What’s new with Apple Music in iOS 13

iOS 13 is quite possibly the largest upgrade to Apple’s mobile software in years. There are so many new changes, features, and upgrades that it can be tough to find them all.

Related Reading

• 17 Apple Music tips that will rock your listening world
• How to fix Apple Music not working on iPhone/iPad
• These top 10 Shortcuts will amp up your Apple Music experience
• How to view song lyrics in Apple Music on iOS, Mac, and Apple TV

One such instance is Apple Music. The application did not get too much screen-time at WWDC ’19, but Apple has integrated quite a few changes to the app. We have taken the time to find the “best” features and will share how they will impact your experience.

Dark Mode Everywhere

This is a feature that users have been clamoring for, and it’s finally here. Across all of iOS 13 and iPadOS, there is now a system-wide Dark Mode. This includes many of your favorite applications, along with Apple Music.

Instead of being blinded by all of the white backgrounds, you can toggle Dark Mode and have everything look better. Plus, with Dark Mode enabled, this should theoretically improve battery life as there aren’t as many pixels being used with the OLED displays.

Duplicate Songs with Playlists

We live on our mobile devices and the same can be said for our music libraries. Apple Music is one of the industry leaders as a streaming platform, as you can create your personalized library of playlists with ease.

In the past, it would be frustrating to go through and create a long playlist, only to find that you added duplicate songs. With Apple Music in iOS 13, that will no longer be an issue, as the app will throw up a warning dialog box explaining that the song was already added to the current playlist.

Shuffle and Repeat Options

For whatever reason, Apple loves to play around with the Shuffle and Repeat buttons in its Music app. Back in iOS 12, this was done by swiping up from the song being played and tapping on either the Shuffle or Repeat buttons.

With iOS 13, this has changed again, as you need to head into the queue for whatever playlist is being played. At the bottom of the Now Playing screen, tap the “Up Next button”. From here, you will see a list of songs, and under “Up Next” the Shuffle and Repeat buttons are here.

Customizable Menus

Another big update with iOS 13 came to the Share Sheet, which provides an array of actions that can be taken. These are customizable on a per-app basis, including Apple Music.

When using Music, tap and hold on a song, and you are presented with a slew of options. Scroll all the way to the bottom, tap the “Edit Actions” button, and customize your Share Sheet with the most useful Actions for you.

Live Lyrics

Whether it’s karaoke night, or you just love learning lyrics, Apple Music in iOS 13 has an awesome new feature. Live Lyrics are here, and the lyrics will scroll as the music plays so that you can stop getting tongue-tied.

In order to access this, tap the Lyrics button at the bottom of the Now Playing screen and the screen will be taken over. You will still have access to your music controls, but the current lyrics will be highlights. Plus, if you want to jump to a specific section, tap on the words and the song will jump to that point.

Up Next Queue

Along with the Shuffle and Repeat selections, the Up Next Queue has been a sore spot for Apple. With iOS 13, things are changing again as it will only take a single tap in order to see the queue of songs.

Users now can rearrange these songs by pressing and holding on them. Or, use the Share Sheet Actions in order to quickly add songs to your Up Next Queue. Now, we just need the “Clear All” button to return and we will really be in business.

Live Radio with iOS 13

You can now play Live Radio with iOS 13 (although the feature was made available in selective regions on iOS 12). The best way to access live radio o your iPhone is via Siri. Here is a detail how-to article that our friends at Digital Trends covered on this feature.

Conclusion

All of the changes to Apple Music have finally swayed me from moving away from Spotify. It’s clear that Apple is trying to take Spotify on directly, and these changes will help in the process.

Let us know what your favorite changes are with Apple Music in iOS 13. Also sound off and send us some links to your favorite playlists in Apple Music because we’re always looking for new music to listen to.

Andrew Myrick

Andrew is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US.

He has written for a variety of sites over the years, including iMore, Android Central, Phandroid, and a few others. Now, he spends his days working for an HVAC company, while moonlighting as a freelance writer at night.