Hi everyone,
I’m working on an iOS MusicKit app that overlays a metronome on top of Apple Music playback. To line the clicks up perfectly I’d like access to low-level audio analysis data—ideally a waveform / spectrogram or beat grid—while the track is playing.
I’ve noticed that several approved DJ apps (e.g. djay, Serato, rekordbox) can already:
• Display detailed scrolling waveforms of Apple Music songs
• Scratch, loop or time-stretch those tracks in real time
That implies they receive decoded PCM frames or at least high-resolution analysis data from Apple Music under a special entitlement.
My questions:
1. Does MusicKit (or any public framework) expose real-time audio buffers, FFT bins, or beat markers for streaming Apple Music content?
2. If not, is there an Apple program or entitlement that developers can apply for—similar to the “DJ with Apple Music” initiative—to gain that deeper access?
3. Where can I find official documentation or a point of contact for this kind of request?
I’ve searched the docs and forums but only see standard MusicKit playback APIs, which don’t appear to expose raw audio for DRM-protected songs. Any guidance, links or insider tips on the proper application process would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks in advance.
MusicKit
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I am developing an app that uses MusicKit to play music and then I need to have spoken words played to the user, while ducking the audio coming from MusicKit (application music player)
the built in Siri voices are not off sufficient quality so I am using an external service to create an mp3 file and then play this back using AVAudioSession
Sample code below
the problem I am having is that .duckOthers is not ducking the Application Music Player output
Is this a bug or am I doing this wrong?
// Configure audio session for system-wide ducking
try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback, mode: .spokenAudio, options: [.duckOthers, .mixWithOthers])
try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)
// Set the ducking level to maximum
try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setPreferredIOBufferDuration(0.005)
// Create and configure audio player
self.audioPlayer = try AVAudioPlayer(data: audioData)
self.audioPlayer?.delegate = self
self.audioPlayer?.volume = 1.0 // Ensure full volume for speech
self.audioPlayer?.prepareToPlay()
// Set the audio player's settings for maximum clarity
self.audioPlayer?.enableRate = false
self.audioPlayer?.pan = 0.0 // Center the audio
self.audioPlayer?.play()
Hello,
How do I find the apple music catalogID for songs in a apple music playlist?
Im building an iOS app that uses MusicKit/Apple Music API.
For this example, you can assume that my iOS app simply allows users to upload their apple music playlists. And when users open a specific playlist, I want to find the catalogID for each song.
Currently all the songs are returning song IDs in this format “i.PkdJvPXI2AJgm8”.
I believe these are libraryIDs, not catalogIDs.
I’d like to find a front end solution using MusicKit. But perhaps a back end solution using the Apple Music Rest API is required.
Any recommendations would be appreciated!
Hello everyone,
I am working on an app that allows you to review your own music using Apple Music. Currently I am running into an issue with the skipping forwards and backwards outside of the app.
How it should work: When skipping forward or backwards on the lock or home screen of an iPhone, the next or previous song on an album should play and the information should change to reflect that in the app.
If you play a song in Apple Music, you can see a Now Playing view in the lock screen.
When you skip forward or backwards, it will do either action and it would reflect that when you see a little frequency icon on artwork image of a song.
What it's doing: When skipping forward or backwards on the lock or home screen of an iPhone, the next or previous song is reflected outside of the app, but not in the app.
When skipping a song outside of the app, it works correctly to head to the next song.
But when I return to the app, it is not reflected
NOTE: I am not using MusicKit variables such as Track, Album to display the songs. Since I want to grab the songs and review them I need a rating so I created my own that grabs the MusicItemID, name, artist(s), etc.
NOTE: I am using ApplicationMusicPlayer.shared
Is there a way to get the song to reflect in my app?
(If its easier, a simple example of it would be nice. No need to create an entire xprod file)
I am trying to integrate Apple Music API using MusicKit and need to generate a Developer Token. However, when I try to create a new key from the Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles section, the “Media Services (MusicKit, ShazamKit, Apple Music Feed)” option is grayed out. We are getting the error 'there are no identifiers available that can be associated with the key.' Although we did checkmark 'musickit' in app services.
