Apple Music on Android: Setup and first impressions [Video]

Apple Music is finally available to download for Android, so I wanted to give you a quick setup tour and first impressions of Apple’s second app for Google’s mobile platform. It’s free to download and offers almost all of the same features and services found in the iOS and OS X apps, including the option to sign up for a free three-month trial…

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQN2rfCq2Cs]

When you first launch it, you’ll get a screen offering you the chance to start your free trial. From here (if you tap it) you can choose to create a new Apple ID, or use an existing one. If you’ve never had an Apple ID before, creating a new one involves inputting your name, address, email, phone and credit/debit card details. Once you’ve done that, you can sign in.

The first time you use the service, Apple asks what genres of music you like. Tap and hold the bubbles for stuff you don’t like, tap once for things you do like and double-tap for stuff you really, really like. After choosing genres, you go through a similar process with artists. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to go.

If you’re an existing Apple Music user, you can skip the entire signing up process, and just sign in from the beginning. Once you do, you’ll have all the same content you see on your iPad, iPhone, Mac or 4th-gen Apple TV.

The default home page is the ‘For You’ section which shows you all of Apple’s suggested albums and curated playlists. To access other pages, simply go to the usual hamburger-style menu on the left hand side. Here you’ll find playlists, the ‘new’ section, Beats Radio and your own music collection. I was pretty amazed to find all my playlists there, exactly like they are on iTunes on my iMac. That even includes the automatically created ones iTunes, the same ones that have been in iTunes since I got my first iPod in 2007.

There’s also the ‘New’ section which shows all the new music available. It’s worth noting, the Android app doesn’t yet have music videos available to stream here. As you’d expect, you’ll find Beats Radio in the side menu too, and as with most of the apps’ sections, the user interface is very similar to that used in the iOS app. There are some minor differences in line spacing and image layout, but generally it’s the same. As it is in Connect.

Perhaps the biggest difference between iOS and Android apps is that the iPhone app has all the sections labelled at the bottom of the screen, whereas Android uses the side menu. Either way, you get access to all the same content, services and playlists.

Once you hit play, you’ll see a gorgeous minimal user interface take over the screen, including the album artwork. Like most Android music apps, when you lock the screen, you get a notification widget that lets you control music by pausing, playing or skipping tracks.

So far, I like it a lot. I’ll have to use it a lot more over the coming weeks and months to gather my full thoughts, but I’m pleased I now have access to my favorite music streaming service on my favorite mobile platform now.

Apple Music for Android is a free download and available to the public on the Google Play Store now.