How to transfer Apple Music playlists to Spotify on iPhone

The time has finally come. Apple keeps raising the prices of its subscription services, and it has even completely killed the cheapest way to listen to Apple Music. You’ve decided to vote with your feet, and make the switch to Spotify. The trouble is, all of your carefully curated playlists are on Apple Music, including your Ultimate Christmas playlist that you’ve been finely honing over more than a decade. The thought of having to build it again on Spotify doesn’t fill you with seasonal joy.

Thankfully, there is a quick and easy way to transfer your Apple Music playlists to Spotify without having to build them all again from scratch. The process is surprisingly painless, will work with the vast majority of songs, and you don’t need a Spotify Premium subscription to use it. If you’re ready to make the switch, then here’s how to transfer Apple Music playlists to Spotify on iPhone.

Get SongShift

The easiest way to transfer your playlists from Apple Music to Spotify, or vice versa, is to use an app called SongShift. There are similar apps on the Play Store for Android, such as FreeYourmusic, if you’ve been using the Apple Music app on Android, or you’re making the move from Android to iPhone.

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SongShift is free to use, and if you’re just moving a few playlists from Apple Music to Spotify, the free tier is enough for your needs. However, there is also a Pro subscription, which you can pay for monthly, annually, or with a one-off up-front fee that covers you forever. The Pro subscription offers additional features such as quicker matching for Apple Music and Spotify songs, faster transfers, and no ads.

SongShift supports transferring playlists from Apple Music to Spotify or the other way around, but you can also link plenty of other music streaming services too, such as Amazon Music, Deezer, LastFM, Napster, Pandora, TIDAL, and YouTube. You can then transfer playlists from any connected music service to any other.

How to link your music streaming account on SongShift

Once you’ve downloaded and installed SongShift on your iPhone, the first step is to link your Spotify and Apple Music accounts. This will allow SongShift to read your perfectly curated playlists from one service and rebuild them in the other.

1. Launch SongShift on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Settings icon in the top left of the screen.
3. Select Music Services.
4. Under Apple Music tap Connect.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to link your Apple Music account.
6. Once completed, scroll down to Spotify and tap Connect.
7. Follow the on-screen instructions to link your Spotify account.
8. Once both accounts are linked, you’re ready to start transferring your playlists.

How to transfer your playlists from Apple Music to Spotify on SongShift

Now that you’ve linked your Apple Music and Spotify accounts, you can start transferring playlists from one to the other. SongShift calls these transfers ‘Shifts’ and they’re quick and easy to set up within the app.

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Some songs in the Apple Music catalogue aren’t available on Spotify, and vice versa, so SongShift may be unable to match certain songs.

1. Open SongShift on your iPhone.
2. Tap + (plus) in the top right of the screen to create a new Shift.
3. Under Apple Music select Playlist.
4. Choose playlists from your Apple Music library. You can choose a single playlist with the free version, or select multiple playlists if you have a Pro subscription.
5. When you’ve made your selections, tap Confirm.
6. Select Spotify as your destination.
7. Tap Start Shifts to begin the process.
8. SongShift will start processing.
9. When it’s done, you’ll see your Shift with a Review label underneath.
10. Tap the Shift to review your matches.
11. You’ll see each song in Apple Music playlist, and the Spotify song it’s been matched with.
12. If any of the songs aren’t an ideal match, tap the bottom song to select an alternative.
13. If SongShift was unable to find a match for a song in your playlist, you’ll see Failed Matches listed at the top. You can try to re-match these songs, or choose to ignore them, which means they won’t be transferred to your Spotify playlist.
14. When you’re happy with the matches in your Shift, tap the Confirm Matches button.
15. Your Shift will start and your new Spotify playlist will be created.
16. Once it’s complete, you should find your new playlist in your Spotify library. You may need to close and re-open the app to see it.

How to transfer your playlists from Spotify to Apple Music on SongShift

If you want to transfer your playlists from Spotify to Apple Music instead, it’s just as easy. Simply follow the steps outlined above, but choose Spotify as your source, and Apple Music as your destination. Everything else will be exactly the same.

How long does it take to transfer playlists?

Transferring playlists doesn’t take long at all. Once you’ve set the app up, chosen your sources and picked which playlists you want to move across to Spotify from Apple Music, the actual process of matching songs and creating new playlists on Spotify only takes a few minutes at most. That’s because it’s not actually physically moving any music; it’s just checking the destination service for matching songs and compiling playlists using those matched songs.

Can I transfer playlists from multiple music streaming platforms?

Yes, you can. That’s the beauty of SongShift and other similar services. You can link several different services, and it supports a lot of popular music platforms. You can transfer from Amazon Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Tidal and YouTube Music (among others). It’s a great way to consolidate all of your playlists from your different music streaming platforms onto a single platform.

You can also use SongShift to share your playlists with friends who don’t have the same music streaming accounts as you.

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For example, if your friend is on Deezer, just set up a free Deezer account, and use SongShift to transfer your playlist from Spotify to Deezer. You can then share that playlist with your friend. Any Deezer playlists they share with you can quickly be converted into Spotify playlists using SongShift.

Can I transfer more than one playlist at a time?

Yes, you can, although you’ll need a Pro subscription in order to do so. With a free subscription, you can still transfer multiple playlists, you just have to do them one at a time. If you only have a few playlists to transfer, this isn’t too onerous, but if you have hundreds of playlists to transfer, you might want to consider getting a Pro subscription.

What other playlist transfer apps are there?

There are a few different ways to transfer playlists, so if SongShift doesn’t suit, you’re not short on options. There’s FreeYourMusic, which has a user-friendly user interface and is probably the best one to use if you want a simpler process. Soundiiz is a browser-based service which doesn’t make you use an app, so that you can transfer playlists from a desktop. There’s one called Tune My Music, too.