Apple has introduced a new tool that will allow iCloud users to migrate their data to Google Photos with ease. The tool will transfer all your photos and videos to Google Photos making it easier for users to migrate to Google"s ecosystem.
Apple notes that the transfer will take up to seven days during which the company will verify that the request was made by you and will transfer the data. The company also notes that the data will be copied to Google Photos so your backups on iCloud will not be altered. Furthermore, users will need to enable two-factor authentication on their Apple ID and make sure their Google account has enough storage available to complete the transfer.
Once you have enabled two-factor authentication and cleared space on Google, you can send Apple a transfer request. To do that, head to privacy.apple.com and sign in with your Apple ID. Once logged in, select Transfer a copy of your data and follow the steps to transfer the data. Once requested, Apple may take up to seven days to complete the transfer. You can, however, check the status of the transfer at privacy.apple.com/account.
Apple is doing a phased rollout of the service and it is currently available for users in Australia, Canada, the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Currently, the transfer tool supports jpg, .png, .webp, .gif, some RAW files, .mpg, .mod, .mmv, .tod, .wmv, .asf, .avi, .divx, .mov, .m4v, .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .m2t, .m2ts, .mts, and .mkv formats. The company further says that the filenames of albums and videos on Google Photos will start with "Copy of". Since Google supports 20,000 files per album, extra files will be transferred to Photos but will not be added to any album. Lastly, Apple warns that some files like shared albums, Smart Albums, live photos, some RAW files and metadata may not be transferred at all.