Apple joins Data Transfer Project with other cloud service giants

Apple has become the latest partner of the Data Transfer Project, a scheme that involves Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and other contributors to create an open-source way for users to shift their data between different cloud services.

Launched in 2018, the Data Transfer Project is working to produce software and systems to enable the transfer of a user's personal data from one data store to another. While the other big-name tech companies joined the project last summer, Apple has only just joined the effort.

Currently, if a user wants to move their personal data from services, they have to use the different export tools offered by each firm, such as Apple's Data and Privacy portal. While the data can be requested, it isn't offered in a standardized way that could be immediately used by another service.

The Data Transfer Project aims to change this by making the export and import tools of each company compatible with each other, allowing for a smoother transfer of data for consumers. The vast majority of the work is out of sight of consumers, using existing APIs and authorization mechanisms alongside service-specific adapters to translate data to a common format that can be plugged into the receiving service's API.

Ultimately, this could mean a situation where an Android user moving to iOS could request to port their customer data over from Google's services, including Play, over to Apple's servers.

So far the project has resulted in more than 42,000 lines of code across 1,500 files from 18 contributing entities. Since the launch, the project has added framework features such as cloud logging ad monitoring, as well as adding updated integrations for new APIs from Google Photos and Smugmug, and new integrations for Deezer, Mastodon, and Tim Berners-Lee's Solid.

8 Comments

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

About 5 years ago

Guys, try looking into Ethereum or Hashgraph if you want an open and secure standard. I guess there’s also Filecoin which could be useful eventually.

bsimpsen 400 comments · 14 Years

AppleInsider said:

So far the project has resulted in more than 42,000 lines of code across 1,500 files from 18 contributing entities.

I, a single individual, write more than that in year.

rotateleftbyte 1630 comments · 12 Years

This

Or vice-versa

and it provides a lovely vector for identity theft. Someone (including the TLA's) could falsely request the transfer of all your iCloud data to their Google cloud account etc.

Lovely jubbly.

Now how do I get all my stuff from iCloud and totally disable it?

avon b7 8008 comments · 20 Years

This good news. I'm sure the EU would have passed legislation at some point to tackle the issue but the fact that is being looked at and progressing is great for consumers as long as there are no 'gotchas' blocking the way.

It makes a lot of sense. I tried Google Takeout a few years ago and it looked very promising. Things have got incredibly more complex since then so anything that simplifies the process is welcome.

I wonder if there is a way to legally 'freeze' an account and import it into an existing account and keep the data seperate within the holding account. For example when someone dies and wants to leave a digital legacy to someone.

boxcatcher 274 comments · 9 Years

Sounds like a perfect use-case for Apache NiFi