. Then on your Android device, open the Gmail app, go to settings, and select “Add Account.” Choose “Google” and sign into your Google account that is connected to your iCloud account. This will sync and transfer your iPhone contacts to your Android device.

You can also use services like Sync.com to transfer contacts. Sync.com allows you to wirelessly sync your contacts between devices. To do this, download the Sync app on both your iPhone and Android device. Sign into your Sync account on both devices, then enable contact syncing in the app settings. Your contacts will automatically sync between your devices.

Other options for transferring contacts include backing up your iPhone contacts to your computer and then importing that file to your Android device. You can also export contacts individually in vCard format from your iPhone and then import those into your Android contacts app.

Reinstall Apps

When switching from an iPhone to Android, you’ll need to reinstall apps on your new device. Here are some top options for finding Android alternatives to your favorite iOS apps:

For a powerful email app, Gmail is the obvious choice that comes preinstalled on most Android phones. It offers robust organization with labels, powerful search, and integration with other Google services.

Downloading music is still easy with YouTube Music, which lets you access the vast YouTube music library, create playlists, and more. For audiobooks, try Audible which has a vast library and syncing across devices.

Finding equivalent social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn is simple since these have official Android apps. For editing photos and videos, Adobe Lightroom and KineMaster offer pro-level tools.

In summary, while you’ll need to reinstall your favorite apps when switching to Android, you’ll typically find very capable alternatives from major developers that will fulfill the same needs. The Google Play Store offers over 3 million apps, so you’re sure to find great options for productivity, social media, entertainment, and creativity.