Apple is testing an improved version of its Music app that’s built to run entirely natively on Mac. Parts of the app, such as the music library, were native on macOS before, and now the rest of it is catching up for improved performance.
You can try out the new Music app now by installing the macOS 12.2 Monterey beta, which is available to all through Apple’s public Beta Software Program.
Apple makes Music better on Mac
Apple introduced the Music app with macOS Catalina in 2019. It finally did away with iTunes and split up its features into dedicated apps for Books, Podcasts, TV and more. It’s a much more streamlined experience, but it could be better.
Music, in particular, still feels a lot like iTunes at times. Parts of the app still render slowly and seem a little bloated — and that’s largely because much of the music app isn’t actually designed to run natively on Mac, but on the web.
More than three years on from iTunes’ departure, that’s now changing. Apple is testing a much-improved Music client that uses native AppKit views throughout, making almost everything feel significantly snappier and more efficient.
One of the most noticeable areas of improvement is in search. Even on the fastest Mac models, searching inside Apple Music has been painfully slow up until now. But thanks to Apple’s improvements, it’s now much faster.
Try out the new Music app
The improved Music app started rolling out last week with the macOS 12.2 Monterey beta. You can try it our for yourself by signing up for Apple’s public beta program, and we have a guide on how to do that if you’re interested.
The process is fairly quick and simple, and once you’re signed up, you can install the beta just like any other macOS update. Bear in mind, however, that beta releases aren’t as stable as final software builds.
