Apple Music Beta for Android Confirms Lossless Audio Streaming in the Works

Following a report that Apple could announce a brand new HiFi Apple Music tier as soon as Tuesday, May 18, new warnings within the music streaming services app on Android have confirmed that lossless audio is in the works.

apple music album cover art
As reported by 9to5Google, the ‌Apple Music‌ beta for Android has multiple warnings within the app that inform users that streaming audio at lossless, another term often used for high-fidelity streaming, will consume more data and bandwidth.

Lossless audio files preserve every detail of the original file. Turning this on will consume significantly more data.

Lossless audio files will use significantly more space on your device. 10 GB of space could store approximately: – 3000 songs at high quality – 1000 songs with lossless – 200 songs with hi-res lossless

Lossless streaming will consume significantly more data. A 3-minute song will be approximately: – 1.5 MB with high efficiency- 6 MB with high quality at 256 kbps- 36 MB with lossless at 24-bit/48 kHz- 145 MB with hi-res lossless at 24-bit/192 kHzSupport varies and depends on song availability, network conditions, and connected speaker or headphone capability.

Suggestion of a lossless audio tier for ‌Apple Music‌ first sparked earlier this month with a report from Hits Daily Double. The report stated a launch is imminent and that the new tier will cost the same $9.99 as the current individual ‌Apple Music‌ package; however, how Apple will allow existing customers to upgrade to HiFi remains unknown.

Apple is currently testing iOS and iPadOS 14.6 with developers, which compared to iOS 14.5 released in April, the upcoming update seems more subdued with new features and changes. Code within the update, although, has indicated that users will have the option to switch between different streaming qualities and that ‌Apple Music‌ may be able to dynamically switch between lossless and standard audio depending on factors such as signal strength, battery life, and data consumption.

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
iPhone 17 Air Size Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo

Tuesday January 21, 2025 12:46 pm PST by
A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model. The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
iPhone SE Dynamic Island Majin Bu

iPhone SE 4 Leak Shows Dynamic Island, Casts Doubt on Rumored 'iPhone 16E' Name

Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass. In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
apple power beats pro 2

Powerbeats Pro 2 Coming Soon: Apple to Announce Them 'Imminently'

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...

Top Rated Comments

Zadigre Avatar
48 months ago
I hope this will be a free upgrade for those paying for Apple One subscription.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tkermit Avatar
48 months ago
Nice to see we'll finally be reaching CD quality again, 40 years after its introduction. ;)
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GermanSuplex Avatar
48 months ago
256kbps AAC is good enough for me. There's nothing wrong with having the best, but I can't really tell the difference between lossless and 128kbps mp3. I reckon for every 100 people who will swear by lossless, there's probably 1 or 2 who can actually tell the difference.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xxray Avatar
48 months ago
Not gonna lie, as a Spotify user, this is appealing. And the fact that such a high-profile streaming service is taking it seriously and adding it as a feature is huge. It used to be that you could only get music this high-quality if you bought an album online from specific websites at 2-3x the cost of a normal album.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sorgo † Avatar
48 months ago
I knew I went with that 1TB iPad Pro for a reason. :D
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rumz Avatar
48 months ago

Oof. Not sure why I didn't consider the impact of data usage with lossless. I listen to music most in the car.
They need more ways to hype 5G ?

I have wanted a lossless option for years— I had given up on Apple ever introducing it. I’m not too worried about bandwidth as I’m pretty intentional about what I listen to and prefer to have music saved for offline so that I’m not at the mercy of a cellular provider.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)