How To Make Your Apple Music Private

Having so many online music services to choose from – including a growing number of ad-free premium services from regular radio stations – is great news for subscribers, as it means they need to keep innovating to attract and retain an audience.

Apple Music, the UK's fourth most popular music streaming service after Spotify, YouTube and Amazon Prime Music, is no exception. With a library of more than 90 million songs and super-smooth apps for PCs, Macs and smartphones, it's well worth considering if you've not yet signed up to a rival service – or you're looking to switch.

And, whether you're a newcomer or an old hand, if all you do is stream music, you're missing a trick. Here are five things we bet you didn't know you could do with Apple Music.

1. Listen on any device, anywhere

Although initially only available on devices running iOS, Apple Music apps are now installed by default on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and can be added to Android, Windows, PlayStation 5, Sonos, and Amazon Echo devices. If you don't have access to any of those, you can also stream the service through a browser using the web interface at music.apple.com.

2. Listen to the radio

You'll find a Radio icon at the bottom of the screen in the Apple Music mobile app and in the sidebar on your computer. Tap or click it to listen to Apple Music 1, which plays a mixture of music from the 80s, 90s and 2000s, or one of two new stations – Apple Music Hits, and Apple Music Country.

Apple Music 1 broadcasts from studios in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville and London, and counts Zane Lowe and Elton John among its line-up. Although you don't need to subscribe to Apple Music to listen to Apple's own radio stations, signing up to the service lets you listen to any show that's already aired whenever you like.

But it's not only Apple's own station you can listen to on the app. To listen to broadcast radio, including your local stations, scroll down and click See All in the Local Broadcasters section. If you don't see your preferred station right away, go to Search and type the station's name to listen live.

3. Look up lyrics

What's the name of that song? You know the one we mean. It's sung by that guy. Something about late nights in the middle of June?*

For those tip-of-your-tongue moments when you just can't remember the name of a song or the artist who sings it, Apple Music lets you search for tracks using the lyrics. And if you can't be bothered to type them in, you can always ask Siri.

Although it doesn't rely on Apple Music, you can also ask your phone to help you identify a song that's playing in the background when you're next in a pub or coffee shop. Open Siri or Google Assistant and ask 'What's playing now'. Your phone will listen for a while and, if it finds a match, reveal all.

(*It's Heatwaves by Glass Animals, by the way.)

wundervisuals Getty Images

4. Mix it up

Every Friday, Apple Music offers up a new playlist called New Music Mix, inspired by the songs you've listened to the most in the last seven days. As these change every week, you'll have to save any of the New Music Mixes you're particularly fond of as new playlists. To do this, press the three dots to the right of the playlist and select 'Add to Playlist', then give it a name.

GHI Tip: To save playlists you'll need to have iCloud Music Library switched on. If you leave this on all the time, though, you won't be able to sync music manually from iTunes to your iPhone. Bear this in mind if you transfer your own music files to your iPhone regularly.

5. Get right into the music

Stereo splits tracks into two, for your left and right ears. Apple Music has gone one step further, with parts of the library now supporting Dolby Atmos.

Described as an 'innovative audio technology', this breaks out of the confines of two channels, so artists and producers can position instruments and performers where they like in the virtual soundscape that surrounds you when you play it back. That way, as you move your head, your ears will line up with different parts of the studio, and the effect would be similar to what you'd experience if you were standing in the middle of the band.

It's not supported by every track, as most were recorded before Dolby Atmos was available. Neither is it supported on all hardware. Head tracking requires an iPhone or iPad paired to Apple's own AirPods Pro, AirPods Max or third-generation AirPods earbuds.

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