Apple Music Adds 5 iOS 27 Features, Expanding AutoMix to tvOS and HomePod

Q: Are Apple's flashy new artist pages actually masking a delayed album redesign they couldn't finish in time?

Probably yes in part, but not as a cover-up. Apple publicly promised both redesigned artist pages and redesigned album pages at WWDC 2026. In the current iOS 27 beta, only the artist page redesign is live, while album pages remain unchanged. That strongly suggests the album refresh is delayed or still rolling out, not abandoned. The evidence cuts against the idea that Apple is “masking” anything. Apple itself listed album pages as part of the update, and multiple reports note they are simply absent from the beta so far. That is more consistent with unfinished software timing than with a deliberate attempt to distract users. What is live now is also substantial on its own. The artist page redesign is not just cosmetic: it moves play, shuffle, follow, and artist info higher on the page, gives featured music its own card, and uses full-screen color backgrounds tied to artist imagery. Apple has also built new artist branding tools around it, including custom logos, button colors, and pinned featured releases through Apple Music for Artists. That points to a planned product change, not filler. At the same time, the artist update does look like a partial rollout of a broader Apple Music visual refresh. Coverage and Apple’s own materials indicate album pages are meant to join it later, likely in a subsequent beta. So the fairest reading is that Apple shipped the part it finished, while the album redesign missed the current beta window.

Q: What hidden privacy catch lies within Apple Music's brand-new social tracking playlist?

The privacy catch is that Apple Music’s new Friends playlist depends on your listening activity being shared with other people, and it can expose not just what you play, but which friend is playing each track. Apple describes the playlist as surfacing “the best of what your friends are listening to” and explicitly labeling which friend is attached to each song. That makes the feature more revealing than a generic recommendation feed: it turns listening habits into identifiable social activity. The key issue is that this visibility is tied to Apple Music’s existing social profile settings, which many users may have enabled long ago and forgotten. Apple’s support documents show that users must manage who can follow their activity, which playlists are shared, and whether “Listening To” is visible. If that sharing is on, your listening can feed into friends’ discovery features. Hiding it is possible, but Apple notes changes may not disappear immediately. So the catch is less about hidden data collection by Apple and more about passive exposure to other users. Unless you review your Apple Music profile, follower permissions, and “Listening To” settings, the new playlist could make your listening behavior newly visible in a more prominent, automatic way. For users who want the feature without the tracking feel, the practical safeguard is to limit followers to approved people or turn off listening activity sharing altogether.

3 articles · Updated · 9to5Mac · Sep 18

Five Apple Music upgrades arrive with iOS 27: landscape mode, improved AutoMix, redesigned artist pages, a weekly Friends playlist, and three extra-large widgets.
Landscape mode now shows artwork, controls and side-by-side lyrics on supported iPhones, while AutoMix gets smoother transitions and extends beyond iPhone to tvOS and HomePod.
Artist pages adopt fullscreen color backgrounds and easier-to-reach controls, and the new Friends playlist updates every Thursday with tracks tied to specific friends' listening.
Three extra-large widgets—Recently Played, Recommendations and Top Charts—give Apple Music a bigger presence on the Home Screen and Today view as iOS 27 broadens app redesigns across Apple's system.