Apple has launched its very own classical music streaming app, Apple Music Classical, following the acquisition and shutdown of Primephonic in August 2021. The app will be available exclusively to iPhone users running iOS 15.4 and later versions starting March 28, with a global rollout where Apple Music is supported, excluding China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Apple Music Classical is a standalone app that requires an Apple Music subscription, with different plans such as Student, Family, or Apple One. The app only works online and does not support downloading tracks for offline streaming. Upon launching the app, users will find a similar interface to the regular Apple Music app with tabs for Listen Now, Browse, Library, and Search, but with no Radio tab for now.
The Listen Now tab offers personalized recommendations based on a user’s play history and personal taste. Meanwhile, Browse includes some of the 700 curated playlists and other recommendations highlighted by the editors. The Library tab enables users to view and edit the tracks they’ve bookmarked, while the Search tab is for searching.
In terms of features, the Apple Music Classical app is similar to its regular sibling, offering similar Now Playing screens with dedicated buttons for the queue, AirPlay, volume controls, and a playback scrubber. However, the Apple Music Classical app replaces the Lyrics button with an Info button to view relevant information about the track and its composer. The app also includes biographies of composers to help users learn more about their history and life.
Apple Music Classical is a great addition to Apple’s subscription services, catering to classical music experts and newbies interested in this genre. However, it is only available on iPhone for now, requiring an iPhone 14 Pro Max or an older model to use. Hopefully, Apple will expand the app to iPad and Mac users when iPadOS 17 and macOS 14 launch.
