Last week, TechCrunch first discovered that the long-rumored “Switch to Android” app for iOS users had been quietly unveiled in the App Store. The app helps users migrate important content – such as contacts, calendars, photos and videos – from an iPhone to a new Android device. But even though the app was technically live, it was not yet “officially” available to App Store users through search or discovery mechanisms. Now that’s about to change, Google says.
Monday night around kl. 18.00 PT, the Switch to Android app began to roll out to the public, Google says. The company says it expects this process to reach 10% of users by the end of the day on Tuesday, April 19 and 100% of users over the next few weeks.
As reported, the app supports all the same data types as Google Drive. Previously, Google’s proposed process for moving to Android from the iPhone required users to back up their contacts, calendar, photos, and videos via the Google Drive iOS app before switching devices. The new Switch to Android app does the same, but offers a “faster, more streamlined” experience, Google says.
Image credit: Google
Google also offers a way to physically connect devices to move more content, including music, audio, backgrounds, alarms, call logs, device settings, and free apps. But the new app’s App Store description explains that it can be used instead of “flashy cables” to make the downloads.
In addition to moving data, the new Switch to Android app offers other instructions on the transfer process – such as how to unsubscribe from iMessage to continue getting texts on the new Android device.
Google says it plans to add support for more data types to the app over the next few months.
Transferring data from an iPhone via the new app will initially support Google Pixel devices as a destination device, but will add support for other OEMs at a later date.
The launch follows other efforts by Google to make it easier for users to transfer their content to its own platform and services through backend developments. This includes the latest update to the Google Photos app, which offered a way for mobile device owners to copy photos from rival cloud storage services, including iCloud, Facebook and others.