Apple Music no longer jettisons apps from the Dock with iOS 15.6 installed

How to manage your Apple Music subscription
How to manage your Apple Music subscription (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • The coming iOS 15.6 update will fix an issue that caused Apple Music to replace third-party apps in the Dock.
  • The fix is already part of the second iOS 15.6 beta that is now available to developers and public beta testers.

Apple's recent iOS 15.6 beta 2 release appears to have fixed a strange issue that caused the Apple Music app to take the place of other apps in the Dock.

The issue, which first came to light last month, meant that downloading the Apple Music app would see its icon take a spot in the Dock, often replacing whatever was already there if there was no space available. It didn't help matters that only third-party apps were kicked out of the dock and that, predictably, caused uproar — with some suggesting that this was an intentional move on Apple's part. Apple subsequently confirmed to iMore that that wasn't the case and that a fix was being worked on.

With the release of iOS 15.6, that fix will be implemented.

While some would argue that Apple Music is the best iPhone music streaming app in the App Store, not everyone would agree. Even those who would agree might not want it in their Dock, making this a bug that could affect everyone. The good news? The fix is coming. The bad news? We don't know when iOS 15.6 will be released to the public.

It's likely that update will arrive relatively soon, however. The software is already in the hand of developers and public beta testers and Apple is set to begin the iOS 16 beta program in less than a week — when the WWDC22 opening keynote takes place on June 6. It isn't unheard of for Apple to run two beta programs simultaneously, but it's unlikely to want to do it for too long.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

Latest in Apple Music
Apple Music collaborative playlists
Switching from Apple Music to YouTube Music just got easier
Apple Music
You can get Apple Music free for three months with this limited trial offer – here's how
Apple Music Classical
Apple Music Classical launches the world's first global Top 100 weekly classical chart
Apple Music Classical
Apple Music Classical adds four new sources of high-quality live recordings including the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Apple Music Festival
Apple Music
Apple exec explains why you should pick Apple Music over Spotify: "We've innovated in quality of the music"
tesla dashboard
YouTube and Amazon Music are here to compete with Apple Music in your Tesla
Latest in News
iMore Logo
One more thing… Goodbye from iMore
Jony Ive
Jony Ive’s OpenAI hardware device could be his next world-changing design
NEBULA Cosmos 4K SE with Apple TV
This new 4K projector is tempting me to replace my LG C2 TV, just so I can watch Slow Horses on a 200-inch display
VisionOS 2 app reorganization
visionOS 2 is the first major software update for Apple Vision Pro, and now it's available
macOS Sequoia
macOS Sequoia (version 15) is now available for your Mac with some big upgrades
watchOS 11
watchOS 11 is now rolling out to all Apple Watch users with the Series 6 or newer