After first being announced and previewed in screenshots at WWDC in June, Apple has officially brought its subscription music service Apple Music to Google’s Android platform. Apple Music joins the iPhone maker’s other Android apps Move to iOS and the Beats Pill+ companion app on the Google Play Store.
Apple Music offers access to a large catalog of streaming music and music recommendations. Music and music videos can be saved for offline listening as well. Memberships costs $9.99/month for individuals, the same as Beats Music subscriptions which Apple Music replaces, after a three-month free trial period. Apple Music family plans for up to five different accounts is available through Family Sharing on iOS and Mac for $14.99/month.
Apple Music for Android is on the Google Play Store now:
Introducing the beta of Apple Music on Android.Notes about the beta period:• Music videos are coming soon.• Sign-ups and upgrades to Family memberships require Mac or iOS.• Sign-up process to be optimized for Android.
Beats Music subscribers will need to move from the old app to the new Apple Music app to continue using the service. Libraries and playlists can be transferred over. While Beats Music has also been available on Windows Phone, a version of Apple Music on Microsoft’s mobile platform will not be available.
As for the Apple Music business, Android adds one more access point for subscribers. In October, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared that Apple had 6.5 million paying Apple Music customers with 15 million in total including free trial customers.
Apple’s music subscription service is now available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, Apple TV 4, Mac, PC, and Android. For comparison, Beats Music which Apple Music is based on and replaces was available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android, Windows Phone, and the web.
How Android users handle Apple Music app reviews on the Play Store will be interesting to watch. Beats Music for Android enjoyed a 4-star rating after launching on the platform months before Apple acquired it. Move to iOS and the Beats Pill+ companion app, in comparison, each carry a low 2-star rating.
Apple Music for Android (beta version 0.9.0 build 152) is out now on the Google Play Store.
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1…2..3….0 star reviews are coming up
Actually I could understand these reviews here: I’d expect that most Android users don’t have a Mac or iOS device, so they download the App and it’s mostly useless for them as they can’t sign up. I don’t understand why Apple is releasing this App under these conditions.
Don’t be a moronic twit. You can use Apple Music from inside the app on Android here, and even on a PC via iTunes. It’s simply available on whatever device you want to use – so take your trolling and get out.
Yea, typical android user – easily confused.
Let the stupid reviews begin.
Props to Apple for actually using Google’s design. If only Google would do the same on iOS.
I think Apple should’ve wait until their sign-ups doesn’t require a Mac or iOS unless it does require it and it is not a beta limitation. I don’t understand why they can’t wait until then to improve the first-run experience.
It’s also not clear from the beginning that this is a beta.
Both are negative cons and I don’t blame people for giving this app low rating for this.
Signups/Upgrades only for family plans require a Mac
You can sign up from iTunes on Windows, and I know some Mac Power users love to use Android. Not all of them are trolls.
I, for one, have multiple iOS devices and a Google Nexus 5, I love to keep my music library synced in the cloud across my Mac, iOS and Nexus devices.
About the first-run experience, I just installed the app, let’s wait and see.
It is a beta, it was clearly signed on the banner.
By the way, the experience on iOS is already pretty good IMHO.
“It’s like giving a glass of ice water to someone in hell”
It’s silly and there’s not a whole lot Apple can do about this, but it’s true that people are going to 0-star rate this into oblivion out of fanboy-ness.
fandroid army incoming.
It won’t install on Android tablets. It appears to be a half-baked beta version.
How is that different than 95% of android apps?
You say that as if it wasn’t written by Apple. So if Apple half-baked it, of course it’s going to get negative reviews…
Not compatible with Wi-FI only devices??? WTF
There are wifi-only Android phones? So like an Android touch?
No, like a tablet.
Spotify for the win !
No Beta testing
Free on Tablets
Huge Song Catalog
Can cast to Google Chromecast
Truly OS Agnostic
Not a Monopoly
Highly disagree.
The commercial break in Spotify. Dealbreaker.
I don’t think compare to Apple Music, Spotify has a huge song catalog still. I can name a lot of music that Spotify just don’t have, not to mention Apple Music exclusives.
Not interested in Chromecast, sooooooo.
By all means name me “a lot” of songs Apple Music has that Spotify doesn’t…..I’ll wait, they are either awful or just one bands songs over and over again.
“they are either awful or just one bands songs over and over again”
As usual, chris is being very clever.
No but sure, you probably know each of the thousands of songs Apple Music has and Spotify hasn’t, and you can judge their quality.
Because this is the case, Apple Music has a lot of songs Spotify hasn’t, and the other way around.
But the real problem here, and I believe this makes you one of the most idiotic commenter on this website, is that you seem to believe that Apple Music only has “mainstream / pop” music that your true music lover’s ears can’t bear.
You’ll notice, though, that no one actually asked you what kind of music you listen to, because you sound like someone with bad taste.
Maybe you should just start your own music blog and stop commenting every Apple Music-related news on here.
Cheers
Well since there is no free Apple Music, if you’re paying for both services then commercials are not an issue. So that argument is bust. They all have like 30 million songs, so I imagine that you’ll only rarely look for a song and not find it. Honestly, these products are so similar that we’re splitting hairs here.
Monopoly? How so?
No pay to artists
Apple pays a higher royalty to artists than Sporltify does.
Yea, this ‘ll be like the Android to IOS migration app – mad android users who couldn’t afford or got locked into a 2-year android contract lash out and rate the apple app a 0-star BUT it’s been downloaded over a million times already in 2 months – clearly either by switchers or soon to be switchers.
That app really did suck though, it was damn near usesless when I tried to use it to move stuff over to my 6S. The app froze up on my old device and forced me to restart my 6s and redo the setup process
Does it allow to sync my non itunes purchases collection in my mac to android?
It’s not iTunes or the Music app, it’s Apple Music the service. Without looking, I imagine you can make playlists from music in the cloud, but I don’t think it’s built for Android to be a media manager.
Yes it does. That’s part of Apple Music. Your existing music and burnt tracks can be uploaded to iCloud without affecting your iCloud storage limit. It’s like Apple Matvh has done for years, but now it’s rolled in to Apple Music, so you can play, stream, or download for offline use both your non-purchased and purchased music. Just like Google Play Music. Most reviews have missed this key feature, because it seems they can’t read.
Why is it that the Apple users who have never used the Android version of Apple Music are telling the people who have used it that they’re wrong for saying whether it’s good or not?
Just seems like Apple is late to reaching platforms other than their own and now those new people’s old habits die hard.
Frankly, it’s a pretty good app considering the source. I use both iOS and Android. Love iOS for its connectivity and the ability to share the screen and printing capabilities via my Airport Express. At the same time, I’m in love with the performance of Android devices–namely HTC and Sony. I’ve been spoiled by stereo speakers on my phone, and iPhones have crappy speakers on the bottom. The app is directed more toward those of us who started with apple and moved to Android.
Google Play erased my entire library(~$600 of music and movies)for no apparent reason and with no forewarning, so I quit using Google Play’s music. Apple has toys that make my setup wireless, and Android has workarounds that enable me to use those Apple toys. I fully intend to get a new MacBook in the next couple months, as many people have said it plays well with HTC’s Sync Manager. I was raised on Windows, fyi.
So tell me, why is it so absurd for us Android lovers to use both brands?
1) I’ll never understand why a small device like a phone, in width, has stereo speakers. There simply is no way one can sit in an equilateral triangle.
2) “Google Play erased my entire library” WoW. I would expect one can simply redownload(?)
3) There is nothing absurd about using both Android and iOS. Apple fanatics saying so are absurd themselves.