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Star Ratings Make a Return to Apple Music on iOS 10.2 Beta

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Apr 12, 2001
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In iOS 10, Apple Music lost the star rating system that allowed users to personally rate a song on a scale of 1-5, which was then saved in their library so they could remember and later sort tracks via the ranking system. Following the release of the iOS 10.2 beta yesterday, iTunes expert Kirk McElhearn discovered that star ratings have returned to the Apple Music app on iOS, now appearing as a toggle option in Settings > Music.

apple-music-star-ratings.jpg

After turning on "Show Star Ratings," users will be able to once more give each track a personal rating, through a few added steps, however. The process required to get to the "Rate Song" menu is as follows: tap the ellipsis menu at the bottom right of the screen when a song is playing to bring up its action sheet, scroll down to "Rate Song," choose the star rating, then tap "Done." In prior versions of iOS, users simply tapped on the artwork of a song to bring up the star rating menu.

As the Settings submenu clarifies, "Star Ratings do not affect For You recommendations," so Apple Music's binary like/dislike system is still the only resource for subscribers to teach the streaming service which songs they enjoy, and which they don't. Besides Star Ratings, it was also discovered that within the beta of iOS 10.2, there's a new option to sort playlists by type, title, and recently added, as well as new options for sorting songs and albums by title or artist.

Article Link: Star Ratings Make a Return to Apple Music on iOS 10.2 Beta
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/01/star-ratings-return-apple-music/
decafjava

decafjava

macrumors 603
Feb 7, 2011
5,164
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Geneva
Good news, but anyone wanting the headphone jack back don't hold your breath. :p (I am not one of those people).
 
P

profets

macrumors 603
Mar 18, 2009
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Seeing those screenshots from an iPod touch, it really looks like the current UI is designed primarily for the 4.7" and 5.5" screens.

Also, I wonder what made them change course and bring back star ratings..
 
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Traverse

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
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YES! I have years of smart playlists as well as new super sophisticated system I learned from the "Why Would I want to stream" thread that all rely on Star Ratings.

A simple "love" and "unlove" is not sufficient for any level of sophisitcaling. Star ratings can be used to adjust the frequency that certain songs play. Not having it available on iOS has just been annoying and requires 3 party apps. It's not like the interface can get any more cluttered. Just hide it in the more info sections or just above the lyrics when you scroll up.
[doublepost=1478010227][/doublepost]Also, I wish there was an option in settings to "Hide All Clutter."

Even if you hide Apple Music, the app is so packed full of crap that it's almost unusable on the iPhone. WHy do I have to select "Downladed Music" every time I want to switch between albums and playlists when Apple Music is disabled? Why is the bottom dock so limited when it used to have 5/6 items in iOS 6 and 7!?
[doublepost=1478010311][/doublepost]
Sirious said:
iOS is slowly becoming a house full of switches. Not sure if that's good thing or a bad thing...
Click to expand...

It's a good thing if the feature benefits you, a bad thing if it doesn't. ;)

All kidding aside, the allure of iOS was simplicity, but that's hard because people's are so different. THere needs to be a balance, but I fear that Apple is approaching too much.
[doublepost=1478010400][/doublepost]
profets said:
Seeing those screenshots from an iPod touch, it really looks like the current UI is designed primarily for the 4.7" and 5.5" screens.

Also, I wonder what made them change course and bring back star ratings..
Click to expand...

I can attest that Apple Music was made for large screens. I can tolerate it on my 9.7" iPad, but it's horrible on my iPhone SE. I jumped to Cesium. It's a shame though because I thought that the release of the SE would mean Apple would optimize for all sizes again.
 
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macduke

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
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Rdio and even Spotify seemed better than Apple Music at learning what type of music I like. I think it's heavily influenced by my iTunes Library. But here's the problem: I don't have a very big iTunes library, and it's mainly songs from when I was a kid and I don't care much for many of them. I've been using various streaming services for many years and I wish I could just import all of that into Apple Music somehow. Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, then Rdio shut down during the Apple Music Trial.
 
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C

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
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Sirious said:
iOS is slowly becoming a house full of switches. Not sure if that's good thing or a bad thing...
Click to expand...
Those who don't really care would just simply use the default experience without even really knowing of additional options, so it's like they don't even exist for them. And those that might care would explore a bit and perhaps find something that improves things for them in one way or another.
 
J

JimmyJimmyYam

macrumors member
Apr 15, 2015
86
230
Yes! This was keeping me on 9.3.5 & had me actively researching Android phones to switch to, but it looks like I will be an iPhone user for a bit longer :)

I did send them my feedback that the love / dislike rating system was inadequate for managing my 20,000 track library, hopefully others did too and this reflects them actually listening :eek:
 
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TurboPGT!

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Sep 25, 2015
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profets said:
Seeing those screenshots from an iPod touch, it really looks like the current UI is designed primarily for the 4.7" and 5.5" screens.

Also, I wonder what made them change course and bring back star ratings..
Click to expand...

Who said they changed course? When software is re-designed, often times things are pulled out with the intention of them being put back in later. They are not a development priority, so they are not designed, coded, or implemented. The Music App was entirely redesigned.

The Star Ratings was a low priority which was put off to 10.2. It's also possible that if there wasn't enough demand to bring them back, it would have been axed instead, but that's not what ultimately happened.

I don't expect most forum members to understand this because most of them have never designed software or worked for a software company. They will make up their own anti-Apple nonsense as they always do.
 
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adamjackson

macrumors 68020
Jul 9, 2008
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I remember how simple this used to be on an iPod but then again, the iPod does 1% of what the iPhone does.
 
ipedro

ipedro

macrumors 603
Nov 30, 2004
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I used to be a compulsive music organizer and star ratings were a big part of that. When AppleMusic came online, I stopped feeling the need to rate or even organize albums. A simple play count and a Like/Dislike if I'm that compelled by a song either way, has helped train AppleMusic to suggest music that I like. And whatever song I can think of, I can just ask Siri to play and odds are that AppleMusic will have it. No need to organize a strict collection.
I now realize that I spent way too much time organizing and so little enjoying music.
 
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