Apple Music may let users import Spotify playlists

Apple Music may be working on an official way to import music from Spotify and other music apps.

According to 9to5Mac, Reddit Users reported seeing an option to “transfer music from other services” on the Apple Music library page. Based on this, it is possible that Apple will A/B test the beta version of this feature on Android.

The new feature appears to take inspiration from SongShift, a well-established third-party app. For years, SongShift has allowed users to seamlessly transfer music to various streaming platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify. This feature ensures that users can enjoy their entire music library in any favorite app without skipping a beat.

If Apple plans to natively integrate SongShift (or a similar music transfer app) into Apple Music, there is precedent. In the past, Apple has acquired popular third-party apps instead of developing competing apps. In 2018, Apple purchased Shazam, a music app. In 2020, it acquired the Dark Sky weather app and Apple’s native Weather app adopted most of its features.

Adding native integration to import songs from Spotify is a strategic move. However, it’s surprising that Apple would want to play nice with its biggest competitor. Apple was recently fined €500 million for allegedly favoring Apple Music over other music apps (e.g. Spotify) on the App Store.

Still, one of the benefits of this reported new import feature is that the migration from Spotify to Apple Music should be seamless, thereby encouraging more users to switch to Apple’s popular music app.