Apple released iOS 26 September 15 and update brings calls to calls, new ringtones and many hidden features to your iphone. The update also brings new features to Apple Music ($ 11 per month) As a new crossfading feature called Automix and lyrical translation.
Apple Music has become one of the biggest musical streaming platforms since it was released a decade ago. According to StatistApple Music had around 94 million paying subscribers in June 2024. However, Spotify ($ 12 per month) remains firmly in advance on Apple Music in terms of number of paying subscribers with 276 million Apple therefore still has a catch -up to do in the musical streaming space.
I spent a little time testing the new features of Apple Music to see if they could help Apple fill this gap. Some features are pleasant but available only for a limited selection of songs, which could reduce your interest.
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Automatic
Automix is an improved crossfade function that mixes a song in the next. The functionality tries to stretch and match the rhythms of the songs so that the transition between the two songs is more transparent.
After spending time listening to Apple Music in iOS 26, I found that the success of the functionality depends enough the songs you listen to and that does not always seem to work. When I noticed that Automix worked, I did not like because the songs did not work together in most cases. For example, Roll this hill by Kate Bush lead to Happier by marshmallow and the Bastille It was a really strange transition.
The functionality worked best in pop and rap songs, but even the mix has not always struck. The feature film has stretched and distorted rhythms to match the song to come and it made me think that something was wrong with the song.
Automix did not particularly work with many rock and alternative songs that I listened to. With these songs, it looked like a traditional interfade functionality.
Automix was automatically turned on after downloading iOS 26, but if you are not a fan of the functionality, here is how to deactivate it.
1 and 1 Faucet Music apple.
2 Start playing music.
3 and 3 Press the song at the bottom of your screen.
4 Press the symbol that looks like three points and dashes in the lower right corner of your screen.
Feel Good Inc. is always a banger.
5 Press the automatic symbol – It looks like a Venn diagram – near the upper right corner of your screen to activate the functionality.
The automatic symbol looks like a Venn diagram.
If you don’t like Automix and want to deactivate it, follow the instructions again and press the same symbol to deactivate it.
Lyric translation and pronunciation
With iOS 26, Apple’s musical application can help you translate songs and even help you pronounce the words properly in their mother tongue. This is a practical feature if, let’s say, you are a K -Pop fan – or Netflix Kpop demon hunters – but do not speak Korean and don’t want to know what your favorite songs are talking about.
Here’s how to see the words of translation and pronunciation of words in certain songs.
1 and 1 Faucet Music apple.
2 Start playing music.
3 and 3 Press the song at the bottom of your screen.
4 Press the word bubble with quotes inside in the lower left corner of your screen.
5 Press the symbol with two discourse bubbles inside.
We’re going to be golden.
This will evoke a menu with the options Pronounce And Shift. Tapping Pronounce Then place the phonetic guides under the words of a song, and type on Shift Translate the lyrics and will place the translation under the corresponding words.
However, these features are limited in the languages with which they work, so that Apple music may not always display the menu to activate these features.
Here is All languages The lyrical translation works with.
- English in Chinese (simplified).
- English to Japanese.
- Korean in Chinese (simplified).
- Korea to English.
- Korean in Japanese.
- Spanish in English.
And here are the languages that pronunciation guides are available.
- Japanese in Romanized.
- Korean in Romanized.
- Korean in Katakana.
- Cantonese in Jyutping.
- Chinese (simplified) in Pinyin.
- Chinese (traditional) in Pinyin.
- Hindi in Romanized.
- Punjabi in Romanized.
These features are not available in each song either, even if the language is covered in the lists above. For example, Apple Music did not translate certain Babymetal songs. It was a disappointment because I wanted to know why the group wanted chocolate so much.
To be clear, I also want chocolate.
Reading lists, albums and more
If you save a lot of reading lists, albums, artists and more in Apple Music, it can be easy to lose track of your favorites. But in iOS 26, you can pin the music you like at the top of your library. Then press the music you want to pin and type Pin (section) – So if you are in reading lists, the option will read Pin read list. This music will now appear near the top of this section.
Pin your favorite reading lists for easy access.
Playlist files
The Mac version of Apple Music allows you to organize reading lists in files and iOS 26 provides this capacity to your iPhone. In the reading lists of your Apple Music library, just press the most (+) Connect in the upper right corner of your screen, then press Create a new file. Name your folder and you can then drag and place reading lists there.
Playlist files allow you to easily group certain reading lists.
Illustration of the animated lock screen
When you listen to Apple Music, some album illustrations will now be animated on your locking screen. To see the animated illustrations, you must press the album cover in the multimedia player on your lock screen when a song plays.
Note that all albums have no animated animated arts of art. When you press the album cover In these cases, the album cover will extend and take most of your locking screen.
It is more an aesthetic change than a practical change, but it is always good to see works of life when you appreciate an album.
The illustrations of the animated lock screen also extend the illustrations on the entire locking screen.
New home screen widgets
The iOS update also has some new Apple Music home screen widgets. These widgets include medium -sized and large widgets for pinned music, as well as a large live radio widget.
The live radio widget is a nice touch if you listen to the radio.
The only features that could draw me on Apple Music
If you are not subscribed to Apple Music, there are only a few new features that could take you to the streaming service: the features of lyric translation and pronunciation.
The new translations of translation and pronunciation are unique and I am very interested in the way Apple will rely on them. Japanese metal groups are so fun but I have no idea what groups like air of air sing for most Silver leaf And I would like to know.
I can’t read Japanese either, so watching the words of these groups are not useful. Therefore, the pronunciation function is an easy way to sing a song in Japanese without having to learn a new language.
However, Apple Music’s translation features are only available on certain songs for the moment and they are limited in the languages it can translate and since then. The functionality can therefore be improved and I will be interested in the time that Apple invests in improving this functionality.
With regard to other features, Spotify already has features like Automix and pinned reading lists. A Reddit User I found that Apple’s iOS 26 API would allow Spotify to bring animated illustrations to the lock screen, so I would be shocked if Spotify did not incorporate this functionality in its application soon.
You can Create playlist files in Spotify But you must make them on the desktop app or the web player at the moment. You can access it on the mobile application, but the fact that you can create playlist folders in the Apple Music mobile application is a step. However, it is not a traction important enough to change me.
If you are still planning to switch to Apple Music from Spotify, the slightly lower price of Apple Music ($ 11 per month compared to $ 12 per month) could be the greatest incentive.
To find out more about iOS 26, here is My operating system examinationhow to reduce the effects of liquid glass in the update and how to activate calls on your device. You can also consult our IOS 26 cheat sheet.
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