One of the stylish visual changes to the iPhone on iOS 26 is a new layout for the lock screen when music is playing. Artwork can now be animated and shown full-screen on the iPhone display, with playback controls resting on a platter of a liquid glass.
You can try this out right now with Apple Music. Play a song that has animated album art, and lock the phone. But users of third-party music streaming apps like Spotify will also be pleased to know that Apple is opening up this capability as an API, so third-party developers can also adopt it.
The new API is called MPMediaItemAnimatedArtwork, and is testable right now in the developer SDK. This means an app with currently playing media can provide an animated video clip to the system for display on the lock screen, as well as placeholder artwork while the video loads.
Of course, users will have to wait until the public release of iOS 26 for third-party apps in the App Store to be able to use this new API and show full-bleed animated art on the lock screen.
We also haven’t yet got confirmation whether Spotify, Apple Music’s biggest rival, plans to take advantage of it. Despite criticizing Apple repeatedly for gatekeeping, the service has been reluctant (read: refused) to adopt new platform features like AirPlay 2 and native HomePod playback integration.
While music is clearly the primary intent of this feature, in theory, the new API isn’t limited to just music streaming apps. Other audio apps, like audiobooks or podcasts, could also provide video artwork when available.
iOS 26 is available in developer beta right now, and will roll out as a free software to all iPhone users in the fall.
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