iOS 12 Beta Lets Apple Music Subscribers Search for Some Songs Using Lyric Phrases - MacRumors
Skip to Content

iOS 12 Beta Lets Apple Music Subscribers Search for Some Songs Using Lyric Phrases

by

A Reddit user has discovered that the first beta of iOS 12 includes a Music app feature that allows Apple Music subscribers to search for songs using lyric phrases.

As the image below shows, using the search phrase "Loving you isn't the right thing to do" – the first lines of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" – successfully returns the relevant song, and quotes the lyrical phrase in the single's entry in the results.

apple music search lyrics ios 12 beta 1
MacRumors can confirm that the lyric search does work, but seemingly not yet for all songs with lyrics in the Apple Music archive. Several beta testers on Reddit also chimed in to confirm the feature. As Reddit user abrb3192 notes:

It definitely works. Had a line in my head for weeks and no idea where it came from. Searched "6 gear speed" and it brought back the song Strip That Down by Liam Payne. It's not my cup of tea (the song) but at least I finally have context to the transmission reference.

Assuming the feature makes the final release of iOS 12, Apple Music subscribers should be able to discover songs for which they don't know the name, but only know a select lyric that they can recall hearing as part of a song.

In Apple Music in iOS 11, scrolling down on the "Now Playing" window brings up an option to show song lyrics on most Apple Music songs. Lyrics are not available for all songs, especially new releases, so that might be the reason for the hit and miss results in the iOS 12 beta.

Related Forum: iOS 12

Top Rated Comments

Jeremy1026 Avatar
108 months ago
That's actually very nice, better search is needed. Could this be because they purchased Shazam (even though they already had the lyrics)?
Highly doubtful. Having the lyrics is the key to matching a song by typed lyrics. Not the songs musical fingerprint.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
whyamihere Avatar
108 months ago
This is excellent. I just hope asking Siri to play a song by quoting lyrics works too!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
108 months ago
What if I have a desiiiiiiiigner song stuck in my head .. AHAAA bet they didn’t think of that did they ?


That’s it . I’m switiching to blackberry
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mac-lover3 Avatar
108 months ago
That's actually very nice, better search is needed. Could this be because they purchased Shazam (even though they already had the lyrics)?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

apple music

Apple Music to Label AI-Generated Songs

Thursday August 20, 2026 4:41 pm PDT by
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...
iPhone Handoff Feature

iOS 27 Introduces New 'iPhone Handoff' Feature

Wednesday September 2, 2026 12:35 pm PDT by
Apple has added a new "iPhone Handoff" feature to iOS 27 that will allow you to switch between two iPhones while using the same phone number on each device. This functionality was briefly mentioned during the WWDC 2026 keynote in June, on a slide that listed hundreds of new features coming in iOS 27 and corresponding software updates, but Apple never shared any further details at the time. ...
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Prices Estimated Ahead of Apple Event Next Week

Thursday September 3, 2026 3:41 am PDT by
Less than a week before Apple debuts new iPhone 18 Pro models, research firm TrendForce has estimated the prices of the devices based on the latest hardware cost environment. TrendForce's price estimates compared to last year's models look like this: Model Starting Price Model Starting Price Change iPhone 17 Pro $1,099 iPhone 18 Pro $...