I have already:
Enrolled in the paid Apple Developer Program
Created a valid App ID under Identifiers
Logged in as the Account Holder
Tried multiple browsers and devices
Despite this, the option remains disabled. Could you please enable this or let me know what further steps I need to take?
Thank you!
Topic:
Developer Tools & Services
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Apple Music API
Accounts
MusicKit
Developer Program
Dear Apple Developer Community,
I'm encountering a critical issue with the MusicLibrary.shared.createPlaylist() method in MusicKit that's affecting our app's core functionality. Despite implementing all recommended authorization checks, the app consistently freezes for some users when this method is called.
What we've already verified before calling createPlaylist():
Network connectivity is properly checked and confirmed
Apple Music authorization is explicitly requested via MusicAuthorization.request()
User subscription status is verified using MusicSubscription.current.canPlayCatalogContent
Despite these precautions, many users report that their app completely freezes when attempting to create a playlist. This is particularly concerning as playlist creation is a core feature of our application.
User-reported workarounds (with mixed success):
Some users have resolved the issue by restarting their devices or reinstalling our app
Others report success after enabling "Sync Library" in Settings → Music Unfortunately, a significant number of users are still experiencing the issue even after trying both solutions above
We've reviewed the MusicKit documentation thoroughly and ensured our implementation follows all best practices. Our app correctly handles permissions and uses the async/await pattern as required by the API.
Is there a known issue with the createPlaylist() method that might cause it to block indefinitely? Are there additional authorization steps or settings we should be checking before calling this method? Could this be related to how MusicKit communicates with Apple Music servers?
Any insights from the developer community or official guidance would be greatly appreciated as this issue is severely impacting our user experience.
Thank you for your assistance
I use the Apple Music API to poll my listening history at regular intervals.
Every morning between 5:30AM and 7:30AM, I observe a strange pattern in the API responses. During this window, one or more of the regular polling intervals returns a response that differs significantly from the prior history response, even though I had no listening activity at that time.
I'm using this endpoint: https://api.music.apple.com/v1/me/recent/played/tracks?types=songs,library-songs&include[library-songs]=catalog&include[songs]=albums,artists
Here’s a concrete example from this morning:
Time: 5:45AM
Fetch 1 Tracks (subset):
1799261990, 1739657416, 1786317143, 1784288789, 1743250261, 1738681804, 1789325498, 1743036755, ...
Time: 5:50AM
Fetch 2 Tracks (subset):
1799261990, 1739657416, 1786317143, 1623924746, 1635185172, 1574004238, 1198763630, 1621299055, ...
Time: 5:55AM
Fetch 3 Tracks (subset):
1799261990, 1739657416, 1786317143, 1784288789, 1743250261, 1738681804, 1789325498, 1743036755, ...
At 5:50, a materially different history is returned, then it returns back to the prior history at the next poll. I've listened to all of the tracks in each set, but the 5:50 history drops some tracks and returns some from further back in history.
I've connected other accounts and the behavior is consistent and repeatable every day across them. It appears the API is temporarily returning a different (possibly outdated or cached?) view of the user's history during that early morning window.
Has anyone seen this behavior before?
Is this a known issue with the Apple Music API or MusicKit backend? I'd love any insights into what might cause this, or recommendations on how to work around it.
Is anyone else receiving this warning from Xcode when running on the Simulator?
"Failed retrieving MusicKit tokens: fetching the developer token is not supported in the simulator when running on this version of macOS; please upgrade your Mac to macOS Ventura."
My Mac is already updated to macOS Sequoia, and I'm also running the latest version of Xcode. Feedback: FB17150538
我在使用 musicKit SDK for Android 1.1.2 时,发现 MediaContainerType 只定义了三种类型:
无 = 0;
专辑 = 1;
播放列表 = 2;
未定义 RADIO_STATION 类型。
但是,com.apple.android.music.playback.model 的文档指出支持 RADIO_STATION 类型。
此问题在我传入 stations ID 后会导致错误:
MediaSessionManager com.apple.android.music.sdk.testapp D onPlaybackError() Quincy java.io.IOException
请问如何解决这个问题?
