Apple Music to Get Animated Album Artwork in iOS 14.3 and macOS 11.1

Apple Music includes new animated album artwork in the latest beta versions of iOS 14.3 and macOS 11.1, indicating that the feature will likely come to subscribers of the streaming service next week.

apple music logo
‌Apple Music‌ gained animated playlist artwork with the release of iOS 14, but it looks like Apple is now extending the feature to select album covers in iOS 14.3, too.

Animated album art in ‌Apple Music‌ has been spotted by a Redditor on albums including "12 Questions" by Future Utopia, "Detroit 2" by Big Sean, and Pearl Jam's "Gigaton."

The animations are short and appear similar to live wallpapers on iOS, showcasing brief and colorful sequences that apparently loop infinitely.


As noted by 9to5Mac, on iPhone the animated artwork takes up half of the screen, but they're the same size as regular album artwork on iPad and Mac.

Apart from all being new releases, it's not clear what Apple's selection criteria is for adding the animations to albums, but more are likely to be introduced when iOS 14.3 is released to the public on Monday.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...

Top Rated Comments

LongWayHome Avatar
53 months ago
That's great and all, but give us hi-def audio please.
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Muero Avatar
53 months ago
Whoever started this stupid animated music artwork trend should be fired into the sun.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mimeArtist Avatar
53 months ago
Just make searching better please.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0279317 Avatar
53 months ago

That's great and all, but give us hi-def audio please.
I'm all for hi-def audio.

And while you're at it Apple, stop screwing around with the art work I already have and stop inserting crappy pics of artists into my library.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hastings101 Avatar
53 months ago
Just what I needed, a distracting GIF playing while I’m trying to read song titles
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PlainviewX Avatar
53 months ago
Nobody:

Literally Nobody:

Apple: Let's make animated album covers.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)