Nope, Apple is not working to help users move from iOS to Android
Rumor has it that Apple is developing a tool that would help users easily move from iOS to Android. Well, as it turns out, it’s just that: a rumor.
Over the weekend, The Telegraph published a report, citing “a senior industry source,” claiming that Apple had agreed to develop a data migration tool that would work like its existing Move to iOS app except in reverse, enabling customers to shift from its mobile operating system to Google’s competing software. Apparently, the company would be working under pressure from European telecom operators, which had deemed the lack of such a tool noncompetitive.
Apple did not respond to requests for comment from The Telegraph. But reached for comment on the matter by BuzzFeed News, the company came out with an outright denial.
“There is no truth to this rumor,” an Apple spokesperson, Trudy Muller, said in a statement. “We are entirely focused on switching users from Android to iPhone, and that is going great.”
So there you have it. Apple remains intent on making customers use iOS instead of Android, an initiative which has yielded favorable results for the company.
During Apple’s earnings call for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 in October, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company had seen the largest number of switchers from Android to iPhone, with about a third of switchers from other operating systems being previous Android users.
Apple released its Move to iOS tool for Android devices on the Google Play Store in September. That tool could transfer contacts, message history, photos, videos, wallpapers, Web bookmarks, mail accounts, calendars, and DRM-free media from an Android device to an iOS device, be it an iPhone, iPod touch, or an iPad.