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iOS 18.4: Access Hidden Ambient Music Playlists
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Like the Music app? I must be missing something because I really don’t get the point of this feature.
I agree. I would've never even found them if not for this article.
I do not have the option to choose from my library. Do you have to be an Apple Music subscriber to pick a playlist from your library?
It is its own separate app completely unrelated to Apple Music that just contains the ambient playlists.
You can’t change them from inside the ambient music app, you have to add a button for each playlist to control centre.
So it’s an app that plays music playlists but it’s totally unrelated to the Music app? Aren’t these icons basically shortcuts to playlists?
By "app", the common understanding is something you add to the home screen and launch and which within it contains all the configuration and controls you need.
This is not an app. This is a hidden feature you have to tediously configure in Control Center and return there over and over to change what you're listening to.
I only call it an app because it can be opened full screen, and can appear in the running apps with its own app name etc.
How do you see that? It isn’t showing up in my recently played on Apple Music
I appreciate that in 2025 this seems to use real music by real artists and isn’t AI generated. Thanks Apple 💕
... which is even more baffling, considering that it's got a name, an icon and everything and seems like it's 90% of the way to being a real standalone app on your home screen. But then many of the key controls are buried in Control Center. Insane.
I'm a big fan of myNoise. Just tons and tons of options and fine tuned customization, and it's also not a subscription.
I may be in minority but I do wish it would show in my history but it doesn’t. I was hoping it would show in my history so that I could see it in macOS Apple Music and then play it while working in macOS.
This feature, the Classical Music app that I love, and the Journal app… all things that I would love to use from my laptops if Apple would release the apps across the board.
This feature, the Classical Music app that I love, and the Journal app… all things that I would love to use from my laptops if Apple would release the apps across the board.
Nice feature, but wish it were just built into the Music app instead of taking up space in control center
On my iPad I stuck it on the sleep one, fell asleep, and it was still going hours later. Same with the chill one. In fact, I was thinking about giving them feedback that they should add a timer option, because I would rather not waste the battery having it play all night, nor leave it plugged in.
It's worth noting even devices that are ineligible for Apple Intelligence can use this, assuming they can get 18.4 at all. So far, it seems to be the only obvious and useful new thing I've found that I can access, even.
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I do not get why they work on features then hide it. If you look around MacOS there are a lot of features that no one knows about. One of them if you click "Info" on a file then tick "Stationary Pad" box, it will make it a template. There are other hidden features like that.
Can confirm: when I open Apple Music none of my recently played tracks are what was just streamed via these control center ambient music micro services.
I was curious what sort of complaining we would get about this nice new -- and free -- feature. Thanks for answering my question!
Did you miss the part where I said “I like this feature”? Hint: it was the first four words.
MacRumors: is the audio lossless or lossy? Nerd details matter.
