Signs of Apple's all-new Apple Music app have been spotted in the first beta version of iOS 15.5, potentially hinting that it could launch in the near future.
Rather than the likes of "Podcasts+" or "Mail+," which have been theorized by analysts as potential additions to the Apple One subscription bundle over the past year, Apple will bolster Apple Music by spinning off classical music to a separate app.
Last year, Apple announced its purchase of classical music streaming service Primephonic, which offered advanced search and browse features specially optimized for classical music. At the time, Apple said that the best elements of Primephonic would become a part of Apple Music, providing subscribers with a significantly improved classical music experience.
Crucially, the company added that it will launch a new Apple Music app in 2022 dedicated to classical music, combining Primephonic's user interface and classical music specializations with the Apple Music library and features such as Lossless and Spatial Audio.
The name of the new, dedicated classical music app was not mentioned at the time. In February, the name of the new app was seemingly leaked by beta code: "Apple Classical." Lines of code from the Apple Music beta on Android also hinted at the ability to open a compatible track directly in the new, optimized service.
Now, the first beta of iOS 15.5, seeded to developers and public beta testers earlier this week, contains further signs of Apple Classical. iOS 15.5 contains "Open in Apple Classical" and "Open this in the new app designed for classical music" in the Music app code.
Late last year, Apple advertized a job for a UX Designer to work on the new standalone music app. According to the job description, the candidate was expected to "provide UX expertise and new perspectives specifically for Primephonic" in order to help realize a distinct experience for classical music that would include "visual, audial, and haptic" aspects, which may provide a hint of what the new app could offer.
While the job listing suggested that the Primephonic brand will persist in some form as part of Apple's classical offering, it seems possible that it could continue to exist as a sub-section of the new "Apple Classical" app.
With mounting evidence of preparations being put in place for the launch of Apple Classical, it seems that its release could be on the horizon for the near future, perhaps with the public release of iOS 15.5 or at WWDC in June.
