If you’ve ever rebuilt a playlist by hand after switching streaming services, you know the pain: hunting down songs, losing the order, discovering that some tracks aren’t even available. Apple quietly moved to fix that this week by rolling out an online transfer tool that lets people import their music and playlists from other streaming services directly into Apple Music — and it’s not just a Down Under experiment anymore. The feature, which Apple first tested in Australia and New Zealand in May, is now available in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.

What the tool does — and how it works

Think of this as a power-user “copy and paste” for your listening library. From Apple Music, you can now choose “Transfer Music from Other Music Services,” sign into the service you’re leaving, pick playlists, saved albums and songs, and send a copy to your Apple Music library. You’ll need an active Apple Music subscription to start, and the process can be started from an iPhone, iPad, Android device, or from the web if you prefer.

Under the hood, Apple doesn’t promise a perfect, literal file move. Instead, it looks up matches in the Apple Music catalog and adds whatever it can find to your library. When Apple can’t find an exact match, the tool flags those items and prompts you to review alternatives or skip them — so you aren’t surprised when something from an obscure indie release or a user-uploaded file doesn’t make the jump. Only user-created playlists are eligible; system or curated playlists from the original service typically won’t transfer.

SongShift (and other helpers) are in the mix

Apple’s help pages and reporting from outlets that spotted the update make it clear the company relies on a third-party partner for the actual transfers; MacRumors, for example, notes a partnership with SongShift. The key consumer win here is that Apple is offering the integration from inside Apple Music for free — something that’s not always true if you go straight to standalone third-party services or apps that charge for bulk transfers.

Why this matters now

Streaming services have been fighting for listeners’ loyalty since the first decade of the 2000s, and the friction of switching platforms has been an annoying (and deliberate) barrier. Tools like this lower that friction at a moment when some artists and listeners are nervous about where they want their music to live, following public artist departures and debates over streaming economics. That context — artists calling out platform decisions and some leaving competing services — has helped make a smoother migration tool a timely product for Apple.

The nitty-gritty: what transfers and what doesn’t

Apple’s support documentation lays out a handful of practical limits. Only playlists you personally created (including collaborative playlists you own) will transfer; music files you uploaded yourself to another service won’t be moved as files; and anything that Apple Music doesn’t carry simply won’t appear after the transfer unless you manually add an alternate version. Transfers can take a few minutes or several hours, depending on how much you’re moving, and Apple sends email notifications as things are completed. You can also check or cancel a transfer through Apple’s Data & Privacy page.

How to run it

1. Open Apple Music on mobile, go to Settings → Apps → Music → Transfer Music from Other Music Services and follow the prompts.
2. If you don’t see it in the app, visit music.apple.com, sign in, click your profile and select Transfer Music from the menu.
3. Pick the service you’re moving from, sign into that account, select playlists or albums and start the transfer. Apple will match what it can and ask you to review anything that needs attention.

A few practical tips before you push the button

• Back up any playlists you care deeply about (exported CSVs or screenshots are cheap insurance).
• If you have a lot of user-uploaded or rare tracks on your old service, expect gaps and be prepared to accept alternate versions.
• If you use family or managed Apple IDs, note that some account types aren’t supported for transfers.

The bigger picture

This is a smart move for Apple: lowering the friction to join Apple Music removes one of the main excuses for not switching. For listeners, it’s convenient. For artists and the streaming ecosystem, it’s another nudge toward greater portability — a quiet reminder that, in the streaming era, your library is only as good as the export options the platforms provide.

Apple’s rollout so far covers major markets across North America, Europe and parts of Latin America; expect the company to add more countries and perhaps refine the experience as edge cases — like obscure metadata and cross-service duplicates — bubble up from real-world use. Until then, if you’ve been meaning to switch but dreaded the playlist spring cleaning, this might be the least painful time to try it.