Why is Apple’s ‘Move to iOS’ Android app so awful?

Apple is already seeing a record number of Android users switching to iPhone, but in a play for Android owners who are undecided,  the company has released a “Switching to iPhone” video on YouTube.   

The video claims to cover the most asked questions, which include: 

• Is it easy to transfer photos, contacts, and messages?
• Can I trade in my old Android smartphone?
• Is the iPhone durable?
• Will it get updates?

Predictably, all the answers paint Apple and the iPhone in a positive light. However, the video dodges the more difficult questions, such as “Can I transfer my paid content over to the iPhone?” and “What are my choices for a cheap iPhone?”

A key facilitator to making the move from Android to iOS is Apple’s Move to iOS Android app, which claims to make the process easy (there’s also an iOS app for those wanting to switch to Android). 

But there’s a problem with Apple’s Move to iOS app.

It’s pretty awful.

User reviews on Google Play echo what I’ve been hearing from readers:

“Complete garbage.”

“Tried 3 times it only transfers sent messages and not including all conversations. Pictures are out of order. Contact numbers were duplicated.”

“I wish I’d read the reviews before I used this app. Half of my apps didn’t transfer. Only the sent text messages transferred, none of the received, so I lost half of all of my conversations. Now when I try to send a text on my new phone it tells me it failed to send unless I search the person I am texting. All of my photos are completely out of order and the information associated with the photos like date, time and location is gone.”

And this one:

“Horrible, unintuitive, misfunctioning. Does not work at all, user experience is awful.”

My experiences with this app are not much better. Apple needs to dramatically improve the app, because right now it’s very hit or miss and can leave users with only some of their data transferred. And some can be just as bad as none.