How to Listen to Apple Music on Amazon Echo

Wednesday February 27, 2019 12:43 PM PST by Tim Hardwick
If you subscribe to Apple Music and you have an Amazon Echo with Alexa enabled, you can get the smart speaker to play songs, artists, playlists, and more from ‌Apple Music‌ or playlists from your Library.

The following steps show you how to set up ‌Apple Music‌ on your Echo device. Keep reading to learn how it's done. (Note that, as of writing, this feature is only available in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.)


How to Set Up ‌Apple Music‌ on Amazon Echo


  1. Launch the Amazon Alexa app on your iPhone or iPad.

  2. Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
  3. Tap Settings.
  4. Tap Music under Alexa Preferences.
  5. Tap Link New Service.

  6. Tap ‌Apple Music‌.
  7. Tap Enable to Use.
  8. Follow the onscreen instructions to sign in with your Apple ID.
Now you've linked the service to your Echo device, say something like "Alexa, play Reggae on ‌Apple Music‌," or "Alexa, play Lana Del Ray on ‌Apple Music‌."

Make ‌Apple Music‌ Alexa's Default Music Service


To avoid having to say "...on ‌Apple Music‌" each time you ask Alexa to play something, make ‌Apple Music‌ Alexa's default music service by following these steps.
  1. Launch the Amazon Alexa app on your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌.
  2. Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen.

  3. Tap Settings.
  4. Tap Music under Alexa Preferences.

  5. Tap Default Services under Account Settings.
  6. Tap ‌Apple Music‌.
While ‌Apple Music‌ can be controlled via Alexa, the feature is limited to Amazon's own Echo devices at the current time. In the future, Amazon does plan to expand ‌Apple Music‌ availability to other Alexa-enabled third-party devices.

Tag: Apple Music Guide
31 comments

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chublet
12 months ago
have apple ever explained why this is US only?
Rating: 2 Votes
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Paultmaine
12 months ago
Uk ????
Rating: 2 Votes
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steve knight
12 months ago
the bummer is you cant use this to stream on sonos.
Rating: 2 Votes
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mookc1
12 months ago

the bummer is you cant use this to stream on sonos.


Amazon and Apple need to allow the playing of Apple Music on non-Amazon Alexa enabled devices using Alexa!

SONOS!
Rating: 2 Votes
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podycust
12 months ago

have apple ever explained why this is US only?

no as I don't think they have any reason tbh as its available on Sonos and HomePod here in the UK. it has made me switch back to Spotify and its very unlike Ill switch back to Apple Music soon
Rating: 1 Votes
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Knightcastle
12 months ago

have apple ever explained why this is US only?

Course not
Rating: 1 Votes
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tzm41
12 months ago

the bummer is you cant use this to stream on sonos.

You would just use AirPlay or the Sonos Controller to play Apple Music
Rating: 1 Votes
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Khedron
12 months ago

have apple ever explained why this is US only?


All of their services are US only these days. If you've ever got one to work outside the US it was probably a bug.
Rating: 1 Votes
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P_Devil
12 months ago

With android and android watch, Spotify just works, and everything is compatible. Spotify also works on my TV while Apple Music does not.


It's the same with Apple Music and Apple devices, just not Alexa (yet). My issue with Spotify is the service is horrendous. Their song library and download limits are an absolute joke, their solution for uploading missing content (like albums from Tool) is half-baked, and their lack of smart playlist support (at least for liked/loved content) is laughable especially considering the PC software I used in 1998 to manage my Rio 600 portable mp3 player supported those. I would like to switch to Spotify due to working on absolutely everything and it's a good service for music discovery and for people who want to be spoon-fed their content but it's a non-solution for people with large libraries and for content not available on the service. Spotify has shown zero intentions of fixing any of this and are now focused on expanding their reach into podcasts instead of actually making their service better.

I can’t figure out if this is Apple or Amazon. But it is half baked. Some features work, some still don’t.


It's both. Apple Music support was contacted by someone on Reddit and, after going back and forth for a week, someone working on the project said that they (Apple) were working closely with Amazon to make it better but don't have a timeframe for when that will happen. I've been using Amazon Music, the "free" tier for Amazon Prime members, to hold me over until Apple Music really gets integrated.

have apple ever explained why this is US only?


Apple hasn't but Amazon has, in a roundabout way. Amazon released their Amazon Music API to developers in the U.S. only. That's the API that allows them to develop their service with Alexa compatiblity instead of having to only go through Amazon. Apple (and others) can't really do anything until Amazon opens the API to more territories.
Rating: 1 Votes
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Jmausmuc
12 months ago
It’s an absolute joke this is only available in the US.

if I want to listen on my Apple Watch, I need Apple Music, if I want to listen on my Alexa Speaker I need Spotify.

Apple Music has now lost, thought. I have just cancelled it (along with my extra iCloud Storage) and will be switching back to Spotify.

The more locked in Apple becomes with its (imho) mediocre services, the more I want to switch. With android and android watch, Spotify just works, and everything is compatible. Spotify also works on my TV while Apple Music does not.
Rating: 1 Votes
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