EU Takes Credit for New iPhone-Android Switching Tools
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The European Commission is crediting an initiative between Apple and Google to make it easier to switch between iPhone and Android platforms to its Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into force last year.
As recently noted by a user on Reddit (via 9to5Mac), Google rolled out a new Android Canary build (2512) for Google Pixel smartphones. While the original post didn’t list features, a comment added that it includes a “key experimental feature” that “simplifies data migration for switching between heterogeneous systems.”
Unlike previous app-based solutions, Google is building switching capabilities directly into the operating system. That’s an essential first step toward making it easier for users to transfer their data — including messages, calendars, and contacts — between platforms.
While Apple has offered a Move to iOS app for Android for years, the company is also working on a similarly native transfer feature as part of a future iOS 26 update. While it has yet to say when it will arrive, the new features will require close collaboration, so Google’s move suggests we’re likely to see a gradual rollout of the switching features on the iPhone begin soon.
The European Commission attributes this to the requirements that the DMA has placed on both companies. A Commission spokesperson told 9to5Mac that this, as well as the previously implemented eSIM transfer solution, are an “example of how the Digital Markets Act (DMA) brings benefits to users and developers.”
Both solutions are the direct result of the DMA, which requires designated services (including iOS and Android) to ensure effective data portability. Apple overviewed their work on this project in Apple’s DMA compliance reports from March 2024 and March 2025. These solutions were possible thanks to extensive engineering work and collaboration between Apple and Google, as well as intensive discussions with the Commission for the past two years.
European Commission
In iOS 26, Apple added support for transferring an eSIM from an iPhone to an Android device, and vice versa, making it easier for smartphone users to port their numbers between platforms. While this streamlines the process, mobile carriers must still support the new transfer capabilities.
This OS portability solution will allow users to easily transfer data from iPhone to Android and vice versa when they set up a new device. It will support many types of data, including: contacts, calendar events, messages, photos, documents, Wi-Fi networks, passwords, and even data from third-party apps. It will also work wirelessly. These are major upgrades compared to the currently limited data transfer solutions.
European Commission
The EC believes that third-party app developers will also benefit from the new features, as they will “be able to easily retain users when they switch from an iPhone to an Android device and vice versa.”
The EU’s DMA has forced Apple and Google to change how they do business in the European Union. However, unlike the changes Apple had to make in the App Store to allow third-party app marketplaces, which are limited to the EU, the transfer features will be available to all users worldwide.
While the new data transfer features may have been prompted by the DMA, it is to Apple’s and Google’s benefit to make the changes, allowing customers to feel a bit less “locked in” to either device platform. The European Union isn’t the only place where Apple is facing regulatory scrutiny, so changes like this to comply with the DMA help the company get ahead of similar regulations elsewhere.
