Apple Music 4.0 for Android now in beta with iOS 16 features and ‘Apple Classical’ mention

Ahead of iOS 16 launching next month, Apple Music for Android has been updated with the latest features to ensure parity as part of version 4.0, which is currently in beta.

About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

Upon updating today, Apple Music highlights three new features:

• Introducing Favorites: Get better recommendations when you favorite artists you care about.
• Your Favorites in Listen Now: Revisit artists you favorite in a new Listen Now row.
• New Music Updates: Stay up-to-date with new music notifications from artists you favorite.

You can star from the top-right corner of artist pages to “hear about upcoming new releases” rather than just being subject to the whim of the existing notification system. Favoriting will also improve recommendations. 

The other noted change is a new row/carousel for your favorite artists in Listen Now, but we’ve yet to spot it today.

Elsewhere, songs in a playlist can now be sorted by: Playlist Order, Title, Artist, Album, or Release Date, with the chevron at the right letting you quickly reverse. 

Lastly, Apple Music 4.0 contains more references to “Apple Classical.” The name first emerged in February with improved widgets, but the standalone app is still not available. 

<string name=”tooltip_classical_title”>A Shortcut to Apple Classical</string>

<string name=”tooltip_classical_description”>Open this in the app designed for classical music.</string>

Version 4.0 of Apple Music for Android should be in the beta channel for a few more weeks before hitting stable around the time iOS 16 launches. It does not yet target Android 13 and therefore still uses the old media player style.

Thanks to JEB Decompiler, from which some APK Insight teardowns benefit.