If transferring data from your iPhone is the biggest thing keeping you away from Android, European wireless carriers may be your new best friends. Apple is reportedly working on an iOS-to-Android data transfer system due to rising pressure from mobile operators, according to a “senior industry source” who spoke with The Telegraph.
Currently, switching from Android to iOS is a fairly simple process, and Apple recently made it even easier with a “Move to iOS” app for Android. But going the other way is always a bit more difficult. It can be a real pain getting photos off the cloud, getting data out of apps, and moving Apple-hosted email and calendars to new clients.
That difficulty is what gets the European mobile carriers upset, with customers rarely moving from iOS to Android. That means that supply hiccups could disrupt carriers’ ability to get customers to upgrade.
It’s unclear if the new program will be publicly available. According to the Telegraph, Apple “privately agreed to develop a simple tool” for people looking to switch. But that tool may be limited to those switching in mobile carriers’ stores.
It’s also unclear if it will be available for U.S. consumers. Apple may have been under pressure from European mobile carriers who could have threatened legal action against Apple’s arguably anticompetitive practices. The European Commission did look into Apple’s contract with mobile carriers in 2013, but nothing came out of that investigation.
Update: An Apple representative told Buzzfeed News “There is no truth to this rumor … We are entirely focused on switching users from Android to iPhone, and that is going great.” The company reported a record number of switchers during an October 2015 earnings call with reporters.
