We recently wrote about a few tips and tricks that make Spotify a great streaming music service, but what if you’re using Apple Music? There are a lot of features hidden under the hood in Apple’s latest redesign to the app, and they’ll make your listening experience better. Apple Music also integrates into other apps in iOS in helpful ways. Let’s take a look at some of the best features:
“Hold me closer Tony Danzaaaa…”
Lyrics! Ever wanted to know what the lyrics are to a song you’re currently rocking out to? Apple Music now has a lyric sheet baked right into the Now Playing card of any song. Here’s how to view the lyrics.
- Start playing a song and make sure you’re in the Now Playing view for that song (this will take up your entire screen.)
- Swipe up on the screen and tap on Show next to lyrics.
- This will open a new section of the card where you can view the full lyrics to the song you’re listening to. If you want to hide the lyrics again, simply tap on Hide.
Send a song through Messages
Listening to a song you’re loving and want to share it with a friend? You can now share recently played songs right from within the Messages app. If the person you’re sending the link to is also running iOS 10, it’ll show up as a rich link. They’ll be able to play the song right from within the Messages app!
- Start a new message and tap on the white arrow button to the left of your message.
- Tap on the Messages App Store button.
- Tap on the Music button.
- You’ll now see all your recently played songs.
- Tap on a song to add it to your message.
- Your recipient should be able to play the song right from the Messages app!
Use the equalizer for different songs, places and speakers
Just like in Spotify, the equalizer that Apple’s built in to Music is pretty helpful. Not only is the equalizer good to boost or cut certain frequencies depending on the music you’re listening to, it can also be helpful if you’re trying to make the music sound louder (Loudness setting) or fit a certain set of speakers (Small speakers setting). Here’s how to enable the EQ and choose presets.
- Open up the settings app and tap on Music.
- Scroll up and tap on EQ, which will be under the Playback section.
- Here you’ll be greeted with a number of different EQ presets. Simply tap on one to enable it, or tap Off to turn the EQ off.
Tap into the My Favorites and My New Music mixes
Spotify has been knocking it out of the park with their curated playlists lately, and Apple has stepped up to the plate (baseball season’s almost over) with their new My Favorites and My New Music Mixes.
The My Favorites Mix is updated every Wednesday, and focuses on the songs you love. The more you listen, the better this playlist gets tailored to you. The My New Music Mix is updated every Friday and is similar to Spotify’s Discover Weekly. It tries to pull in artists with new songs it thinks you’ll enjoy based on your tastes.
If you’re looking for new music or some old favorites, these playlists are usually a great bet (although Justin was Rick Roll’d recently!)
Use an Apple Music song as your alarm sound
Tired of waking up to the same old buzzing sound in the morning? Now you can choose any song from Apple Music as your alarm sound, and it’s extremely easy to set up.
- Start creating an alarm in the Clock app, and tap on Sound.
- Under Songs, tap on Pick a song.
- Now you’ll be greeted with an easy way to search Apple Music for your next wake up song.
Add a photo to your playlists
Want to add a customized photo to your playlists so you can differentiate them from each other? Apple Music will usually take a couple of the album covers and make a photo for you for new playlists. I like to add funny or practical photos to my playlists so I know what they are at a glance. Here’s how:
- Navigate to your playlist and tap on Edit in the upper right corner.
- Tap on the camera icon in the upper left of your screen.
- Now you can either choose a photo or snap a new photo to be the photo for your playlist.
iCloud Music Library
While iCloud Music Library isn’t new, I still wanted to add it here, because it’s been such a great feature that I love. If an album or artist isn’t on Apple Music, you can add the album via your computer, and have the album with you everywhere with iCloud Music Library.
This is handy for really having all the music you could ever want at your fingertips. I’ve already used it for a number of artists (see the third screenshot below.) If you don’t already have this feature turned on, here’s how to enable it.
- Open up the Settings app, scroll up, and tap on Music
- Tap the button next to iCloud Music Library to enable it.
- Enjoy having your entire collection of songs everywhere you go! (you can currently have over 100,000 songs here.)
What’s your favorite feature of Apple Music?
Those are just a few tips that make Apple Music a huge contender in the streaming music service category. Are you using Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal or something else? What’s your favorite feature? Let me know, and if you have any questions, leave them in the comments section!
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