All the upgrades to the Music app on your iPhone got you with iOS 26

Apple released iOS 26 in Septemberand has brought a number of new features to your iPhone, such as Call screening, New ringtones and more. The update also brought some new features to Apple Music ($11 per month) which narrows the gap between it and its closest competitor, Spotify.

Apple Music has grown into one of the largest music streaming platforms since its release a decade ago. according to statesmanApple Music had about 94 million paid subscribers as of June 2024. However, Spotify ($12 per month) is still firmly ahead of Apple Music in terms of the number of paid subscribers 276 million So Apple still has some catching up to do in the music streaming space.

I’ve spent some time testing new features in Apple Music to see if they might help Apple close this gap. Some features are nice but they’re only available for a limited set of songs, which may reduce your interest. But Apple is moving in the right direction with these features.

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Automatic mixing

AutoMix is ​​an upgraded crossfade feature that mixes one song with the next. The feature attempts to extend the time and match the rhythms of the songs so that the transition between the two songs is smoother.

After spending time listening to Apple Music in iOS 26, I’ve found that the feature’s success depends largely on the songs you’re listening to, and it doesn’t always seem to work. When I noticed AutoMix working, I didn’t like it because the songs didn’t work together in most cases. For example, Running Down That Hill by Kate Bush Which leads to I’m happiest with marshmallows and pastels It was a really strange transition.

This feature worked best on pop and rap songs, but even then the mix didn’t always sound right. The feature and its distorted beats were stretched out to fit the upcoming song and made me think there was something wrong with the song.

AutoMix didn’t particularly work with a lot of the rock and alternative songs I listened to. With those songs, it sounded like a traditional cross-fade feature.

AutoMix turned on automatically after you downloaded iOS 26, but if you’re not a fan of that feature, here’s how to disable it.

1. handle Apple music.
2. Start playing music.
3. Tap the song at the bottom of the screen.
4. Tap the icon that looks like three dots and dashes in the lower right corner of the screen.

5. Tap the AutoMix icon — which looks like a Venn diagram — near the top right corner of your screen to enable the feature.

If you don’t like AutoMix and want to disable it, follow the instructions above again and click the same icon to turn it off.

Lyric translation and pronunciation

With iOS 26, Apple’s Music app can help you translate songs and even help you pronounce the words correctly in their native language. It’s a useful feature if you’re, for example, a fan of K-pop or Netflix Demon hunters in kpop – But you don’t speak Korean and want to know what your favorite songs are.

Here’s how to see lyric translation and pronunciation guides in some songs.

1. handle Apple music.
2. Start playing music.
3. Tap the song at the bottom of the screen.
4. Tap the speech bubble with the quotes inside it in the lower left corner of the screen.
5. Tap the icon with two speech bubbles inside it.

This will bring up a list of options Show pronunciation and Show translation. Eavesdropping Show pronunciation He will then place audio guides below the song’s lyrics, then click on them Show translation It will translate the lyrics and place the translation below the corresponding lyric.

However, these features are limited to the languages ​​they work in, so Apple Music may not always display the menu to enable these features.

here All languages Lyric translation works with.

• English to Chinese (Simplified).
• English to Japanese.
• Korean to Chinese (Simplified).
• Korean to English.
• Korean to Japanese.
• Spanish to English.

Here are the pronunciation guides for the languages ​​they are available in.

• Japanese to Romanian.
• Korean to Romanian.
• Korean to Katakana.
• cantonese to jeuping.
• Chinese (Simplified) to Pinyin.
• Chinese (Traditional) to Pinyin.
• It’s not Latinized.
• punjabi to romanian.

These features are also not available in every song, even if the language is included in the listings above. For example, Apple Music will not translate some Babymetal songs. This was frustrating because I wanted to know why the group was craving chocolate so much.

Pin playlists, albums, and more

If you save a lot of playlists, albums, artists, and more in Apple Music, it can be easy to lose your favorite track. But in iOS 26, you can pin the music you love to the top of your library. Then long press on the music you want to install and tap on it pin (section) – So if you are in playlists, the option will be read Pin playlist. That music will now appear near the top of this section.

Playlist folders

The Mac version of Apple Music lets you organize playlists into folders, and iOS 26 brings that capability to your iPhone. In the Playlists section of your Apple Music library, simply tap the plus sign (+) Sign in in the upper-right corner of your screen, then tap Create a new folder. Name your folder and then you can drag and drop playlists into it.

Artistic lock screen animation

When listening to Apple Music, some album artwork will now animate on the lock screen. To view the animated artwork, you must tap the album cover in the media player on the lock screen while the song is playing.

Note that not all albums contain animated artwork. When you tap the album cover in these cases, the album cover will expand to take up most of your lock screen.

This is more of an aesthetic change than a practical one, but it’s still nice to see some of the artwork come to life when you’re enjoying an album.

New home screen widgets

The iOS update also brings some new widgets to the Apple Music home screen. These widgets include medium and large widgets for pinned music, as well as a large live radio widget.

The only features that would attract me to Apple Music

If you’re not an Apple Music subscriber, there are just a few new features that might make you switch to the streaming service: Subtitles and pronunciation features.

The new translation and pronunciation features are unique and I’m very interested in how Apple builds on them. Japanese metal bands are very interesting but I have no idea what bands like Esprit D’Air sing to most people silver leaf I would like to know.

I also can’t read Japanese, so looking at these bands’ lyrics isn’t helpful. So, the pronunciation feature 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 for certain songs at this time and are limited in the languages ​​they can be translated to and from. So the feature can be improved and I would be interested to see how much time Apple invests in improving this feature.

As for other features, Spotify already has features like AutoMix and pinned playlists. One Reddit user I found that Apple’s iOS 26 API will allow Spotify to bring animated artwork to the lock screen, so I’ll be shocked if Spotify doesn’t integrate this feature into its app soon.

You can Create playlist folders in Spotify But you have to create them on the desktop app or web player for now. You can access them through the mobile app, but the fact that you can create playlist folders in the Apple Music mobile app is a step forward. However, that’s not a big enough attraction to make me switch.

If you’re still thinking about switching to Apple Music from Spotify, the price of Apple Music is a little lower ($11 per month compared to $12 per month) may be the biggest motivator.

For more on iOS 26, here My review of the operating systemHow to reduce Liquid glass Effects in the update and how to enable them Calls and text Scan on your iPhone. You can also check our website iOS 26 cheat sheet.