William Gallagher
More evidence has been found that the planned expansion of Apple Music will be called "Apple Classical," according to code found in the latest iOS beta.
When it bought the Primephonic service, Apple was unusually open about how it plans to improve the way Apple Music will handle classical music. The company said a classical app was planned for 2022, but didn't say when, or name it.
Now following a first sighting of the name "Apple Classical" in an Android beta release of Apple Music, the same name has been spotted in the iOS 15.5 developer beta.
Beyond the name, the code fragments found on Tuesday by MacRumors include a trio of messages that will be displayed on screen to users, once such an app has been launched.
- Open in Apple Classical
- Open this in the new app designed for classical music
- A Shortcut to Apple Classical
As yet no "Apple Classical" app has been released, even in beta. The presence of these messages suggests it may be soon. The specific messages also suggest something of how the app may operate.
Currently, for instance, Apple Music already contains classical music, but it has always been the weakest part of the service. That's because any one single piece of classical music may be available on very many different albums, and will certainly have been recorded or even rearranged by very many more different record labels, and orchestras.
The message about opening a track in the new app could mean that when an Apple Music user finds a classical track, they will be prompted to move to listening to it in "Apple Classical" instead.
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
5 Comments
Apple releases Apple Classical
I try it
Find it's Classic ROCK
Looses my ****
I know it’s still speculation at this point, but does it look like it’ll be a separate app from the Apple Music app with a separate subscription? With maybe special pricing for a subscription to both?
I still think this will be released at the same time as the AirPods Pro 2. Initially I was worried that separating the classical genre from everything else might dissuade casual fans and curious listeners of other genres from developing an appreciation of it due to the extra step required for discovery. The presence of shortcuts or links in the Beta code alleviate some of that worry.