Hands-On With Apple's New Classical Music App - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Hands-On With Apple's New Classical Music App

by

Apple today officially launched the much anticipated Apple Music Classical app on the iPhone, allowing ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers to download and access an app dedicated just to classical music. We went hands-on with the new app to give MacRumors readers a closer look.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

Design wise, the app is similar to ‌Apple Music‌, but it is entirely dedicated to classical titles. The Browse section, for example, is broken down into Composers, Genres, Periods, Conductors, Orchestras, Soloists, Choirs, and Ensembles, making it easier to discover the specific classical content that you're looking for.

A Listen Now section offers up New Releases, Spatial Audio content, and other recommendations in various genres, plus there is a dedicated Library for aggregating saved content. A search function makes it simple to find something specific.

All in all, the app will be familiar to ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers, and it is in fact very simple. Unfortunately, it is limited to the iPhone at the current time, with no Mac or iPad version available. It's also not available on CarPlay.

Have you tried ‌Apple Music‌ Classical? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Wednesday July 29, 2026 11:39 am PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system that is essentially a mix of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In a report this week, he said the operating system will feature a grid of icons, widgets, and apps, along with customizable clock faces. The new software platform is intended for Apple's long-rumored smart home hub. With built-in facial recognition,...
Read Full Article
imac video apple feature

Apple Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever This Year

Wednesday July 29, 2026 12:03 pm PDT by
Apple this year acquired Israeli startup Q.ai for close to $2 billion, according to the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone maker Beats in 2014. This is also the largest known Apple acquisition since the company purchased Intel's smartphone modem business and patents for $1 billion in 2019. Q.ai...
Read Full Article
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

iPhone 18 Pro: Twelve Changes Coming to Apple's Next Flagship

Thursday July 30, 2026 3:43 am PDT by
We're less than two months out from the launch of Apple's premium next-generation smartphone lineup, and while we're not expecting a dramatic change in terms of functionality, there are still several enhancements rumored to be coming to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth noting is that Apple is reportedly planning a major change to its iPhone release cycle this year,...
Read Full Article • 31 comments

Top Rated Comments

nutmac Avatar
nutmac
44 months ago
The app is incredible. The team did a great job with curation and normalizing the meta data. My current wishes are:

* Filter for Spatial Audio, Lossless, etc.
* Video
* Bring on the iPad and Mac versions!
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
citysnaps
44 months ago

dedicating an entirely diff app to one genre of music is dumb.
Not dumb at all.

If you were a regular listener to classical music you'd understand why this app is standalone and makes sense.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vlad Soare Avatar
Vlad Soare
44 months ago

does not have a shuffle mode, for a strange reason.
Probably because it rarely (if ever) makes sense to listen to classical music in shuffle mode. I can't imagine listening to, say, Vivaldi's Four Seasons in completely random order. Or symphonies, concertos, sonatas, you name it - imagine listening to Eroica shuffled: first the funeral march, then the last movement, then the first, then the third. It would be quite awkward. :)
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Phogro Avatar
Phogro
44 months ago
As a person with limited Classical exposure, I'm enjoying "The Story of Classical" as a way to understand better what this genre is and why it needs its own app.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
decypher44 Avatar
decypher44
44 months ago
Also not available on tvOS. Booo!!!
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vlad Soare Avatar
Vlad Soare
44 months ago

Sad but true.
Not necessarily sad. Many people have no interest in classical music, like they have no interest in gardening, or in hiking, or in 19th century literature, or in sports cars, or whatever. It's not like classical music were some kind of pinnacle of culture. It's just one of several kinds of music, neither intrinsically better nor worse than others. Some like it, some don't, and there's nothing wrong with that.
What's sad, however, is that so many who have no interest in - and indeed no knowledge of - classical music feel the need to have strong opinions in regard to the usefulness of a dedicated app.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments

🔗 Related Apple News & Rumors

Stay updated with the latest Apple ecosystem news and verified rumors