Apple Music isn’t standing still. With the launch of iOS 14 (and iPadOS 14) this autumn, a raft of new features will be added to the service. In this article we offer a guide to the highlights.
For You becomes Listen Now
The tab in Music that’s called ‘For You’ in iOS 13 changes to ‘Listen Now’ in iOS 14. Apple is attempting to enter territory where Spotify has so far dominated: personal recommendations for music and playlists.
In this tab, Apple Music will focus even more on personal material, and serve music to suit your tastes. From here, the Replay lists are also available – which is to say, the lists that annually collect the music you have listened to the most in previous years.
Autoplay: The music never ends
Spotify fans are probably surprised that this feature didn’t previously exist in Apple Music. Well, it’s here now. If the playlist runs out, Apple Music can now continue to play similar music, so there will be no ghostly silence in the headphones or speakers.
The function is activated by pressing a new icon among the playback controls. The icon looks like an infinity sign (∞).
A new widget
iOS 14 allows users to place widgets across the screen, even among the app icons. Apple Music takes note of this and has three new widgets in different sizes that can be placed on the home screen, or in the Today view as before.
Unfortunately, Apple’s widget API does not allow player controls, or any interactions whatsoever. The Apple Music widget can only display previously played albums and playlists. A tap on the widget opens the app instead.
A much better iPad app
With the advent of iPadOS 14, the iPad starts to use its larger screen area a little better through side menus in various apps. The same thing is true in Apple Music, which now has a side menu that takes you to Listen Now, Search, Radio, Browse, and Libraries and Playlists.
Apple Music has also got a new fullscreen mode on the iPad that shows a larger album cover and music text – a karaoke mode, in other words.
More news
Better search. Apple Music has an improved search bar. Even before you start writing in the field, you can see current popular music; as letters and words are typed, new suggestions for songs, albums and playlists start to appear. A new search field is also available under the Library tab, which makes it easier to search among your own music in the app.
Support for hearing aids. Apple Music also supports new features to improve music playback for people with hearing impairments.
Setlist. On their artist page, artists can choose to add a setlist, so anyone who wants to see exactly what songs an artist played at a concert, and in what order, will find this information in Apple Music.
How to try out the new features
Just like the updates for Safari and CarPlay, the new features in Apple Music are closely related to iOS 14, which will be released this autumn. Before then you can try out the iOS 14 beta.
Apple Music is also available for Android. The new features will be sent out as an app update eventually, but probably not before the autumn.
In other news, the UK government is investigating whether streaming services pay artists enough.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.