What you need to know
- Apple Music is adding animations to individual albums.
- The feature is currently only available to developer and beta testers running the latest iOS and macOS betas.
Reported by 9to5Mac, animated album artwork is making its way to Apple Music with the iOS 14.3 and macOS Bir Sur 11.1 release. Some users who have been running the beta have noticed that some albums fill the entire upper screen and show off a looping animation.
Apple already features animations in Apple Music for select playlists. Your personal "Get Up! Mix," "Chill Mix," "New Music Mix," and "Favorites Mix" are already animated as well as some of Apple's own genre and mood playlists. This would be the first time that animations come to individual albums, however.
Right now, the animated album artwork is limited to developers and beta testers running the new iOS and macOS Big Sur beta. Some of the animated albums include Pearl Jam's "Gigaton" and Big Sean's "Detroit 2."
According to a 9to5Mac reader, Apple is experimenting with animated album artwork on Apple Music with iOS 14.3 and macOS Big Sur 11.1, which is currently only available to developers and beta testers. We were able to confirm that there are already some albums with animated artwork and that these are exclusive to iOS 14.3 and macOS Big Sur 11.1.
It is currently unclear if Apple will keep the feature when iOS 14.3 and macOS Big Sur 11.1 releases to the public. The feature is ceratinly similar to Spotify's "Canvas" feature, which plays a looping animation or video on certain songs. It is also currently unclear if users who don't want the feature will be able to turn it off.
iOS 14.3 is expected to release to the public in the coming days, as it's release is also needed for those who begin receiving the new AirPods Max headphones next week.
