Transfer Google Play Music Playlists to Apple Music (iCloud Music)

Despite being the two major platforms for mobiles, it often proves to be difficult to move stuff between Android and iOS. In this article, we are going to tackle the issue of transferring Google Play Music to Apple Music or iCloud Music Library. This guide accounts for both playlists and the songs that you own and downloaded into personal library.

Play Music and Apple Music are two of the biggest music distributors thanks to their integrations with respective operating systems. For a small fee, users get access to nearly every new song out there. Moreover, intelligent services make it easier to find and explore more songs that you may like. These algorithms match songs based on previous choices. This and many other features have made these two services very popular.

Read: How to transfer Passwords from iPhone to Android

While most users love to stay loyal to their current ecosystem because of ease, there are always people who decide to completely switch sides. Because of deep integrations of Android and iOS with their proprietary services, tools, devices, and apps, it is not possible to partially use one. Users have to make a complete switch for it.

Therefore, this guide helps the users switching from Android to iOS. Nobody wants to lose their years of collected music and playlists. Therefore, learn how to transfer music from Play Music to iCloud Music Library or Apple Music. This works for all latest Android and iOS versions.

Google Play Music vs Apple Music

Whether someone is moving from Android to Apple or vice versa, it is important to highlight the key features. It can help many make the right decision.

Well, in terms of pricing, both of these services are pretty much the same. However, Apple music can provide some discounted prices to students. Of course, you need to prove your academic status in order to avail it. So, it is a plus point for Apple Music here.

The availability of Play Music is generally better compared to its competitor. It is supported on more devices like Chromebook, Android TV, Google Cast and more. Since these are not directly Apple’s products, one could argue that it is not supposed to work. Therefore, if someone is making a complete switch to Apple ecosystem, they should be okay using it.

Play Music has a larger library compared to Apple music but it does necessarily mean that its better. It mainly depends on the choice of songs or music that one wants. Moreover, long-term users claim that Apple music has better recommendation system compared to its opposition. Therefore, it all comes down to personal preference and what services you expect from a music subscription.

Play Music works better on Android, you get added subscription for YouTube Red (Ad-Free YouTube). Apple Music has its perks too. But our conclusion is that Play Music takes the prize. It has more user-friendly features compared to Apple Music.

How to Move Play Music to Apple Music (iCloud Music Library)

Even though these are two different music subscription services, it is quite easy to move all the songs and music from Google Play Music to Apple Music. There are two main scenarios. Either someone owns the music and have it downloaded on their devices. Or they have just made playlists of their favorite songs online and listen to them via streaming. Most users use both of these methods. We download the most favorite songs while stream others to save space on phones and tablets.

If you own the Music (Upload to iCloud Music Library)

What do we mean by “owned music”? Well, note that if you download songs from Google Play Music, these are stored as cache. If you check the download location of Google Play Music on Android, it will only show encrypted .mp3 files. Copying these files anywhere will not play them. These are not owned by you. By subscribing to the service, you could just stream these. And play the downloaded (cached) music from Play Music app only.

The real owned music is what users have uploaded to Play Music library themselves. Whether this is from bought CDs, or anywhere else. If you have this music lying around, then do the same process for Apple Music. Follow the steps below in precise order.

1. Install iTunes on PC and set up Apple Music account.
2. Go to Settings > General Preferences and enable “iCloud Music Library“.
3. Go back to main menu > My Music, click icon in top left, then click on “Add file to Library”.
4. Browse the PC, select the file/s and click OK. It will sync the files.
5. Next up, right-click on any music file and select “Add to iCloud Music Library” option.
6. Sync all your songs to Apple Music using this method.
7. One done uploading, you can access this music from any device using this account.

Note that iTunes will automatically process the songs for suitable format. However, the original files will remain unaffected.

Move Play Music Playlists to Apple Music

The playlists are made of the music that we stream on these services. These playlists are similar to the likes of YouTube, Spotify, Tidal etc. Since it is not actual music and just the titles and organization, therefore, it’s rather simpler to move. However, there is no official way of doing it. In order to shift playlists from Play Music to Apple Music, we are going to use STAMP service. It allows moving playlists among various music subscription services including the ones we are concerned with right now. Below is the brief outlook of how to do this. Good thing is that STAMP has its own dedicated apps therefore it is pretty easy to use.

1. Download and install STAMP on your PC. Get it HERE.
2. Open the app, select Google Play Music as source and Apple Music as your destination.
3. Login to respective accounts to access playlists.
4. Once done, let the app do its magic and you sit back and relax.

Note that, the free version of STAMP has limit on how many playlists to move per session. Therefore, if it suits you, buy the subscription to speed up process.

Conclusion

Shifting from Android to iOS can be pretty lengthy process. We have managed to cut down on one of the main concerns. Use the guide above to easily move music from Google Play to Apple Music. Upload the owned music to iCloud Music library while use STAMP to shift playlists from Play Music to Apple Music.

Feel free to leave your feedback and queries in the comment section below.