Apple’s 'Move to iOS' App Eases Transition For Users Giving Android The Heave-Ho

Yesterday at WWDC, Apple announced plenty of UI improvements and minor feature enhancements coming to iOS 9 this Fall, but one new feature that didn’t get any stage time is actually quite a bold move for the fruit company. The Android army shows no sign of growing weaker anytime soon, but for existing Android users that are looking to exit the Google ecosystem, Apple will soon make it easier to slip right into iOS Land.

Apple will launch its Move to iOS app this fall when iOS 9 is made widely available for consumers. As Apple describes, Move to iOS makes it easy for Android users to “securely [transfer] your contacts, message history, camera photos and videos, web bookmarks, mail accounts, calendars, wallpaper, and DRM-free songs and books” to a ready and waiting iOS device.

Move to iOS will also scan your existing app catalog and identify the free and paid apps that you currently use. If there is an iOS counterpart for your free apps, they will be suggested for you to download from the App Store. Paid apps will be added to your iTunes Wish List, which makes it a simple affair to purchase and download your favorite apps once you get settled in with your new iPhone.

Interestingly enough, Apple also takes a dig at Android hardware within the app, as the above screenshot tells users to “Recycle” their Android phone at an Apple Store for free – although I doubt that many people would just hand over the HTC One M9 that Apple is showcasing without expecting something in return. Apple does offer a trade-in program for Android devices, which will net you an Apple gift card for the value of your smartphone (probably well below market value, we’re assuming) that can be used towards the purchase of a new iPhone.

We should also take note that this would be only the second Android app that Apple will make available on Google Play (we’re not counting the Beats Android app, which was in existence before Apple purchased the company in 2014). The other app, which we mentioned yesterday, is the Apple Music app which is also due for Android devices this Fall.