Apple has launched their first major app for Android devices today, finally binging the promised Apple Music app to Android-based smartphones and tablets.
With the introduction of a beta Apple Music app for the Google Play Store, Android users will be able to subscribe to the Apple Music streaming service, listen to Beats 1 radio, and access the Apple Connect artist-based social network.
The Apple Music app is available from the Google Play store and requires Android 4.3 or later. The app is available in all countries where Apple Music for iOS is available. Apple is offering the same three-month trial for Android users as they have for iOS users, and the subscription is priced identically, $9.99 for an individual plan and $14.99 for a family plan.
The Apple Music for Android app offers a similar design as that of the iOS app, but does not yet include music videos, or the ability to sign-up for a family membership from within the app. Family memberships can be purchased on an iOS device, and then accessed via an Android device.
Apple SVP Eddy Cue spoke with TechCrunch about the launch of the Android app, and told them that the effort to create an Android version of the Appel Music app was based on a desire to let people enjoy music “no matter where you were and what products you were using.” Cue says the app is “a full native app,” that will “feel very much like an Android app.”
“We wanted customers on Android to naturally be able to use it — what they’ve learned and how they interact is common. Things as simple as [that] the share icon looks like an Android share icon; the menu structure being where it is; these are things that most Android customers are familiar with. We wanted to make sure that they felt very familiar with Apple Music when they sat down to use it.”
While Apple Music is not the first app released by Apple for the Android platform, (the “Move to iOS” app that helps Android users transition to the iPhone took that “honor”), it is the first major app the Cupertino firm has released for use on the competing platform.
