iSyncr: iTunes to Android

Review by eFreeware

iSyncr is a free Android app from JRT Studio Music Players that transfers an iTunes library from a computer to a phone. It has been on Google Play since July 2015 and sits in the Music & Audio category, with more than five million installs and a 4.2 average from just under 22,000 ratings. The pitch is straightforward: if your music, playlists and podcasts live in iTunes on a PC or Mac, this is a way to carry them on an Android device without rebuilding the collection by hand.

That last point is the main reason to consider it. Moving a large library between two ecosystems usually means either re-buying music or dragging folders around and losing the details that make a library feel like yours. iSyncr is built around keeping those details, and it works with the iTunes software you already have rather than asking you to abandon it.

Who tends to get the most from it

The clearest fit is someone who has spent years building an iTunes library on a desktop and has just moved to an Android phone. Ratings, play counts, artwork and playlists represent a lot of accumulated effort, and an app that carries them across is more useful than one that only moves audio files. If you still keep your master library on a computer and treat the phone as a second listening device, the model here matches how you already work.

It also suits people who prefer a cable or a local network to a cloud service. The app transfers to internal storage or an SD card, and it supports USB/MTP and WiFi connections, so the route between computer and phone is yours to choose. Podcast listeners with a settled subscription list in iTunes are another natural group, since episodes travel alongside the music.

What the app assumes is that iTunes remains part of your setup. It needs the free iSyncr Desktop component running on the computer, and it needs iTunes for Windows or Mac OS 10.5 or later installed there. Anyone who has already left iTunes behind, or who keeps music only in a streaming service, has nothing here to sync.

Moving the library itself

The core job is transferring music from a PC or Mac to an Android device. Playlists come across, and so do podcasts and videos, with the caveat that the videos have to be non-DRM files. The app can write to internal storage or to a memory card, which matters on phones with modest built-in space and a card slot.

Two connection types are supported. USB/MTP is the wired option, and WiFi lets the phone sync without being tethered. Which one suits you depends on how you listen: a wired sync fits a desk routine where the phone charges while it copies, while a wireless sync is easier if the computer and phone are usually in different rooms. The app also handles scheduled syncs, and a recent update added the option to require charging before a scheduled sync runs, which is a sensible guard for anyone syncing overnight.

The developer describes the transfer as instant and straightforward, which is the kind of claim worth treating as marketing rather than a specification. What the app does state plainly is that copy-protected iTunes content will not sync, and that it alerts you when it encounters DRM files. That warning is useful, because it tells you which purchases will not make the trip instead of leaving you to discover gaps later.

The listening data that comes with the songs

Beyond the audio, iSyncr carries the information iTunes keeps about your listening. Album art, ratings, play counts, and the last played and last skipped markers are all part of the sync. For anyone who uses ratings to build smart playlists or who likes seeing long-term play counts, this is the difference between a folder of files and a library that still behaves like the one on the desktop.

Play-count support for Android 8.0 and later arrived in a later release, and an earlier update fixed broken skip counts, so the tracking side has clearly needed maintenance over the years. The most recent version notes beta support for Apple's newer Music application, which suggests the developer is keeping pace with Apple's changes rather than letting the app drift.

The practical benefit is continuity. A playlist sorted by rating, or a count that keeps climbing across devices, only works if the numbers travel with the tracks. This is the part of the app that long-term iTunes users will notice most, and it is the part that a simple file copy cannot replicate.

What the free version covers, and what the purchase adds

The app itself is free to install, and unlimited syncing is bought inside the app.

That limit shapes who can use the free version comfortably. A single playlist of up to a hundred tracks is a reasonable way to try the app and confirm that the desktop component talks to your phone correctly. A library with dozens of playlists, or one long playlist that runs past a hundred songs, will run into the ceiling quickly, and the purchase is what lifts it.

Because the desktop side is a separate free download, the setup spans two devices before anything syncs. That is worth planning for: the phone app alone will not do the job, and iTunes has to be present on the computer as well.

How it compares with the alternatives

The obvious alternative is a streaming subscription. A dedicated music service gives you a catalog you do not own, playable on any device, with no computer in the middle and no storage to manage. What it does not give you is your own library as it stands, with your ratings and play counts intact, and it costs money every month rather than once.

The other route is manual copying. Dragging files onto the phone is free and needs no extra software, but it strips away the listening data and leaves playlists to be rebuilt by hand. For a small collection that may be enough. For a library built over years, the missing ratings and counts are the whole problem.

Cloud storage sits somewhere between the two: upload once, download on the phone. It solves the transfer but not the library structure, and it depends on a connection and on storage quotas. iSyncr's appeal is narrower and more specific, which is exactly why it holds up for the people it fits.

A tool for keeping an iTunes library alive on Android

iSyncr does one job and does it in a way that respects the library you already have. The combination of playlists, podcasts, non-DRM video, artwork, ratings and play counts, delivered over USB or WiFi to internal or card storage, covers what a long-term iTunes user would want to carry across. The free tier is genuinely usable for a trial, with its hundred-song and single-playlist limits, and the in-app purchase removes them.

The requirements are real, though. You need a computer, iTunes on that computer, and the free desktop component installed alongside the phone app. Copy-protected content stays behind, with a warning rather than a silent failure. None of this is a flaw in the design; it is the shape of the job.

If your music lives in iTunes and you want it on an Android phone with the listening history attached, this is built for you. If your listening has already moved to a streaming service, or you keep no library on a computer, there is nothing here to sync and the app will not have much to offer.

What's new in version 7.0.5

Enjoying iSyncr? Help us out with a good rating! Having issues? Please email [email protected] so that we can help. * Version 6 * Fix for lock to Rocket Player * Fix for settings not working * NEW: Beta support for Apple's new "Music" application * Possible fix for playlist issues on Android 10 * Support for play-counts for Android 8.0 and later * Possible fix for Galaxy S9 SD cards * Version 5.14 * Fixes broken skip counts * New ability to require charging for scheduled syncs