Is the Apple Music app available on Android?

Apple Music is a popular subscription-based music and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Launched in 2015, Apple Music provides access to over 90 million songs and 30,000 playlists. As of June 2021, Apple Music had over 72 million subscribers worldwide (https://www.statista.com/topics/11066/music-streaming-services-worldwide/), making it the second most popular music streaming service globally behind Spotify.

Apple Music is tightly integrated with Apple’s ecosystem of products and services, including iTunes and iOS devices. Subscribers can stream music, save songs offline, listen to curated playlists, watch music videos, listen to radio stations, and more. Apple Music aims to combine the benefits of owning music downloads with the convenience of streaming access across devices.

Apple Ecosystem

Apple Music was developed by Apple primarily for its own ecosystem of devices including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and more. It is deeply integrated into Apple’s operating systems like iOS and macOS. For example, the Music app comes pre-installed on iPhones and iPads, making Apple Music easily accessible and seamlessly integrated with the device experience.

According to Apple’s developer documentation, Apple Music is integrated with features like Siri, Maps, Messages, and more across Apple devices:

“Enable amazing music experiences throughout system apps like Maps, Siri, Search, Messages and more. Your app can integrate with top Apple features, like lyrics view, downloading music for offline listening, and more.” (https://developer.apple.com/musickit/)

Overall, Apple Music was primarily designed for Apple’s own hardware and software ecosystem, taking advantage of tight integration across devices.

Android Market Share

Android holds the majority of the global smartphone market share according to data from StatCounter. As of December 2022, Android had a 70.48% market share for mobile operating systems worldwide compared to 28.8% for iOS (Mobile Operating System Market Share Worldwide). This means there are many more active Android devices than iOS devices globally. With such a large user base, many potential Apple Music customers likely use Android phones rather than iPhones.

Since Apple Music aims to reach as many listeners as possible, having an app available on Android allows them to tap into the much larger Android market. An Apple Music Android app makes the service accessible to the billions of Android users worldwide. This expanded reach is important for growing Apple Music’s subscriber numbers.

Apple’s Walled Garden

Apple has historically been reluctant to share its services outside of its own Apple ecosystem of devices like iPhones, iPads, and Macs. This closed ecosystem is often referred to as Apple’s “walled garden,” implying a tightly controlled environment separate from the rest of the technology landscape.

Apple likes to maintain control over the user experience and integration of its products and services. By keeping them largely within its ecosystem, Apple can ensure they work seamlessly together. But this approach limits access for the much larger base of Android users.

There have been some exceptions, like the Apple TV app which Apple has made available for select smart TVs. But Apple has preferred to draw users into its ecosystem rather than go outside its walls.

For example, Apple Music was initially only available on Apple devices when it launched in 2015. Apple has very slowly expanded access beyond its own devices, first to Android in 2016, and more recently to other platforms like Amazon Echo and Xbox.

Competing Services

While Apple Music has 15% of the music streaming market share, its primary competitor Spotify has 31% of the market according to Music Streaming Market Share and Revenue Statistics. Spotify and YouTube Music are available cross-platform on iOS, Android, desktop and other devices which gives them a broader reach than Apple Music alone.

By making Apple Music available on Android, Apple can tap into a wider potential subscriber base beyond just iPhone users. Android has over 70% global market share for smartphones so releasing an Apple Music app on the platform gives Apple access to a huge new audience.

Apple Music App for Android

In June 2015, Apple launched the Apple Music app for Android devices, allowing the service to expand beyond just Apple users.¹ This was a major shift for Apple, known for its walled garden approach favoring its own devices and services.² The Android version gave Apple Music the ability to grow its subscriber base and compete with rivals like Spotify that were already cross-platform.

The Apple Music app for Android provides access to the service’s over 40 million songs, playlists, radio stations, and other features like offline listening. It offers a similar user experience to the iOS version. While some features like Apple Music Voice require an iOS device, the Android app includes core functionality like streaming music, downloading songs, viewing recommendations, and accessing Apple Music exclusives.

Feature Availability

The Apple Music app for Android includes core features like streaming Apple’s catalog of over 90 million songs, downloading music for offline listening, and access to curated playlists like Today’s Hits and Rap Life. Users can browse music by genre, view top charts, and get personalized recommendations. Other key features like Music Videos and lyrics are also available.

There are some differences in features compared to the iOS version. For example, integration with Apple’s Siri voice assistant is missing on Android. The “For You” tab with personalized recommendations is also not available. However, core music streaming and library management capabilities are present.

Overall, the Apple Music app provides Android users access to Apple’s premium music service, with comparable features like streaming, downloading, personalized playlists and recommendations. Some Apple ecosystem integrations are missing, but the main music functionality is similar between iOS and Android.

User Experience

Reviews of the Apple Music app on Android have been mixed. On the Google Play store, the app has a rating of 4.1 stars out of over 4 million reviews, but many reviewers cite bugs, performance issues, and missing features compared to the iOS version.

Reddit users on r/AppleMusic have noted frustrations with the Android app like songs not downloading properly offline, inability to love/heart songs, laggy performance, and irregular crashing [1]. However, some Android users still find it the best option for accessing their Apple Music library.

Reviews mention the Android version lacks certain iOS features like spatial audio, lossless audio, lyrics view, and scrolling lyrics. There are also complaints about the app looking outdated on Android and not following Android design conventions [2].

Overall, while the Apple Music app provides access to Apple’s music service on Android, it appears to lack polish and parity with the iOS experience. Many Android users tolerate the issues to get access to Apple Music’s library and services.

Subscriber Base Growth

The launch of Apple Music on Android in November 2019 has significantly helped grow Apple Music’s subscriber base, making it more competitive with Spotify. According to Business of Apps, Apple Music had 60 million paying subscribers as of June 2019 right before the Android launch. By June 2022, that number had grown to 88 million paying subscribers. The availability on Android opened up Apple Music to a much wider potential audience, as BankMyCell reports that Android holds 85% of the global smartphone OS market share. This illustrates how critical the Android app has been to increasing Apple Music’s subscriber numbers to be on par with Spotify, which has around 172 million paying subscribers globally across platforms.

Conclusion

In the end, Apple made the strategic decision to release an Apple Music app for Android devices. This opened up their service to the incredibly large Android user base, allowing Apple to significantly expand their subscriber numbers. Offering Apple Music on Android was a smart business move to grow the streaming service.

However, the Apple Music experience on Android does come with some limitations compared to using the service on Apple devices. Android users don’t get the full Apple ecosystem integration and some features work differently or aren’t available. But overall, having access to Apple Music’s large music catalog makes it a compelling option for Android users who want a premium streaming service.