How Apple Music could improve in IOS 27.
I was using AM in the beta, and I love the new features but I started thinking about features and annoyances that could be easy fixes and/or fit into their new 'Apple Intelligence agenda' so I wrote this list of things they could add. I have also send this on the feedback app but they never listen 😢
i have listed a few of the features that they should really implement to make music the best and that also will explode the amount of users of apple intelligence so they can brag to their shareholders and investors and also some other ones that I just think would be cool.
1- Siri DJ
ANOTHER APP has had their AI DJ for years now, and it is rlly cool, tailored recs with a few curveballs thrown in, a ‘DJ’ introducing and closing out mini sets and also speaking about the artists
The new Siri, as they love to mention, is truly integrated in your device and knows everything about you. a Siri DJ would be incredible if they implemented it correctly. here are some of my ideas that would make it actually useful and great
personal context
- when you’re doing a workout, Siri knows this and can give you updates whilst being the ‘radio host’, saying your pace, heart rate etc whilst also being a ‘coach’ giving you motivation and also live route recommendations.
- Siri knows your calendar events and location so when you are starting the station, Siri can say your schedule and remind you as the day goes on,
- She can give you a weather forecast and updates based on your actual location
- She could also tell you some breaking news based on your location too
- She can announce notifications but when it’s the right time to do so, and only saying the ones that are important
This all should be toggle-able though.
2 - New ‘Apple Intelligence ’ Algorithm
it’s no secret that the apple music algorithm is worse than the competition, AM recommends me songs i haven’t listened to in years or just completely unrelated music that don’t match my taste at all.
Ways to integrate is useless without a strong core. AM needs to implement the new algorithm in ALL areas, recommendations need to fit the listeners taste and use personal context, and other data to actually suggest fitting and appropriate songs. Branding it as the ’new Apple Intelligence’ algorithm can make users more comfortable with the whole system in general and also adds publicity so more people subscribe. Here are some features/changes that would use the 'new system'
queue
in the queue where shuffle, repeat etc is, there could also be a apple intelligence / siri button to quickly change the queue based on personal context. when at work, have the option to ‘get focused’ or when you’re playing a sad song have an option say ‘lighten things up?’. these options could live in a drop down menu so users who dont care for the feature can ignore it.
made for you playlists
apples made for you playlists lack behind as they rarely choose the right songs and also only update once a week. these playlists should update daily and suggest better music
The option to ‘suggest a playlist’ exists in some regions however you should also be able to describe a ‘daylist’ that fits the mood, like what other apps do in their custom playlists when searching. You could ask Siri or Apple Intelligence to make you a ‘lazy Sunday morning playlist’, it makes the playlist and asks how often you want it to update. this could then link back to Siri DJ and uses your personal context to play the playlist and similar songs when it actually is a ‘lazy Sunday morning’
Following from that. smart playlist’s have exited on mac for over a decade probably but you can’t make one on ios , this could be rebranded as apple intelligence playlists where you can type in plain text what you want to happen but with the knowledge of your personal contexts and statistics, e.g you could type ‘a playlist that shows all of my dance music that i haven’t played over 20 times’ or ‘songs that are similar to Club Classics but have under 10,000 streams’. You should also have the option to make one manually, inspired by the shortcuts UI
In Albums and Playlists
Under albums and playlists , recommendations for albums and songs lack the awareness and context of the music or the users true tastes. Rebranding these changes as Siri / Apple intelligence would also be good for marketing.
At the end of an album, song or playlist have a ‘suggest more like this’ button that shows you a page of truly similar music that you can add etc.
3 - DJ’s and Auto-mix
I absolutely love the auto mix feature however in many cases the feature doesn’t work and makes my music transitions sound awful and like it’s done by someone mashing buttons on a DJ deck.
'Custom' automix
in the 100s of new features page at wwdc it mentioned how there was more automix transitions however it still lacks the option for user customisation. spotify’s implementation of custom mixes is more custom allows for more creativity, to the point where some of these mixes have now become viral sounds on TikTok.
apple has the knowledge to implement this feature also with a much cleaner UI and can go even further with its ability to go integrate deeper with the device and ecosystem:
- shared mixed playlists, where custom mixes can be saved and shared.
- a shareplay / mix together feature would be incredible for friends to mess around with trying to create a new sound or mix, (this also would add ‘platform lock-in’ as you would both need a subscription
- sharing a custom mix in imessage could automatically skip to the mixing segment and display a visualiser that matches within the text thread
- you could ask the new siri to play ‘that new mix that X made’
User uploaded DJ sets / DJ collabs
Apple also has been a front runner in adding their platform to rekordbox and having actual DJ mixes on their platform, apple also has far more respect than other platforms and could collab with Pioneer etc to add even more to the app and give artists and users more options
- ‘real’ DJ mixes in AM: you could record a mix using Apple Music’s library in rekordbox and it would save as a pseudo mixlist/playlist on the user’s profile if they chose to. You could then share this with friends and on social media. This would also boost subscribers as a ‘lossless, navigable and easy to find’ mix from a fans favourite DJ would only be available on apple music. Or a mix that they can save and hear without the need of another app would push users to AM.
- AM already has DJ mixes from big artists, but doesn’t have the option for users/beginners to upload their own. To fix the issue of ‘anybody can do it’ a mix should be uploaded as a playlist on the users profile or into a separate mixlist category. It also would require that the mix only uses Apple Music tracks in the mix.
- Apple Intelligence could then find and recommend user mixes or even bake them into Siri DJ as a real DJ set adds more variety than an auto transition.
