What you need to know
- The latest beta version of Apple Music for Android adds Chromecast support.
- It also adds access to over 100,000 radio stations via TuneIn, Radio.com, and iHeartRadio integration.
- In order to try it out, you'll need to be signed up for the beta program through the Play Store.
Apple and Android products don't always play nicely together, and one of the prime examples is the Apple Music app for Android. While the app has been around for four years now, it has yet to implement support for Chromecast.
I'm sure for many of you, that was a big enough reason in itself to not even try the service. Who wants to stream their music without the freedom of being able to cast it to all of your Google Assistant speakers around the house?
Thankfully, Apple has finally woken up and decided to add Chromecast support with the latest beta of the Apple Music app. As with other music apps with Chromecast support, the cast icon will appear when you're playing music and you're on the same Wi-Fi network as your cast enabled devices.
This will give you all of the same capabilities you've come to love from other Chromecast enabled apps, such as casting to one speaker or a group of speakers, and being able to control playback on your phone or with voice commands.
While this might not be the killer feature that gets you to switch from Spotify or YouTube Music, it will at least give you one less reason to not use Apple Music on Android.
Chromecast support is, without a doubt, the major highlight of this beta update, but there's also more. Apple Music has now added the ability to access over 100,000 radio stations using TuneIn, Radio.com, and iHeartRadio from within the app. All you have to do is search a channel's name or frequency to pull it up. And, lastly, Apple Music now has an eye-pleasing dark mode to help save your eyes from the blinding white UI at night.
If you want to try out the new casting feature, you'll need to be on the latest v3.0.0-beta version of the Apple Music app. Now, that requires joining the official Play Store beta program and updating the app. Alternatively, you can hold off and wait for these features to be officially added to the stable version of the app.
50 million tracks on Android and iOS
Apple Music provides you with 50 million tracks of ad-free music, offline playback, and original shows and content. You can even check out what your friends have been listening to and it works whether you have an Android or iOS device, all for only $10 a month.
