Apple Music and Spotify are the two most popular music streaming services — by a long shot — as both have tens of millions of paid subscribers. As for which service you should use, it likely depends on which service you or your family have been using for years. That said, the two services have brought about some key changes in the past year or more, so much so that you might want to switch.
Apple Music vs Spotify: The Biggest Differences
Lossless streaming
The biggest difference between the two streaming services is Apple Music actually allows you to listen to lossless tracks. In May 2021, it added a lossless tier that allows any paying subscriber to listen to CD-quality (16-bit/44.1 kHz) and Hi-Res Lossless (up to 24-bit/192 kHz) audio tracks. The kicker: to listen to these lossless tracks, subscribers just have to pay the same $10/month charge as before.
Spotify claims to be launching its own lossless streaming service, Spotify HiFi, but it's not here yet even though Spotify originally claimed it would launch by the end of 2021 — that means it's almost a year-and-a-half late. According to the latest reports by The Verge, Spotify HiFi has been ready to launch for over a year, but Apple's decision to roll out lossless audio has caused Spotify to stall. Apparently, there's no longer the financial incentive to launch it right now. We'll likely have to wait for Spotify to roll out support for Dolby Atmos and spatial audio (more on this below), which it could package with Spotify HiFi and then justify a higher-priced tier.
Dolby Atmos support
As of spring 2023, Apple Music finally supports Dolby Atmos tracks. It was announced alongside the Sonos Era 300, which is a speaker optimized for playing Dolby Atmos content, and today all paying subscribers are able to play these new immersive tracks. (Previously, Amazon Music Unlimited was the only major music streaming service to support an entire catalog of Dolby Atmos content.)
Spotify doesn't support Dolby Atmos or spatial audio right now. It's assumed that when it eventually rolls out its lossless streaming service, Spotify HiFi, that it'll also roll out support for Dolby Atmos, too. Of course, there's no timetable for that. We also don't know how much it will cost.
Smart speaker support
Another big reason why you'd switch to Apple Music is if you were planning on buying one of Apple's smart speakers, either second-generation HomePod or the HomePod mini. Unlike other popular smart speakers (like the Amazon Echo, Nest Home and even the Sonos One), Apple's smart speakers only respond to "Hey Siri" voice commands for music if you subscribe to Apple Music (and, as of May 2021, Deezer). If you’re a Spotify subscriber, you can only ask Siri to play/pause, skip tracks and adjust the volume.
Of course, Spotify works well with pretty much every other smart speaker aside from Apple's line of HomePods. For example, if you have an Amazon Echo, Nest Audio (Google's smart speaker) or a Sonos One, you can designate Spotify as your default music service voice commands will work.
Exclusive podcasts
The other big element to these music streaming services is podcasts — and Spotify definitely has the upper hand. It has struck deals with some of the biggest podcasts (such as The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy) to make them exclusive to Spotify, meaning you can't listen to them on Apple Music.
The Best Apps to Switch Between Music Services
Switching from Spotify to Apple Music can be intimidating. The two interfaces are noticeably different and podcasts aren’t integrated into the Apple Music app like they are with Spotify (you need to open the separate Apple Podcasts app for that). If you find yourself in this predicament — not wanting to switch over because you’re so heavily invested — a way to make that transition slightly easier is to quickly transfer your Spotify playlists over to Apple Music.
You need to download a separate app, like the ones below, and you’ll most likely have to pay a small fee, but it’s a small price to pay to carry over your playlists. Also, many of the below services aren't limited to Apple Music or Spotify. If you're switching from basically any music service to another, be it from Tidal to Amazon Music or from Pandora to Deezer, these services will likely be able to help you out.
Free Your Music
1. Download the app (iOS, Android)
2. Open the app and follow the steps to give it access to your Spotify account.
3. It’ll then ask you to “select destination” for the service you want the playlists to be transferred. Select Apple Music.
4. Select the playlists that you want carried over.
The free version of Free Your Music allows you to carry over 100 songs and one playlist. The premium version, which costs $14.99, allows you carry over unlimited number of songs and playlists.
SongShift
1. Download the iPhone or iPad app (iOS). There is no Android app.
2. Open the app and select “get started.” Select “Spotify” and then “Apple Music” in the “available services” section. You’ll have to give the app access to each music service.
3. You’ll want to start a “shift” to transfer playlists. Select Spotify > the specific playlist > and then Apple Music.
As of July 2020, there is no free version of SongShift anymore — but there are three different Pro subscription options. You can choose between $5/month or $20/year subscriptions. There's also a one-time lifetime subscription that costs $40. Each Pro subscription lets you carry over an unlimited number of songs and playlists.
Soundiiz
1. Open the web app.
2. Select the music service you are switching from (Spotify).
3. Select Soundiiz as the source service.
4. Select the playlists and songs you want transferred.
5. Select the music service you're switching to (Apple Music).
Soundiiz offers free and premium plans, however the premium plan is the only one that allows you to convert playlists from one platform to another. It costs $4.50/month or $36/ year; if you want to do a one time transfer, you can cancel after one month. The free version allows you to import playlists from saved files on your computer, but not from other music services.