When I use musicKit SDK for Android 1.1.2, I found that MediaContainerType only defines three types:
NONE = 0;
ALBUM = 1;
PLAYLIST = 2;
The RADIO_STATION type is not defined.
However, the documentation of com.apple.android.music.playback.model states that the RADIO_STATION type is supported.
This problem causes an error after I pass in the stations ID:
MediaSessionManager com.apple.android.music.sdk.testapp D onPlaybackError() Quincy java.io.IOException
May I ask how to solve this problem?
We are developing an apple music app on phone, the developed web works fine on chrome, but when i load it on webivew on my phone, i can't play the first song,
We doubt that the drm init, key exchange, session creation was on the music.play() function, while we trigger the play, the drm or session was not ok for play a real song, so it got an error
so we may wanna know:
what about the realative process of drm, key, session, etc in the play() function?
are there some state detect function to show weather the drm is ok?
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Audio
Tags:
Apple Music API
MusicKit
MusicKit JS
Apple Music Feed
Does an artist similarity station broaden selection variety compared to a song similarity station?
You don't have to answer if it is against nondisclosure terms.
I'm trying to create an app that authenticates to Apple Music using MusicKit but whenever I try to build my profile through eas, I am getting this error:
Provisioning profile doesn't include the com.apple.developer.music-kit entitlement.
However, my provisioning profile does have MusicKit enabled.
I prefer to use the album fetched from the library instead of the catalog since this is faster. If doing so, how can I check if all tracks of an album are added to the library. In this case I'd like to fetch the catalog version or throw an error (for example when offline).
Using .with(.tracks) on the library album fetches the tracks added to the library.
The trackCount property is referring to the tracks that can be fetched from the library.
The isComplete property is always nil when fetching from the library.
One possible way is checking the trackNumber and discCount properties. However this only detects that not all tracks of an album are added to the library if there is a song not added ahead of one that is. I'd like to be able to handle this edge case as well.
Is there currently a way to do this? I'd prefer to not rely on the apple music catalog for this since this is supposed to work offline as well. Fetching and storing all trackIDs when connected and later comparing against these would work, but this would potentially mean storing tens of thousands of track ids.
Thank you
Feature Request: Long-Lived Access to Personal Apple Music Data
Use Case Summary
I'm developing a personal portfolio website (using Nuxt) and want to display information from my own Apple Music library - showcasing personal playlists, recently played tracks, or a read-only "now playing" widget. This is purely for personal use on my website and doesn't require other users to log in.
With Spotify's API, implementing this was straightforward thanks to automatic token refresh. I want a similarly seamless integration with Apple Music.
Challenge with MusicKit and Music User Tokens
Apple Music API requirements
Apple's Music API requires a valid Music User Token (MUT) for requests involving personal library data. Beyond the Apple Developer Token, you must obtain a user-specific token via MusicKit authentication to access your own library playlists, play history, or current playback status.
Token expiration and manual renewal
Music User Tokens expire after approximately 6 months without any mechanism to automatically refresh or renew them - unlike typical OAuth flows that provide refresh tokens. Apple's guidance suggests the device (e.g., iPhone) is responsible for obtaining new user tokens when old ones expire. This works for interactive apps on Apple devices but fails in server-side or long-lived web contexts like a personal website widget.
Impact on personal projects
Displaying Apple Music data on a public-facing site becomes difficult. I would need to periodically re-authenticate through the MusicKit JS flow every few months just to keep a widget alive. Embedding credentials in a public site is insecure, and manual token refreshing is cumbersome and easy to forget.
Comparison to Spotify's Token Model
Spotify's API offers a developer-friendly authentication model. Their OAuth flow provides a Refresh Token that applications can use to obtain new access tokens automatically without requiring user re-authorization. This means a personal app can maintain continuous access to a user's Spotify data for extended periods until access is revoked.
