Apple Share Audio: Literally force your awful music tastes on other people with iOS 13
‘Hey gurl, ever heard of Dream Theater?’ Share Audio is a forthcoming feature of iOS 13 which will let you share tunes with your mates wirelessly.
Teased during WWDC by Stacey Lysik, senior director of OS Program for Apple, Share Audio is an AirPod-specific feature that’ll let you quickly share music, apparently by tapping phones together.
“We have all had a time where we’ve wanted to share movies or a song with a friend, now you can with just a tap,” Lysik said. “Like everything AirPod, the experience is magical.”
Little else was detailed about Share Audio, but the service will almost certainly use Bluetooth, if it’s AirPod-related, and possibly NFC, if tapping phones is how the service works. Or, it could use a combination of the two technologies, like Huawei Share. It will almost certainly work with Apple Music, Podcasts and TV – the three discrete new services that are to be spun out of the kiboshed iTunes.
Related: iOS 13 features explained
Presumably, Apple Music users will be able to share entire albums and playlists with friends as well, adding a mixtape-esque level of tactility that’s missing from playlist curation.
What’s less certain right now is if Share Audio will play nicely with third-party services like Spotify, which currently boasts more subscribers worldwide than Apple Music.
Letting third party apps work with Share Audio might serve as an entry point into the iOS ecosystem for some phone owners thinking of making the jump from Android, but who aren’t quite ready to sacrifice their many Spotify playlists.
Related: Spotify vs Apple Music best streaming service
Either way, Share Audio looks like it’s going to be a fun way to trade songs with fellow iOS users.
Unfortunately, this also means that the annoying guy at parties who won’t shut up about Rush, or The Fall, or whatever, will be able to easily bonk your phone and transmit their tunes to your Apple Music library. Technology can’t solve everything.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.