- Apple Music already has a far better relationship with DJ’s and could use this to get exclusive ‘mini mixes’ baked into siri DJ and Artist Profiles. For example, Charli XCX could have done a mini mix when she was releasing brat that only users on Apple Music heard, it could’ve had snippets from the upcoming album and demos etc. This could extend with any artist, during a rollout snippets and teases could be uploaded to an artists profile and be heard directly in the app.
4 - UI / Page changes
The app UI now has the ability to change to be far better also as the software is in beta.
Search
- in search, the mass amounts of category’s and genres are redundant, i don’t listen to country music so why is there the option front and centre. These should be moved down to the bottom and be ranked in terms of user specific taste
- You could also have a Siri Suggestions / Apple Intelligence section within search that knows your personal contexts and suggests music that you ‘would’ve searched for anyway’
- the overall ui is also a mess, it’s clunky and crowded, recent searches should be at the top of the page ALWAYS, not just when going to type. the layout should be listed like this:
- Recent searches
- Siri Suggestions
- Frequently played
- larger buttons for Replay and most played genres
- and then finally a genre discovery section that is only visible when scrolling down on the page
New / Browse
- the browse page is redundant and has little to no link to your own music taste the browse tab should ever be removed overall or reworked and renamed to be useful to every user
- the browse tab should be laid out similar to the home tab but focus just on discovery. large scrollable horizontal lists of albums, playlists and songs that match the users tastes
- a ‘Siri DJ’ playlists section: multiple constantly updating playlists like ‘made for you’ but only focused on discovery. apple music already has stations for moods and discovery, but some people want to see a tracklist and the lack of ability to see what songs will play can put people off trying the feature all together.
- this also can replace / integrate with the moods stations, using the health apps mood log UI where you can choose how you’re feeling could build you a custom discovery playlist or station by Siri there and then.
- Making charts more accessible is also needed, the only reason i ever go on the browse tab is to check the charts to see how my favourite artist is doing on them. This should be more accessible and allows for more discovery.
- This is just a fun one: you could also add the option for [usename]’s Chart where Apple Intelligence makes your own chart based on you and your friends statistics where your friends can compete to get their favourite song at ‘number 1’ This can also be used in Siri DJ and in recommendations. In this section you could delve into how many streams a song in your circle has and who from. And can link with the ‘friends’ made for you playlist.
Radio
- I love Apples commitment to radio and it’s one of the reasons i think they are so respected by artists, Apple Music 1 has some of the best interviews but i think the radio tab and its implementation lacks focus and is leaving loads on the table
- Radio stations should be able to be favourited and pinned in a users library allowing for fast access
- The tab should suggest interviews and segments that match your own tastes and show you interviews with your favourite artists
- This could also link to the new recommendation engine, where mixes from the radio can be easily saved as a playlist. Or Apple Intelligence could draw out recommendations, played songs, important dialogue from the Host or Guest and show link’s and images to places/things they mention, then combined into a playlist / story. Also would look good for marketing Apple Intelligence
- This is also where your custom stations and Siri DJ can live. The ability to create a station based on a specific song or artist already exists but it could be done in a far easier and effective way. You should also be allowed to change the name and cover of a custom station for easy access and readability in a users library
- Apples integration with Tunein is also great for more discovery but stations that match the genre and personal tastes should also be pushed more than just the ‘big ones’. I personally love NTS infinite mix stations and they should’ve been shown to me over Capital FM
Home
- The home tab is the best tab on the app but also includes some things that should be changed / tweaked with IOS 27
- a ‘just play something’ button should be added to the home tab where it uses the new algorithm, Siri and Apple intelligence to play the correct playlist, album or station at the right time.
- replay should be a higher priority as music statistic tracking is huge and finding the replay feature is harder for anybody who ‘isn’t tapped in’ as it’s right at the bottom, for example, a horizontal scrolling list of ‘your top songs recently’ higher up in the home tab also showing your plays etc
- A small grid of the absolute most suggested music should sit underneath the ‘top picks’ section for ease of access and reachability, but not filled with podcast and audiobook slop, like the other app…
Library
- where you should be able to easily see everything. The library tab has some glaring UI flaws and needs to be changed to be easier to use
- pinned content should sit UNDER the category section as they should be the easily reachable
- ‘songs’ and ‘favourites’ should be completely separate categories and you should be able to turn a category into a pin.
- when offline. your library should automatically show songs offline and hide the ones you can’t play (you should be able to toggle this off though)
- ^ Building on this a Siri-suggested Offline Playlist that auto-updates and downloads your most recommended songs should also show automatically when offline.
- The albums category should show only full albums. Why is the albums category filled with singles?.. this should be a toggle to ‘show full albums only’ / ‘show singles and EP’s’ / ‘Show Albums and EP’s’
- The recently added section is great however could have more options. You should be able to filter between songs, albums and playlists, or even just Favourites.
4 - Miscellaneous
- IOS iCloud library uploading. You should be able to upload a local file to your icloud music library using IOS.
- Non-animated Covers should match animated ones in terms of scaling and positioning with the option to ‘show full artwork’ on either
- better airplay/casting. I should be able to control my music from my phone when it’s playing out of my mac or ipad
- you should be able to hide artists and playlists form your account
- Lyrics on lock screen and standby
- SIMPLE QUEUEING, play a song without having to clear. only have an ‘add to queue’ when sliding where it intelligently adds it. have more options when holding down on the song or pressing 3 dot menu
- animated / video artwork on user playlists (just fun innit)
- Add, Favourite and share when pressing 3 dot menu in now playing should be at the bottom, where your finger is
- In a collab song, when clicking on the artists name, give the option to go to either
- now playing widget on the home screen