Moving from one operating system to another is a significant point of consumer friction at multiple levels, including moving user data, getting used to the new user experience, and possibly application availability.
Today, Google makes it easier for iOS users to move their data from iOS to Android thanks to the free version Switch to the Android iOS app.
The app requires a Google account (and an active internet connection) as data is transferred via Google Drive.
We can see from the official screenshots that typical data such as contacts, calendar, photos and videos are transferred. Keep in mind that some app data may not transfer, so do your research and assume only the above will transfer.
The Google Switch app also allows moving photos from iCloud to Google photo to gain additional market share. Granted, Google Photo is a solid storage option, and if you’re using Android, it makes perfect sense. I highly recommend Google Photo, but keep that in mind Microsoft’s OneDrive could also be a viable option.
Since apps don’t move, there’s still a significant point of friction that could have been alleviated by at least installing apps that have an iOS equivalent. This should have been a simple, low-hanging fruit.
Transferring data from an iOS to an Android version of the app is much more problematic and would require developer validation. However, this could also be something developers could flag, and perhaps in the future a conversion mechanism (provided by each app) could be added as an API.
I wish there was a wired version of this transfer process, but for now it’s wireless only, so it may take a while if you have a 512GB device with a lot of data.
This new app is a bit easier to use than the previous method which was based on a “Backup to Google Drive” methodology. Hopefully this will continue to evolve as anything that allows users to switch platforms is beneficial.
Filed in . Read more about Android, Google, iOS and iPhone. Source: Techcrunch
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