EU Forces Apple’s Hand To Make Switching From iOS To Android Easier

Back in September, Apple released a tool to the Google Play Store that helped users transfer all of their important information from an Android device over to an iOS one. To date, that app hasn't garnered the greatest of reviews, with most of the ire coming from fans of the less restrictive platform.

While Apple allows users to move from Android to iOS, though, it hasn't up to this point made it easy for those who want to switch from its side over to Android. According to the EU, this could be one of the biggest reasons why we don't see many users switch from the iPhone to an Android device, as few people want to deal with the hassle of transferring data manually out of Apple's (or any) ecosystem.

Soon, that could change -- Apple is apparently working on a tool that will let people transfer their data with relative ease. This is something that was desperately wanted by many European telecoms that didn't like the way Apple was, to an extent, locking people in, and effectively weakening carrier hands in negotiations.

There's no question about the fact that Apple would love nothing more than to "lock" people into the iOS ecosystem, but from a consumer standpoint, that's not ideal. If you like the idea that Apple will make transferring data to Android easier, you'd better hope that you live in the EU. As this is an EU-specific demand, there will be no reason for Apple to make this particular tool global. Drat.