See watchOS 4.1's Music Streaming and New Radio App in Action

Today's watchOS 4.1 beta, seeded to developers this morning, introduces support for streaming music directly to the Apple Watch over LTE and it brings a new Radio app with access to Beats 1 live and other Apple Music radio stations.

We went hands-on with the beta to get a look at the new features, which are primarily aimed at Apple Music subscribers who have a Series 3 Apple Watch.


The Music app on the watch looks mostly the same with access to your Music Library, recently played songs, playlists, and Apple Music mixes, but now all of your music content can be streamed over an LTE connection on the Series 3 Apple Watch models and doesn't need to be downloaded to your device.

With the update, you have access to the full range of Apple Music content, and can ask Siri to play songs with or without a phone and over WiFi or LTE.

The new Radio app houses all of your Apple Music radio stations and provides access to Beats 1 radio content. Siri can also create new radio stations with requests like "Play Taylor Swift" or "Play something fun."

It's not yet clear just how much streaming music over an LTE connection will affect battery life, but when possible, the Apple Watch will use the iPhone's connection or a WiFi connection to conserve battery.

These new features are available in watchOS 4.1, which is only available to developers at the current time. Apple doesn't offer watchOS public betas, so non-developers will need to wait for the update to be released to try out the new music capabilities.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 11
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)

Popular Stories

iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
apple tv 4k new orange

Next Apple TV Expected to Launch This Year With These New Features

Monday September 22, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
The next Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Likely Features N1 Chip With Wi-Fi 7 Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the next Apple TV would be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which is...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation

Monday September 22, 2025 11:15 am PDT by
With iOS 26.1, Apple Intelligence is gaining support for additional languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Apple announced plans to expand the languages that can be used with Apple Intelligence last year, and now the added language support is here. Apple Intelligence is now available in the following...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
iPhone 17 Pro USB C Port

iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Monday September 22, 2025 7:29 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 36W with the following Apple chargers:40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max 61W USB-C Power Adapter 67W USB-C Power Adapter 70W USB-C Power Adapter 96W USB-C Power Adapter 140W USB-C Power AdapterFor...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds First Betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1

Monday September 22, 2025 10:05 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with the first betas of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The new betas are the first updates to the iOS, iPadOS, macOS 26, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS releases that came out last week. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going...

Top Rated Comments

ipedro Avatar
104 months ago
Literally only thing I care about- Is your library from your phone back? Could care less about apple music garbage.
If you “could care less”, then you care. At least get the expression right if you’re going to insult Apple Music. :rolleyes:
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
oghowie Avatar
104 months ago
What about Podcasts?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
104 months ago
Siri can also create new radio stations with requests like "Play Taylor Swift" or "Play something fun."
Waiting to hear which folks think those two requests are synonymous vs. who thinks they are diametrically opposed.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pcorrado Avatar
104 months ago
Streamed for about 45 minutes to the AirPods over LTE with some texting and news reading. Used about 5-6% battery.

Not scientific but I would say expect about 10% drop per hour of streaming. This was on a strong Verizon LTE signal.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ItsGavinC Avatar
104 months ago
No WiFi. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.
The watch has WiFi, what are you referring to?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
punchdrunk55 Avatar
104 months ago
If you “could care less”, then you care. At least get the expression right if you’re going to insult Apple Music. :rolleyes:
There are actually a few things that I could care less about than Apple Music, proper grammar being one of those things. But it's still maddening that Apple took away an incredibly useful feature and has not provided any answer whatsoever as to why. Seemingly the only reason they did this is to force users onto their monthly subscription.

I used to leave my phone around the house and select music from my phone to play around the house. Also, this would not be an issue if Apple would let you downgrade firmware like the Iphone, in my haste I upgraded and didn't realize the consequences.

Off topic, anyone else bothered that they have now playing worse as well? I can no longer see how much is left on a particular podcast or song, its the little things that just annoy me more and more.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)