In August 2021, Apple announced the acquisition of the classical music service Primephonic. At the time, Apple said it planned to launch a dedicated Classical Music app this year, but now that the end of the year is approaching, Apple is running out of time.
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 classical user interface, and fans have fallen in love with even more additional features.” The company made no further mention of the plan.
The app will serve as an alternative to Primephonic, offering users a collection of classical music like Beethoven and Mozart.
Primephonic’s website originally stated that it was “developing an amazing new classical music experience from Apple for early next year,” but the wording “early next year” was changed to “next year” on March 9, 2022.
Primephonic’s service will shut down in September 2021, when users can get 6 months of Apple Music service for free. That means Primephonic subscribers will be able to listen to Apple Music until February, suggesting that Apple may have been planning to release a classical music app at this March event, but that hasn’t materialized.
In February, code for “Open in Apple Classical” was found in a beta version of the Apple Music app for Android. Then, in May, similar “Open in Apple Classical” and “A Shortcut to Apple Classical” content was found in the iOS 15.5 beta. These all suggest that Apple plans to name the app “Apple Classical,” rather than “Apple Music Classical.”
In late September, more 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 may launch the app in the next week or two, or the launch time may be delayed until 2023, or the app may not be launched at all.
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