Hell freezes over: Apple TV and Music apps are here for Windows 11 and don't disappoint

Gandalf_The_Grey

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What you need to know
  • Microsoft announced a new Insider Preview build of Windows 11 today, along with a preview version of Apple’s official new apps.
  • The apps include Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices, all built natively for Windows 11.
  • Being a preview, the apps are only available for those currently in the U.S. running Windows 11.
Microsoft made a surprising announcement in the Fall of 2022 that Apple’s official apps were (finally) coming to the Windows ecosystem. The first announcement was about iCloud Photos integration with OneDrive. But the other half of the statement revealed that official apps for Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices were also on the way.

Today is that day, at least if you’re in the U.S., as all three apps are now available to download. Despite the announcement seemingly tied to the new Windows 11 Developer Insider Preview, the apps are independent of those builds, as I installed it easily on my Windows 11 Release Preview edition.

The apps appear to be built using the Windows App SDK (you can think of that as the successor to UWP) and may be using .NET 6, according to developer Dennis H. on Twitter. The result is apps that look like they fit right in with Windows 11, including some acrylic effects, standard Windows menus, and a layout that feels very familiar to anyone used to modern Windows apps from the Microsoft Store.
 

Gandalf_The_Grey

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Apple Music Preview for Windows finally gets media keys and lyrics support
In early 2023, Apple released the first preview versions of Apple Music and Apple TV for Windows 11. In addition, the company offered a dedicated app for managing iOS-based devices. The initial release was rough — apps suffered from extreme amounts of bugs, instabilities, and missing or broken features. Fortunately, Apple has not abandoned its software; the most recent update includes several notable improvements.

Although there are no official changelogs, users discovered (via Macrumors) that Apple Music finally supports native media keys, allowing you to change tracks and play/pause with dedicated buttons on your keyboard. Another major change is lyrics support, albeit the karaoke feature is still missing. In addition, Apple fixed the skipping issue when playing high-res audio and improved adding songs to the queue.

The newest Apple Music Preview update for Windows is a great improvement for the app (media keys support alone makes the program worth trying), but it remains bug-ridden and unstable. Users continue reporting crashes, issues with changing output devices, sign-in issues (for some reason, you must log in twice before loading your library), and many more. You may want to resort to third-party apps like Cider while Apple is slowly patching its software for Windows. As for the other Apple apps, there is no information on what has changed.

You can download Apple Music Preview from the Microsoft Store using this link. Apple TV Preview is available here, and Apple Devices Preview here. Keep in mind that installing any of those apps will prevent iTunes from opening.
 

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