iOS 17 Music App Features: Crossfade, Collaborative Playlists, Song Credits and More

Apple Music in iOS 17 includes several long-requested features, such as collaborative playlists and an option to enable crossfade for a non-stop music experience. This guide highlights everything new that Apple added to the ‌Apple Music‌ app in iOS 17.

iOS 17 Apple Music Feature

Crossfade

Crossfade allows songs that are playing to smoothly transition into one another, eliminating any dead air time between songs.

apple music crossfade length

Collaborative Playlists

With collaborative playlists, friends and family members can add to, reorder, and remove songs from a single ‌Apple Music‌ playlist. You can set up a playlist with several people, and each person can contribute songs and react to songs in the playlist with emoji.

apple music collaborative playlist
Collaborative playlists are not yet implemented and will be coming to an iOS 17 update a bit later this year.

Apple Music SharePlay for CarPlay

iOS 17 brings an ‌Apple Music‌ SharePlay experience to CarPlay, so everyone in the car can play their favorite songs and contribute music. The car owner that has their iPhone connected to the car needs to have an ‌Apple Music‌ subscription for this feature to work, but passengers do not.

shareplay carplay
The ‌Apple Music‌ interface provides a QR code that each person can scan to get access to a playlist where songs can be added to the in-car ‌Apple Music‌ queue.

Interface Updates

Full-screen animated artwork is available for albums that support the option, and album art is also now designed to blend seamlessly into the music player where the controls are located.

apple music ios 17
When the music player is minimized, there is now a hovering effect that adds depth.

Non-synced Lyrics

Song lyrics that are not synced to the music that's playing are shown in a larger, more legible font. This brings the lyric size in line with the lyrics that are synced to an ‌Apple Music‌ song.

Song Credits

Tapping on the three-dot icon next to a song that is playing or in a playlist shows song credits. The credits show the performing artists, composition artists, and those who were involved in production and engineering.

song credits apple music

Apple Music Sing on Apple TV

With an ‌iPhone‌ running iOS 17 and an Apple TV 4K running tvOS 17, the ‌iPhone‌ can serve as a camera for the ‌Apple TV‌, showing you on the screen as you perform. You can also do this with an iPad, and it is the same feature that enables FaceTime on ‌Apple TV‌.

apple music sing continuity camera
‌Apple Music‌ Sing is integrated into ‌Apple Music‌. It uses the built-in follow-along lyrics and turns down vocals so you can sing along with your favorite songs.

Read More

More on all of the new features in iOS 17 can be found in our in-depth iOS 17 roundup.

Related Forums: iOS 17, iPadOS 17

Popular Stories

iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Intel Inside iPhone Feature

Apple's Return to Intel Rumored to Extend to iPhone

Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone. In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
Johny Srouji

Apple Chip Chief Johny Srouji Could Be Next to Go as Exodus Continues

Sunday December 7, 2025 10:41 am PST by
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...
Johny Srouji

Apple's Chipmaking Chief Johny Srouji Responds to Report About Him Potentially Leaving

Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future. "I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
top stories 2025 12 04a

Top Stories: iOS 26.2 Coming Soon, Apple Execs Depart, and More

Saturday December 6, 2025 6:00 am PST by
You'd expect things to be starting to wind down for the holidays by now, but that doesn't seem to be the case yet in the world of Apple news, with Apple just about ready to release iOS 26.2 and other operating system updates to the public. There was also a flurry of news this week about Apple executive departures, some expected and some not so expected, while we also learned that Apple and...
maxresdefault

iPhone Fold: Launch, Pricing, and What to Expect From Apple's Foldable

Monday December 1, 2025 3:00 am PST by
Apple is expected to launch a new foldable iPhone next year, based on multiple rumors and credible sources. The long-awaited device has been rumored for years now, but signs increasingly suggest that 2026 could indeed be the year that Apple releases its first foldable device. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we've collated an updated set of key details that ...
Apple Fitness Plus expansion hero

Apple Fitness+ Coming to 28 New Regions With Digital Voice Dubbing

Monday December 8, 2025 6:19 am PST by
Apple today announced that Fitness+ is expanding to 28 new markets on December 15 in the service's largest international rollout since launch, accompanied by new language dubbing and a K-Pop music genre. Apple Fitness+ will become available in Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and additional regions on December 15, with Japan scheduled to follow early next year....

Top Rated Comments

Wilson1313 Avatar
30 months ago
Still an atrocious interface. Needs a ground-up UI redesign.

Edit: Reasons why (no particular order)

* Adding to library or playlist should be a one-click action vs needing to click the 3 dot menu
* No device handoff or memory for last playing if app is restarted
* Random glitches and stability issues (such as now playing not always reflecting current song playing)
* Song radios repeating songs and not as good at curating as Spotify
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eicca Avatar
30 months ago
But: did they fix the bug where music copied from my computer shows up as each track being its own album?

That bug has been there for SIX YEARS NOW.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AJTC Avatar
30 months ago

Still an atrocious interface. Needs a ground-up UI redesign.

Edit: Reasons why (no particular order)

* Adding to library or playlist should be a one-click action vs needing to click the 3 dot menu
* No device handoff or memory for last playing if app is restarted
* Random glitches and stability issues (such as now playing not always reflecting current song playing)
* Song radios repeating songs and not as good at curating as Spotify

I’d add in that the Listen Now, Browse and Search needs to be faster/native instead of a web app wrapped in an app container. Those tabs are so slow compared to Spotify.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lazyrighteye Avatar
30 months ago
Song Credits!
I’ll have to see it in action, but it’s a step toward complete liner notes that include all musicians, instruments played, producer, studio, etc. Can go a long way toward facilitating deeper connection to the music. Has been my main request of the platform. Excited to finally see some attention in that regard.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dynAdZ Avatar
30 months ago
While these are decent features, what the app really needs is a complete rework from scratch. It should get a whole new UI and coding framework to make it at least as fast and stable as Spotify‘s app is. It is hard to believe how fast you can navigate and search in Spotify compared to Apple Music. They really should start all over.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cgs1xx Avatar
30 months ago
how many years till we get an equalizer? :rolleyes::rolleyes:
come on Apple... you can do it!

Also I'd love to be able to switch off anything "curated" like Listen Now, Radio, Browse etc
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)