As of this afternoon, many developers and public beta testers running the latest iOS 8.4 beta are seeing popups for Apple's upcoming Apple Music service within the Music app.
When opening the app, there's a popup for Apple Music that prompts users to start a three month free trial. Tapping on that option leads to another screen that lets users choose either an individual plan for $9.99 for a family plan for $14.99, but there's no way to actually sign up for a plan. Choosing a plan simply grays out the option and does not allow users to progress further in the signup process.
These options have been showing up for some users since the latest iOS 8.4 beta was seeded yesterday morning, but many more users are now seeing signs of the Apple Music service as Apple begins to implement backend tools to support subscription signups at launch.
Apple Music will launch on June 30 as part of iOS 8.4, and it will be built into the Music app. The full Apple Music experience includes an on-demand streaming music service, the Beats 1 radio station, and Apple Connect, a social networking service connecting fans and artists.
Thursday August 20, 2026 4:41 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple sent emails to its music industry partners about the upcoming launch of a Made With AI label that Apple will apply to AI-generated content (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Content tagged as being "materially generated using AI" will have a label visible to all Apple Music users.
In March, Apple announced Transparency Tags, a system that lets music creators disclose when AI has been...
Tuesday September 15, 2026 1:43 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries.
In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....
Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by Eric Slivka
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking!
Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
If the streaming quality isn't as good as Spotify's (320kbps) then there's not too much point many people switching over imo.
The bitrate of MP3 and AAC files should not be directly compared. A 256 kbps AAC sounds just as good (if not better) than a 320 kbps MP3. As a bonus you use less data.
I heard bad things about family sharing, hesitant to turn that on. Also, forget family sharing for a bit and think of single-user, wonder if it will let you login to multiple devices on the same account simultaneously. I know spotify doesn't.
Bad things? I have absolutely no problems with using Family Sharing.
If you do this in the UK the app says the pricing is £9.99 and £14.99. Very interesting as Im pretty sure this hasn't been announced / mentioned anywhere yet, only the US pricing.
