Apple and Google working together on Android-iPhone switching upgrade

Apple and Google are said to be working on smoothing out the process of moving from Android to iPhone and vice versa, with the results of the collaboration starting to appear in early developer software, Android Canary.

The news comes from 9to5Google which says that Android Canary 2512 features the start of this work, and it's available on all Pixel devices back to Pixel 6. Currently, there's no word when it will appear in an iOS beta, but it's likely to be soon.

The aim of the collaboration is to make everything smoother, offering more refinement during the setup process on both devices, so that more data can be seamlessly moved across. Currently, this is handled by apps like Apple's Move to iOS and Google's Android Switch.

It's likely that we'll be able to learn something about how the software will work from the Android betas as the process moves forward, but at the moment, this isn't final work and it's unlikely to function without the matching software in place on Apple's side.

It's unlikely that Apple will incorporate the new software features until there's a substantial update, likely to be iOS 27 in September 2026. That would work with a potential release in Android 17 in mid-2026. There's little point in either party pushing the software earlier if it's not reflected on the other end.

When setting up a new iPhone, there's the option to transfer data from an Android device in the process, which involves installing the Move to iOS app and tapping in a code to connect. It's likely that this process will be streamlined so the app isn't necessary and the phones can find each other – likely with some kind of authentication, like a manual PIN entry.

On the flip side, when moving data over to Android, a QR code is provided to link phones after installing the prerequisite app. Again, it's likely that some of this process will be smoother.

Whether there will be more advanced options to access more data beyond the core of contacts, photos, messages and call history remains to be seen. The aim is to make the process smoother and doing away with the need for a separate app might achieve that by integrating the process into core device software.

This will be one to watch – it's likely that we'll learn more about the changes as the development progresses.