Apple Music just took away the last big excuse for staying with Spotify.
For years, the biggest hang-up was playlists that people didn’t want to give up, years of saved music, and carefully built libraries. That problem is about to disappear.
With iOS 26, rolling out next month, Apple is expanding its official music transfer tool to seven major markets: the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, and Brazil.
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The feature first launched quietly in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, but now a much larger group of users can switch without having to rebuild everything from scratch.
Here’s how it works: Apple partnered with SongShift, one of the most reliable third-party transfer services, and built it directly into the Music app.
On iPhone, the option appears in Settings under Music. On the web, you can log in at music.apple.com, click your profile, and select Transfer Music.
The tool scans your playlists, matches as much content as possible from Apple’s catalog, and flags any missing items so you can correct them before proceeding.
You won’t get Spotify’s algorithm-driven playlists like Discover Weekly, but all of your own playlists make the jump.
The timing matters. Spotify just raised prices again, still hasn’t shipped lossless streaming, and continues to face criticism over where it spends money.
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Apple Music, meanwhile, includes lossless, Dolby Atmos, and spatial audio at no extra cost. Now it’s also eliminating the playlist lock-in that kept many from leaving Spotify in the first place.
The tool removes friction at the exact moment Spotify fatigue is setting in. For anyone already deeply entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, maintaining two services feels harder to justify.
Your music can now live in the same place as your AirPods, HomePods, CarPlay, and Mac.
There are still gaps, though. Apple Music doesn’t yet have a true Spotify Connect alternative, and its Windows app is lackluster.
But if playlists were the only thing holding you back, Apple just knocked that barrier down.
Apple’s new Spotify-killer feature lands in iOS 26 next month. Will it finally convince you to switch?
