Google working on new ‘Switch to Android' app for iPhone users to copy data?

Evidence suggests that Google is working on a new app and new method for iPhone users to transfer their data to an Android phone. It's rather predictably called 'Switch to Android'. 

In theory, it will allow Apple iOS users to copy their apps, SMS, contacts, media and other data across from the iPhone over to their new Android device. And by the sounds of it, it's done wirelessly. 

The details were uncovered by 9to5Google who pulled apart an APK and found mention of the app and some hints as to how it works. 

Unlike the current data transfer method which is built into Pixel phones as part of the set up process, this one appears to be a downloadable app from the Play Store and iOS App Store. 

What's more, it looks as though it will work over Wi-Fi, similar to the Clone Phone type apps from the likes of Huawei and Oppo. 

With those apps - for instance Oppo's Clone Phone - you download the Clone Phone app onto your old Android phone, then scan a QR code with a camera which then tells the phone to connect to that device as a Wi-Fi hotspot. 

Once connected, you select which items you want to copy. That includes everything from SMS messages through to photos, video, music and calendar events. Then confirm and it all transfers wirelessly. 

The only difference here is that these apps don't typically work for iPhone users and are manufacturer specific. 

The closest thing in existence right now is Samsung's Smart Switch app, which will let you copy across near enough everything from your iPhone to a new Samsung device. 

With more and more people buying phones from companies like Xiaomi, it makes sense for Google to release a service to the App Store that makes it possible to transfer between iPhone and Android that's not manufacturer specific. 

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