ios Apple Seeds First iOS 8.4 Beta to Developers With Revamped Music App

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Apple Seeds First iOS 8.4 Beta to Developers With Revamped Music App

 

Apple today seeded the first beta of iOS 8.4 to registered developers for testing purposes, just five days after releasing iOS 8.3 to the public. The beta, build 12H4074d, is available for download from the iOS Developer Center, alongside the Xcode 6.4 beta. 

 

 

iOS 8.4 introduces a newly-revamped Music app, which includes a new design that shows pictures of artists in the Artists view and offers personalized playlists. It also offers a new MiniPlayer, a redesigned look for "Now Playing," global search capabilities that make it easier to search from anywhere within the Music app, and a streamlined design for iTunes Radio to improve music discovery.

 

[Quillz]

I'm really hoping the new Music app and 8.4 fix iTunes Match, which is still horribly broken for me. With rumors of a new streaming service, maybe it will get the attention it deserves.

 

Anyway, I just renewed my ADC access, so maybe I'll give 8.4 a try...

[123456789A]

Does it have more emojis?

[Quillz]

Some more screenshots and hands-on impression here...

 

I like the direction this app is going. Should be quite nice once it's all done, although there a few UI changes that I don't care for at the moment.

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

So 8.4 is just the music app? No other updates?

[jasondefaoite]

Haven't used the stock apple music app on the iphone since Track8 was released back in the iOS6 timeframe. This app was fantastic, great UI with artist background images and even the post what I'm listening to on twitter looked superb. Add to that the UI when you airplayed to an AppleTV.

 

However, Enderlabs suddenly pulled the plug on the app. Removed it from the store, closed the twitter account supporting the app. I still have it and it has continued to work great on different screensizes and iOS6, 7, 8 despite the fact it is no longer supported. Given how they plugged the plug on it, I suspect Microsoft came knocking on their door.

[Quillz]

So 8.4 is just the music app? No other updates?

I assume there will be more. This beta simply showcases the new Music app. Later betas will likely add more features, fix existing features, tighten things up, etc. The usual.

 

Although I can't imagine iOS 9 being that far away, either, so 8.4 could in fact be a relatively minor stopgap release. We'll see.

[Shadrack]

Any screen shots on iPad? The iOS 7 and 8 music apps were a big step backwards compared to the iOS 6 music app for iPad that actually used the space in a sensible way.