When building a similar feature with Spotify, this automatic token renewal was crucial. I could safely store the refresh token on my server and have my app periodically update the access token. Many developers have created public-facing widgets showing currently playing tracks on blogs or GitHub profiles using this model. Unfortunately, Apple Music's API lacks an equivalent capability, putting it at a disadvantage for personal projects.
Proposed Solutions
I request Apple's consideration for one of these enhancements:
Provide a mechanism to refresh or extend a Music User Token programmatically for server-side applications. This could be an OAuth-style refresh token issued alongside the MUT, or a dedicated endpoint to exchange an expired MUT for a new one. This would enable renewal without a full user re-auth/login each time.
Allow developers to access their own Apple Music library data with just the long-lived Developer Token. Apple could permit GET requests to personal library endpoints using the Developer Token alone, or a special token tied to the developer's Apple ID. This access would be read-only - no ability to modify the library, purely for retrieving data. It could be an opt-in feature in the Apple Developer account settings.
Either solution would significantly improve the developer experience for Apple Music API in personal projects.
Security and Privacy Considerations
This request is not about accessing others' data or creating privacy loopholes - it's about empowering an Apple Music subscriber to access their own information more conveniently. The proposed options respect privacy principles:
The data accessed is only what the user already has access to - their own playlists, library items, or playback status.
An automatic token refresh can be designed securely (revocable tokens bound to a single account with no increase in permissions).
Read-only developer token access could be restricted to non-sensitive data and require explicit opt-in.
Conclusion
I request an improvement to Apple Music's developer experience through either (1) an automatic Music User Token refresh mechanism, or (2) a provision for read-only personal library access using a Developer Token. This would bring Apple Music integration capabilities closer to parity with services like Spotify for personal projects.
I ask Apple's Developer Relations and the Apple Music API team to consider this feature request. If there are existing best practices or workarounds with current APIs, I would appreciate guidance.
I invite feedback from Apple or other developers. Are there known patterns for maintaining an Apple Music user token for server-side applications, or any plans to support non-interactive use cases? Any advice is welcome.
Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to integrating Apple Music into my personal site as smoothly as with other services, and believe many developers would benefit from this added flexibility.
Sources:
User Authentication for MusicKit - Requirements for Music User Tokens
StackOverflow: Do Apple Music User Tokens expire? - Confirmation of 6-month expiration
MetaBrainz GSoC Blog - Documentation of MusicKit authentication limitations
Apple Developer Forums - Information on token renewal behavior
Spotify for Developers - Documentation on refresh token mechanism
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Audio
Tags:
Apple Music API
MusicKit
MusicKit JS
Apple Music Feed
Hello Apple Developer Community,
We are developing a music management platform for restaurants and cafes in Saudi Arabia. Our app enables businesses to schedule playlists and allows visitors to request songs via barcodes. Music playback is powered by Apple Music, and users must have their own Apple Music subscriptions to access the music. Our service charges a monthly subscription fee for these management features, not for music access itself.
Project Overview and MusicKit Role
Our app integrates MusicKit to leverage Apple Music’s catalog and playback capabilities. Users log in with their Apple Music accounts, ensuring they have an active subscription for music playback. Our platform’s value lies in its tools—playlist scheduling and song requests—which are built on top of MusicKit’s APIs. We offer these features exclusively in Saudi Arabia.
Legal Context in Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, to our understanding, no special licenses are required for playing music in commercial venues like restaurants and cafes. This means our clients can use Apple Music subscriptions for playback without additional performance rights licenses. While this aligns with local laws, we recognize that Apple’s global policies may impose stricter requirements, prompting our need for clarification.
Subscription Model and Monetization Concerns
We charge a monthly subscription fee for access to our app’s features (e.g., scheduling playlists and managing song requests). This fee is separate from the Apple Music subscription, which users must maintain for playback. However, Apple’s MusicKit terms state: "You agree not to require payment for or indirectly monetize access to the Apple Music service." We’re concerned whether our subscription model might be interpreted as indirectly monetizing Apple Music access, given its reliance on MusicKit for functionality.
