Music (also known as Apple Music, the Apple Music app, and the Music app) is a media player application developed for the iOS, iPadOS,

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

watchOS watchOS is the operating system of the Apple Watch, developed by Apple Inc., Apple. It is based on iOS, the operating system used by the iPhone, and has many similar features. It was released on April 24, 2015, along with the Apple Watch, the o ...

, visionOS,

tvOS tvOS (formerly Apple TV Software) is an operating system developed by Apple for the Apple TV, a digital media player. In the first-generation Apple TV, Apple TV Software was based on Mac OS X. The software for the second-generation and later ...

, Android, and

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

operating systems by Apple Inc. It can play music files stored locally on devices, as well as stream from the iTunes Store and

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

. On iPhones and iPads running iOS 4 or older software, it was named "

iPod The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...

". It was included in the initial releases of tvOS, watchOS, and iPadOS. It was released with

macOS Catalina macOS Catalina (version 10.15) is the sixteenth software versioning, major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. It is the successor to macOS Mojave and was announced at WWDC 2019 on June 3, 2019 and ...

on October 7, 2019, as one of three applications created to replace

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. The Music app is differentiated from iTunes by its concentration on

streaming media Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a Computer network, network for playback using a Media player (disambiguation), media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of Network packet, packets from a Server (computing), ...

and lesser focus on the iTunes Store, where content may be purchased outright.

iOS, tvOS, and watchOS versions

The Music app on iOS was initially released in iPhone OS 1 as the iPod app, and was renamed Music in iOS 5. It was updated with a redesign and functionality for

with iOS 8.4 in 2015. It is a standard app on CarPlay. The Music app is available on 2nd and 3rd generation

Apple TV Apple TV is a digital media player and a microconsole developed and marketed by Apple. It is a small piece of networking hardware that sends received media data such as video and audio to a TV or external display. Its media services include ...

s to stream music purchased from the iTunes Store or synced with iTunes Match, but was never updated with support for Apple Music. Apple Music support was added in the

version on the 4th generation Apple TV in early November 2015. The Music app has been included in every version of

on the

Apple Watch The Apple Watch is a brand of smartwatch products developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple. It incorporates activity tracker, fitness tracking, Health (Apple), health-oriented capabilities, and wireless telecommunication, and integrates wit ...

. Music can be downloaded directly to an Apple Watch for use without a paired

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

macOS version

The Music app on macOS was preceded by the

app launched on January 9, 2001. Video support within the iTunes app was enabled in May 2005; podcast and books support followed in June 2005 and January 2010, respectively. By the 2010s, the application had been criticized for software bloat with features that extended well beyond the original scope of music. Apple announced at the 2019

Worldwide Developers Conference The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is currently held at Apple Park in California. The event is used to showcase new software and technologies in the macO ...

that iTunes would be replaced with the specific Music app, Podcasts, and TV applications with the release of

. Apple describes the Music app as a "music streaming experience," whereas the company described iTunes as a

digital library A digital library (also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, a library without walls, or a digital collection) is an online database of digital resources that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital ...

and online music store. Previous iTunes versions designed for older macOS versions, as well as iTunes for

, will remain unaffected. Music, TV shows and movies, and podcasts on the iTunes Store will be accessible through the Music, TV, and Podcasts apps, respectively, compared to the standalone iTunes Store app that is featured on iOS.

Android version

The Music app was released for devices running Android Lollipop and later on November 10, 2015, where it is referred to as Apple Music. It marked the first time music from the iTunes Store was available on non-Apple mobile devices since the Rokr E1 during a brief partnership with

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

in 2005. This version of the app does not allow access to iTunes Store purchases or iTunes Match, unless the user has an active Apple Music subscription.

Windows version

On January 13, 2023, Apple released a beta version of Apple Music on the Microsoft Store for

Windows 11 Windows 11 is a version of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, released on October 5, 2021, as the successor to Windows 10 (2015). It is available as a free upgrade for devices running Windows 10 that meet the #System requirements, Windo ...

, replacing the infrequently updated iTunes for Windows.

References

Notes

{{Apple IOS software WatchOS software MacOS software Apple Inc. software IOS-based software made by Apple Inc. TvOS software