Updating your iPhone to the newest operating system is crucial to staying up to date on security enhancements, bug fixes, and most excitingly, new features. iOS 8.4’s most rousing unveiling is the new music application, which hopes to reinvent and immerse the user into a new world of music that we haven’t yet seen.
iOS 8.4 Features
All New Apple Music
- Join Apple Music and play your choice of millions of songs.
- Download songs for free for offline playback. (Save your data!)
- See music recommendations handpicked from music experts.
- Beats 1 – Tune in to music, interviews, and exclusive radio shows on Beats 1.
- Connect – See thoughts, photos, music, and videos from your favorite artists
- My Music – Play from all of your iTunes purchases, songs from Apple Music, and playlists in one place.
- Completely redesigned music player that includes new features such as a brilliant mini-player, the new “Up Next” feature, and more.
iBooks Improvements and Fixes
- Browse, listen, and download audiobooks from inside iBooks.
- New Auto-Night theme available
Other Improvements and Bug Fixes
- Fixes the iMessage crash bug
- Fixes an issue that prevented GPS accessories from providing location data.
- Fixes an issue where deleted Apple Watch apps could re-install
How To Download iOS 8.4
First back-up your iPhone and make sure your computer is nearby. It is possible the update will need to pull information from iTunes to finish installing.
- Make sure your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi and plugged in.
- Go to Settings
- Tap General
- Tap Software Update
- Tap Download and install
- Enter your password if asked
- Agree to the Terms and Conditions
- Tap Agree again
- Tap Install Now to start updating your iPhone or iPad
“What if I don’t have enough storage on my iPhone to install iOS 8.4?”
Freeing up space on your iPhone or iPad can be troublesome; it’s hard to know what to delete. One of the very first things you should do, is delete the photos that you already deleted. That’s right, photos that you previously deleted are still taking up space on your iOS device. To free up this useable space follow these simple steps.
- Tap the Photos application
- Tap the “Recently Deleted” album
- Tap Select on the top right corner
- Tap “Delete All”
- Depending on how many photos you have deleted within the past month, this could potentially free up enough space to start your install! If it didn’t free up enough space…
- Go to settings
- Tap General
- Tap Usage
- Tap Manage Storage
- You will see a populated list of the apps on your iOS device, and how much data they are storing from largest to smallest.
- Delete the apps that you use least often. OR you can delete the largest apps, and reinstall them later. For example, deleting Instagram will free up 600 MB of data on my iPhone, instantly. I can then update my iPhone and re-download Instagram from the App Store later.
Once you have downloaded iOS 8.4 you’ll immediately notice the new Music application. It has been redesigned from the ground up, creating a beautiful and immersive experience.
Signing up for Apple Music is easy, and best of all, there is a 3-month free trial so you can check out all the good stuff for zero money. Be warned, Apple will automatically charge your account $9.99 a month after the subscription is up. This is called “Automatic Renewal”, to avoid being charged automatically every month, follow these steps.
How To Turn of Apple Music Automatic Renewal
- Tap the silhouette icon in the upper left corner of the music app
- Tap View Apple ID
- Sign in to the iTunes Store by entering your Apple ID password
- Under subscriptions, tap manage
- Find Renewal Options and switch it off
- Tap “Turn Off” to accept the changes! Your free trial will automatically end on three months from today, and you won’t be charged a dime.
Apple Music First Look
When you first jump into Apple Music, the app will ask you to tell them what music you’re into.
- Tap genres to make them bigger, the bigger it is, the more you love it.
- Keep tapping to reduce the size of the circle.
- If you hate a particular genre, tap and hold on it to delete it entirely. This way you’ll never hear it in your new music feed.
- Use the same technique to pick some of your favorite artists.
- Delete the ones you don’t like.
Next you’ll find find five tabs at the bottom of the music app. These tabs will be your main navigation tools through the app. Here is an idea of what each tab does.
“For You”
- “For You” will put together playlists that the music experts over at Apple think that you would like. Many of these playlists cross genres for unique listening experience.
“New”
- The New tab shows artists and songs that are new and trending.
- Here you can find songs and artists you might like based on your music preferences.
- You’ll also find fun music playlists perfect for parties, get-togethers, and even working-out in this tab.
“Radio”
- Radio remains mostly the same as the version previous version in iOS 8.3.
- Here you can listen to advertisement supported music playlists based around a song or artist.
- If you choose not to subscribe to Apple Music, the radio function serves as a decent (free) alternative.
Connect
- Connect allows you to follow artists to learn more about their creative processes, watch videos, talk to other fans, and more.
- Connect is attempting to create a some sort of mini-social media network, and for hardcore music lovers, it might actually be their next best thing.
My Music
- My music is the hub for all of your purchased music from the past.
- This tab will also contain music you have downloaded from Apple Music for offline use.
The new Apple Music is honestly impressive. Apple Music will truly immerse you into a world of music you might not have ever experienced otherwise. There’s no guarantee that I will cancel my Pandora subscription and make the switch to Apple Music, but with a competitive price point of only $9.99 a month, it’s definitely something to think about.
What do you think of the new Apple Music? Will Apple Music provide you with enough benefits and features to make you switch from Spotify or Pandora?