On WWDC 2021, Apple reverses switches on lossless and spatial audio in Apple Music – two ‘new’ formats that are radically will change the way your favorite song.
Of course, also not new: lossless as a description of the audio codec has existed since the turn of the 21st century, while spatial audio has been developed in several different incarnations over the past few years.
That said, Apple Music made it easier than ever to listen to music in this format – which really will be excited.
So how do you turn on lossless and spatial audio, and what devices do you need to play it correctly? We have collected short guides to start.
Step 1. Download iOS 14.6 or iPados 14.6
This step is really important because, without it, your device will not recognize whatever new format you do. Updates must be automatically launched to iOS devices Starting June 8, you might need to enter and update your device manually if you haven’t seen it appear.
To do that, enter your device settings and select General> Software Update> Check for updates. Hopefully, it must make it appear. If not, wait a few hours and try again.
Step 2. Get Subscriptions for Apple Music
Unfortunately, Apple will not automatically convert all the songs that you have saved on your mobile to a new lossless and spatial audio format – even if you use the match matching feature of Apple Music in the past or have a song downloaded from Apple Music at this time.
That said, Apple currently offers free three-month Apple Music trials for new customers for individual plans – perfect if you just want to try in a new format. You will not be charged until the plan to renew and you can cancel up to two days before your trial ends without a penalty.
Step 3. Set Dolby Atmos to or automatically
Turning on spatial audio is very easy, so let’s start there.
To activate spatial audio, go to your settings again and search for music headlines. Touch, and you will see the option for Dolby Atmos. Touch and select Automatic (which must be activated by default) or always active if you want to hear spatial audio at any time.
You will know it works if you return to Apple Music and you see the Dolby Atmos logo on the play / pause icon on the screen now playing.
Step 4. Turn on lossless audio in the settings
Turning on Lossless Audio requires one more step, but honestly no harder: Return to Settings> Music> Audio quality and lossless audio rotary.
You will then have several options about when you want your phone to drain lossless audio – either when you are connected via cellular data, Wi-Fi or when you download the song. You can activate or deactivate the three or one individually, which you have a limited data cap or storage.
To check whether it works, back to Apple Music and you will see several albums now have lossless audio symbols in their description. If a song is played in a lossless audio, you will see an icon above the Play / Pause icon on the screen now playing.