I’ve been an Apple Music subscriber since day one. That means I’ve seen the platform evolve over this past decade, including the early days when I’d lose my entire music library regularly because the service was such a mess.
Over the years, Apple Music became a successful service, and it was the first to offer several perks, including Dolby Atmos with Spatial Audio, Lossless support without charging users more, a classical music service, karaoke-like features, and more.
However, the music leader, Spotify, still feels light-years ahead, thanks to several exclusive features I can only dream of as an Apple Music user. With that said, these are nine Spotify features that I’d love to see on Apple Music.
Standalone app: Currently, Apple Music improvements are tied to major iOS updates. While Apple can release new playlists wherever it wants, it sucks to have to wait for an iOS update for fixes and features. Apple Music should be updated like any other app, which means it should bring new functionalities once the user updates it from the App Store, just like Spotify.
AI DJ: Apple Music has improved its music recommendations immensely. However, it’s not as good as Spotify’s AI DJ feature. Apple Music offers a personal station, but sometimes, it gets everything wrong, no matter how much you train your algorithm. Spotify always feels on point, and the AI DJ is curated through songs based on your habits. So clever.
Blend Playlists: I don’t care how Apple Music rebrands this feature, but it’s so nice to merge your taste with a friend’s to create a shared playlist that is updated daily. It’s also possible to do that with artists, making listening to songs even more shareable.
Music and Podcasts integration: This is a controversial feature request, but many users love that Spotify combines music and podcasts in a single app. While I prefer the standalone app experience, Apple should give users the choice.
Spotify Codes: Users can quickly scan QR-style codes to share songs or playlists in real life. Apple Music needs to copy this feature ASAP.
Better Public Profiles: Apple Music features public profiles and shared playlists, but they’re so hidden that most users don’t know they can find friends and popular artists on the service. One of the features I like the most about Spotify is the ability to see what your friends are listening to on the web/Mac app. It makes me feel closer to them, and it’s also a nice way to chat with a friend by talking about the artist they keep listening to nonstop.
Running Tempo Detection: For years, Spotify has had this feature that uses music to match your running pace automatically. While this is no longer the case, Apple could do something similar for Apple Watch users.
Streamlined experience through apps: Apple Music is available mostly anywhere, but even on Apple’s ecosystem, the experience can be a bit of a mess. The Mac is the only place you can see how many times you have listened to a song. Still, the experience isn’t as good as on an iPhone or an iPad. The same is true for the Android and Windows PC apps.
Snooze: Here’s how I listen to songs: I become obsessed with a song, an album, or an artist. After exhausting myself, my friends, and everybody around me, I eventually tire and move to a new one. I can forget about a song for 30 days with Spotify’s new Snooze feature. That would be perfect for me to take a break from an artist and then restart listening to them a month later. The refreshed Hide button also lets you hide a track from a playlist across all devices. So good.
Wrap up
Is it asking too much for Apple to add these features with iOS 19? We’ll get some nice improvements (hopefully) next month for Apple Music when the next big update arrives. However, I wish the company would implement a better pace for upgrading its music streaming service, similar to what Spotify has been offering subscribers for ages.
