You finally did it. You decided the Spotify algorithm is just better at finding that obscure indie-folk track than Apple Music ever was, or maybe you're just tired of the UI. But now you’re staring at five years of curated playlists—thousands of songs—and wondering if you have to manually search and add every single one. Honestly, it’s a nightmare. The "walled gardens" of Big Tech are real, and they don't exactly make it easy to pack your bags and leave.
If you want to move an apple music playlist to spotify, you've probably realized there isn't a "magic button" in the settings. Apple wants you to stay. Spotify wants you to come over, but they can't exactly hack into Apple’s servers to grab your data. You are caught in the middle.
Why the big move is actually a metadata mess
It’s about the IDs. Every song on Apple Music has a unique identifier, and Spotify has a completely different one. When you "transfer" a playlist, you aren't actually moving a file. You are sending a list of song titles and artists to a third-party tool that then tries to find the closest match in the Spotify library.
Sometimes it fails. You might have a rare 1994 live recording of a band that only exists on Apple Music because of a specific licensing deal, and when you move it, Spotify replaces it with the generic studio version. Or worse, a "tribute" cover version by a random wedding band. It happens more than you'd think. This is why tools like SongShift or TuneMyMusic have become essentially mandatory for anyone jumping ship. They act as the middleman, translating "Apple-speak" into "Spotify-speak."
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The tools that actually work (and the ones that are sketchy)
Most people start by looking for a free way to do this. I get it. Why pay to move your own data? But here is the reality: the free tiers of most transfer services are limited to about 500 or 1,000 songs. If you have a massive library, you’re going to hit a wall.
SongShift is the gold standard for iOS users. It’s an app you download on your iPhone, connect both accounts, and let it rip. The interface is clean, and it handles the "matching" process with a decent amount of transparency. If it can't find a song, it tells you. It doesn't just skip it and hope you don't notice.
Then there is TuneMyMusic. This one is web-based. It’s great if you’re sitting at a desktop and want to move massive libraries in one go. They have a partnership with some streaming services, so it feels a bit more "official," though it’s still a third-party workaround.
What about Soundiiz?
Soundiiz is for the power users. It looks like a spreadsheet had a baby with a music player. It’s powerful because it lets you manage synced playlists. If you want to keep your Apple Music playlist and your Spotify playlist identical—maybe because you use Apple in the car but Spotify on your computer—Soundiiz can keep them mirrored. It’s a bit overkill for a one-time move, but for the data-obsessed, it’s the best option out there.
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Avoid the "too good to be true" sites
If you find a random website asking for your Apple ID and Spotify password that doesn't use the official OAuth login pop-ups (those little windows that say 'Spotify wants to access your account'), run. People lose accounts this way. Always ensure the tool uses the official API connection. If it asks for your actual password directly into a text box on their own site, it’s a scam.
The "Greyed Out" song problem
You’ll finish the transfer and see a bunch of songs that are unplayable. This is the biggest frustration. It usually happens because of regional licensing. Apple might have the rights to a specific J-Pop album in the US, but Spotify doesn't. Or the metadata was just slightly off. Maybe the Apple version was "Song Name (Remastered 2023)" and Spotify only has "Song Name (2023 Remaster)." The algorithm gets confused.
You have to manually fix these. There is no way around it. Even the best AI-driven transfer tools have a failure rate of about 2% to 5%. In a 2,000-song library, that’s 100 songs you have to hunt down yourself. It’s tedious. It’s annoying. But it’s the price of digital freedom.
Privacy and what you're giving away
When you move an apple music playlist to spotify, you are giving these third-party apps permission to see your library, your top artists, and your private playlists. Most of the reputable ones (like the ones mentioned above) are safe, but it’s a good habit to go into your Spotify and Apple ID settings after the transfer and "Revoke Access."
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There is no reason SongShift needs access to your account three months after you’ve already moved your music. Clean up your digital footprint.
A quick reality check on sound quality
Don’t expect the music to sound the same immediately. Apple Music uses AAC (and offers ALAC Lossless), while Spotify uses Ogg Vorbis (and is still promising Hi-Fi). If you’re an audiophile, you might notice the difference on high-end headphones. If you're using AirPods on a bus, you won't care. But don't blame the transfer tool if the "vibe" feels different—the encoding is literally different.
Steps to make the transition as painless as possible
- Prune your library first. Don't move the trash. If you have "test" playlists or stuff you haven't listened to since 2018, delete them in Apple Music before you start the transfer. It saves time and reduces matching errors.
- Use a desktop for large transfers. Mobile apps can get killed in the background by the OS if the transfer takes thirty minutes. A browser tab on a PC or Mac is usually more stable for 5,000+ song moves.
- Double-check the "Top 100" or your favorites. These are the songs you'll miss most if the transfer fails. Manually verify that your most-played tracks made the jump correctly.
- Export a backup. If you're a real nerd, use a tool to export your Apple Music library to a CSV or Excel file. That way, if everything goes wrong and you delete your Apple subscription, you at least have a text list of your music.
The process isn't perfect because the industry doesn't want it to be. Competition is built on friction. If it were easy to leave, people would do it more often. By using these tools, you're basically breaking out of a digital prison, so expect a few scratches on the way out.
Once the transfer is done, give the Spotify algorithm a few days to catch up. Like a new pair of shoes, it needs to be broken in. Start liking songs, skip the stuff you hate, and eventually, it will feel like home.
Final Actionable Steps
- Download SongShift (iOS) or visit TuneMyMusic (Web). These remain the most reliable paths for 2026.
- Connect your accounts using the secure API prompts—never type your password directly into a third-party site's own form.
- Run a test batch. Move one small playlist first to ensure the matching logic is working the way you expect.
- Pay for one month. If you have more than 1,000 songs, just pay the $5 or $10 for the premium version of the transfer tool. It saves hours of manual labor and you can cancel it immediately after the move is finished.
- Review the "Failed" list. Every tool provides a log of songs it couldn't find. Copy-paste this into a Note so you can manually find them later.
- Disconnect. Go to your Spotify "Account Apps" page and Apple "Sign in with Apple" settings to remove the transfer tool's permissions once the job is done.