iOS 26 puts Apple Music ahead of Spotify again
Every year (sometimes even twice a year) Apple unveils its latest and greatest innovations. Sometimes it's a new iPhone (or several). Other times, it’s a new MacBook or iPad. These announcements are always met with a ton of hoopla, and rightfully so. Apple is one of the leading tech companies in the world, and its products are used by millions every single day.
This year's WWDC event brought major updates across the board: iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and tvOS 26 all debuted. The massive changes in iOS 26 include the Liquid Glass design, streamlined camera functionality, updates to Apple CarPlay and Apple Wallet and more.
Apple Music got a number of notable changes during the latest update. These features aim to set it apart from its competitors, offering a more user-friendly experience both inside the app and out. Updates include animated lock screen art, the ability to pin an album at the top of the library, and the AutoMix feature that blends songs together as one ends and the other begins. Here are five more of the top innovations Apple Music made with iOS 26.
There's an entire section of Apple Music made for karaoke. The Sing portion of the app allows you to turn your home into a karaoke lounge by not only playing the song you want to hear, but also giving you the opportunity to sing along with the singer or mute them completely and have your voice be the one carrying it through. The lyrics populate so you can follow along the whole time.
One of the coolest features in the iOS 26 update is the ability to use your iPhone as a wireless mic. Before, when you used your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV 4K for karaoke, it was more of a sing-along experience -- lyrics on screen, music playing, and you singing along in the room. But by connecting to your Apple TV, you can use your phone as a wireless microphone. This also lets others use their iPhones to sync up and build a queue of songs, as well as use multiple microphones during a song. It makes dueting even easier.
Building off his massive tour from the summer, Bad Bunny is one of the hottest artists in the world. But, if you don't speak Spanish, you may not feel confident singing along with his songs or any other artist whose songs are in a different language from your own. Now, you can learn those lyrics more easily. Apple Music has integrated lyric translation as a part of the app.
For songs that aren't in English (or whatever native language you have on your iPhone), a translation into your native language will come up below the lyrics. It will show it in stanzas underneath the lyrics in their original language. It gives listeners the chance to read what the lyrics mean in real time. It's similar to reading subtitles while watching a foreign language film; you hear the dialogue in its natural language, but can read it in your own.