Scheduling Feature and Synchronization Rights
Our app allows businesses to schedule playlists for general time slots (e.g., “play this playlist from 6 PM to 8 PM”). It does not support precise scheduling, such as playing a specific song at an exact moment (e.g., “play this song at 7:30 PM”). Apple’s guidelines mention that “deeper or more complex music integration” may require additional licenses, like synchronization rights. We’re unsure if our general scheduling feature crosses this threshold or remains within MusicKit’s standard usage.
Questions for Clarification
We’d greatly appreciate expert input on the following:
Monetization: Does our subscription fee for management features (scheduling and song requests) violate Apple’s policy against indirectly monetizing Apple Music access?
Local Context: Given that Saudi Arabia requires no additional licenses for commercial music playback, does this impact our compliance with Apple’s global terms?
Scheduling: Does our playlist scheduling for general time slots (not exact moments) fall within MusicKit’s permitted scope, or does it require further licensing?
Thank you in advance for any insights or guidance to ensure our app aligns with Apple’s policies!
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Apple Music API
MusicKit
MusicKit JS
Apple Music Feed
In MusicKit Web the playback states are provided as numbers.
For example the playbackStateDidChange event listener will return:
{oldState: 2, state: 3, item:...}
When the state changes from playing (2) to paused (3).
Those are pretty easy to guess, but I'm having a hard time with some of the others: completed,
ended,
loading,
none,
paused,
playing,
seeking,
stalled,
stopped,
waiting.
I cannot find a mapping of states to numbers documented anywhere. I got the above states from an enum in a d.ts file that is often incorrect/incomplete.
Can someone help out pointing to the docs or provide a mapping?
Thanks.
I am experimenting with Swift Testing and Xcode Cloud and would like to write some tests that require to use MusicKit functionality. For example I'd like to fetch an album via MusicCatalogRessourceRequest to test an initializer of another struct.
However this test fails because the permission to access the music library is not granted. Once the permission is granted, the test works as expected.
Things I have tried:
Add NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes to the Info.plist. This did not show any effect. Below is the corresponding snippet
Trying to tap the button programmatically. Once again this did not show any effect.
The Info.plist snippet:
<key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes</key>
<array>
<string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIMediaLibrary</string>
</array>
The code snippet to tap the button:
let systemAlerts = XCUIApplication(bundleIdentifier: "com.apple.springboard")
let allowButton = systemAlerts.buttons["Allow"]
if allowButton.exists {
allowButton.tap()
}
What am I doing wrong here? I need access to MusicKit functionalities to write meaningful tests. Thank you
I've been having issues with authorization after switching from v1 to v3, have tried some of the suggestions provided by someone in a reply to a post of mine. Have tried to reach out to Apple Support a few times as well, though I haven't received any support that has helped me to move forward.
I have tested my token at https://jwt.io and I'm getting a "Signature Verified", tried multiple browsers in private/incognito mode, now when I try to sign into my Apple Account to test my player I am receiving an error that stats "There is a Problem Connecting. There May be an Issue with Your Network." (which is not the case).
I have tried everything I can think of, I'm at a loss and would appreciate any help to get my project moving forward. This is what I am seeing in the browser developer console (using Firefox):
Authorization failed: AUTHORIZATION_ERROR: Unauthorized
MKError https://js-cdn.music.apple.com/musickit/v3/musickit.js:13
authorize https://js-cdn.music.apple.com/musickit/v3/musickit.js:28
asyncGeneratorStep$w https://js-cdn.music.apple.com/musickit/v3/musickit.js:28
_next https://js-cdn.music.apple.com/musickit/v3/musickit.js:28
media.mydomain.com:398:19
https://media.mydomain.com/:398
I noticed that Instagram and iMessage support receiving shared lyrics from Apple Music. Specifically, when users long-press lyrics, a sheet pops up showing iMessage and Instagram. Clicking on either app generates a beautifully formatted lyrics image.
I've looked through MusicKit documentation but couldn't find any related APIs.
How can I implement this functionality in my app?