In August 2021, Apple announced the acquisition of classical music service Primephonic. At the time, Apple said it would launch a classical music app this year, but now that the end of the year is approaching, there isn’t much time left for Apple.
In a press release shared by Apple last year, Apple said, “Apple Music plans to launch a dedicated classical music app next year, combined with Primephonic’s classic UI, and fans have fallen in love with even more additional features”. no further mention of the plan.
The app will act as an alternative to Primephonic, offering users a collection of classical music such as Beethoven and Mozart.
Primephonic’s website initially stated that it was “developing an amazing new classical music experience from Apple early next year”, but the “early next year” wording was changed to “next year” on March 9, 2022.
Primephonic’s service will be shut down in September 2021, when users will be able to get 6 months of Apple Music service for free. This means that Primephonic subscribers will be able to listen to Apple Music until February, suggesting that Apple may have planned to release a classical music app at this March event, but that didn’t materialize.
In February, the code for “Open in Apple Classical” was found in a beta version of the Apple Music app for Android. Then, in May, content like “Open in Apple Classical” and “A Shortcut to Apple Classical” were found in the iOS 15.5 beta. All of this suggests that Apple plans to name the app “Apple Classical” rather than “Apple Music Classical.”
In late September, additional references to classical music apps were found in an XML file on Apple’s servers. It’s unclear whether the app will be built into iOS or released separately on the App Store.
The fate of Apple Classical Music is still unknown, and Apple could launch the app in the next week or two, or the launch time could be delayed until 2023, or the app might not launch at all.
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