Apple Laying Groundwork for Apple Music Classical Feature Launching in 2022 - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Laying Groundwork for Apple Music Classical Feature Launching in 2022

Apple appears to be preparing for the upcoming launch of Apple Music Classical, a standalone classical music app that will be available alongside the ‌Apple Music‌ app.

apple music
Mentions of Apple Classical have appeared in backend code used by Apple, suggesting that we could perhaps be seeing ‌Apple Music‌ Classical debut in the near future.


‌Apple Music‌ Classical will be built around Primephonic, a classical music service that Apple purchased more than a year ago. When Apple acquired Primephonic, the company promised an improved classical music experience for ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers.

Apple said there would be a "dedicated classical music app" coming in 2022, with the app combining Primephonic's classical user interface with "more added features." With roughly 90 days to go until the end of the year, there isn't a lot of time left for Apple to make the promised 2022 timeline.

There are no new signs of ‌Apple Music‌ Classical that have been added in the iOS 16.1 beta as of yet, so Apple could be saving it for a future iOS 16 release that's planned before the end of the year.

Popular Stories

iOS 27 on iPhone 17 1

iOS 27 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday May 2, 2026 8:43 am PDT by
Apple is expected to unveil iOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 keynote on June 8, and there are already many rumored features and changes for iPhones. The first developer beta of iOS 27 will likely be available immediately following the keynote, and a public beta typically follows in July. Following beta testing, the software update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

Why You Might Want to Wait to Buy a MacBook Pro

Friday May 1, 2026 3:43 pm PDT by
Apple refreshed the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max models in March 2026, but depending on your needs and interests, you might want to skip this generation because there's something better in the works. The M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models have faster chips, but the same design that Apple has used since 2021. An updated design with new display technology and faster ...
macOS 27 on MacBook Pro

Apple to Unveil macOS 27 Next Month With These New Features

Friday May 1, 2026 1:21 pm PDT by
Apple will unveil its latest software platforms during its WWDC 2026 keynote on Monday, June 8, and one of them will be macOS 27 for the Mac. The first developer beta of macOS 27 will likely be available immediately following the keynote, and a public beta typically follows in July. Following beta testing, the software update should be released to all users in September. macOS 26 is known ...

Top Rated Comments

TheDailyApple Avatar
47 months ago
Can’t wait! This is probably the thing I’ve most anticipated from Apple this year.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Angel Martin Avatar
47 months ago

As someone who regularly listens to classical, I don’t want this nor do I see the appeal of breaking this out into its own app/service in the slightest when whatever they’re hoping to implement in this app could just be brought to regular old Apple Music.

Also, how can Apple claim to cater to classical music fans when they don’t support FLAC? Classical connoisseurs maintain their own digital libraries and use FLAC as standard. Not that ALAC nonsense.
Anyone that is a huge fan will not need this service. But this will probably broaden some horizons and introduce many young people to such an incredible experience. I just don't see why you would disparage sharing Classical Music. So don't subscribe. Why deny others?
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
whsbuss Avatar
47 months ago
I’m a jazz head… how about one for us
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
47 months ago
If this is streaming only then it had better be included in existing Apple Music/Apple One subscriptions.

As for ALAC, who cares? It’s just as lossless as FLAC and the two formats can be converted back and forth without any data loss. Only a complete pedant would be bothered by it.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ThisBougieLife Avatar
47 months ago
I still think it's weird to have a dedicated app for this. I wish they could just make much-needed improvements to the Music app. What I like about Qobuz is that it's great for classical in terms of metadata and the organizing of tracks in albums, but I can also use it for other genres.

Additionally, this makes having a cohesive library and set of playlists across genres a bit convoluted.

@MrRom92 Can agree. Part of the reason I mainly use Roon now is because it plays FLAC and I don't have to bother converting (it also allows for the best integration of my downloaded/ripped music with streaming that I've seen so far, superior to Apple Music and Audirvana).
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ThisBougieLife Avatar
47 months ago
Lmao they're not doing this to broaden horizons. They're doing this so people will have another subscription.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)