Apple Music subscription

What is Apple Music

Apple Music is Apple's music streaming service. It launched in 2015, built on the catalogue and infrastructure Apple inherited from acquiring Beats Music and decades of running iTunes. As of 2024 it's the second-largest paid music streaming service in the world (behind Spotify), with somewhere north of 100 million subscribers.

The product runs across iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, plus Android and Windows. The catalogue is roughly equivalent to Spotify's — 100M+ tracks — and includes a substantial radio offering (Apple Music 1 and themed stations), curated playlists, lossless audio, Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, and lyrics that are tightly integrated across Apple devices.

Apple Music's distinctive identity is "the music service for people in the Apple ecosystem." Where Spotify is platform-agnostic and feature-rich, Apple Music is deeply integrated with Apple's hardware in ways that show up daily — handing off audio between iPhone, Mac, and AirPods, asking Siri to play specific songs, having lyrics scroll on your Lock Screen.

Plans available

The standalone subscription tiers:

• Individual — single account, full library, lossless audio, Spatial Audio
• Family — up to 6 family members through Family Sharing, each with their own profile, library, and recommendations. Excellent per-person value.
• Student — one account at roughly half the Individual rate, verified through UNiDAYS, valid for up to 4 years
• Voice Plan (where available) — Siri-only access at a lower price; meaningful tier reduction with the trade-off that you can only request music via voice

The Apple One bundles:

• Apple One Individual — Apple Music with Apple TV+, iCloud+ (50GB), Apple Arcade
• Apple One Family — same services with iCloud+ (200GB), shareable across up to 6 family members
• Apple One Premier — adds Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+, iCloud+ at 2TB

For most subscribers the choice is between Individual or Family standalone, or one of the Apple One tiers if they'd already want multiple Apple services. Voice Plan is a niche product that mostly suits HomePod-only users.

Lossless and Spatial Audio — what's actually different

In 2021 Apple Music added two audio quality tiers at no extra cost: Lossless (CD-quality and Hi-Res Lossless up to 24-bit/192kHz) and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos (immersive multi-channel audio for tracks mixed in Atmos). Spotify still doesn't have a meaningful equivalent for either — Spotify's HiFi tier has been promised for years and hasn't launched.

The honest assessment: most people can't reliably tell lossless from a high-quality lossy stream on regular hardware. The difference is most noticeable through wired headphones connected to dedicated audio equipment, less noticeable through AirPods over Bluetooth (which doesn't transmit lossless natively), and basically inaudible through a typical phone speaker. Spatial Audio is more obviously different — when content is mixed for it, the immersive effect is real.

If you're an audio enthusiast, Apple Music's audio features are a clear advantage. If you mostly listen through AirPods or your car stereo, you probably won't notice.

When Apple Music is worth keeping

It's worth it if:

• You live inside the Apple ecosystem (iPhone, Mac, AirPods, HomePod) — the integration is genuinely better than any competitor
• You're using a Family plan with 3+ active members — the per-person economics are unbeatable
• You care about lossless audio or Dolby Atmos and have hardware that does either justice
• You're already paying for Apple Music through Apple One alongside other Apple services
• You prefer Apple's curated radio and editorial playlists to Spotify's algorithmic recommendations

It's worth reconsidering if:

• You spend most of your music time on Android or Windows and don't use Apple's audio features
• You're paying for both Apple Music AND Spotify — pick one, you're not using both meaningfully
• You're on Individual but live with multiple people who could share a Family plan instead
• You drifted to Apple Music from a free trial bundled with AirPods or a hardware purchase and haven't actively used it

How to track Apple Music and the trial-conversion pattern

Apple Music shares Apple TV+'s biggest renewal trap: hardware-bundled trials that convert silently. AirPods, iPhones, iPads, and Macs all sometimes come with several months of free Apple Music. The trial converts to paid when it ends, with no email warning, no in-app prompt — just a charge on your card.

GetRenewal tracks Apple Music alongside your other subscriptions:

• Annual cost projection — Apple Music individually is small, but stack it with Apple TV+ and iCloud+ and the total feels different
• Renewal reminder for direct subscriptions
• Trial-conversion tracking — log when a trial ends and the tool reminds you before it converts so you can decide deliberately
• Apple One bundle awareness — mark Apple Music as included in Apple One so you don't double-count
• Family plan visibility — track who's actually using a shared Family subscription to ensure it's still earning the value

If you bought AirPods, an iPhone, or any Apple hardware in the past 6 months and got an Apple Music trial as part of it, check your Apple ID subscriptions right now — the trial-to-paid conversion catches many people.

How to cancel Apple Music

Cancellation goes through your Apple ID, the same as Apple TV+:

On iPhone or iPad:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap your name → Subscriptions
3. Tap Apple Music
4. Tap Cancel Subscription, confirm

On Mac:

1. Open the Music app or App Store app
2. Click your name → Account Settings → Manage Subscriptions
3. Click Edit next to Apple Music → Cancel Subscription

On Android or web:

1. Open the Apple Music app, tap the three-dot menu → Account → Manage Subscription
2. Or sign in at appleid.apple.com → Subscriptions

Your access continues until the end of the current billing period. Music you purchased through iTunes (separate from Apple Music streaming) stays in your library forever — the cancellation only ends the streaming subscription.

If you're on Apple One, you can't cancel Apple Music individually — you'd need to cancel the whole bundle or downgrade to a tier that doesn't include it.

Alternatives to Apple Music

The direct streaming peers, in rough order of overlap:

• Spotify — the closest competitor. Better recommendations, better social features, the strongest podcast platform. Worse audio quality features and weaker Apple integration.
• YouTube Premium / YouTube Music — bundle pricing makes YouTube Premium attractive if you also watch a lot of YouTube. The music service itself is improving but lags Spotify and Apple Music on curation.
• Tidal — pitched at audiophiles, with Hi-Res FLAC and Dolby Atmos like Apple Music. Smaller catalogue and weaker discovery features.
• Amazon Music Unlimited — bundled discount for Prime members, includes lossless and Atmos. Library on par with peers; recommendations weaker.

If you're already inside the Apple ecosystem, sticking with Apple Music typically wins on integration alone. If you're not, Spotify is usually the right default. The other services serve narrower niches.