When you start using a new iPhone, Apple Music is the default music-playing app that the phone steers you toward. However, there are multiple ways in which you can listen to music on your iPhone without having to stick to Apple Music or be limited by its library and licensing red tape.
Let’s break down different ways to listen to music below:
Spotify and Other Services
Many people already take heavy advantage of Spotify, Pandora, and other music streaming services. The good thing about these services is that they are totally legal, so you can install these apps on your phone and immediately benefit from the extensive libraries and playlists that come with them right off the bat.
Even better, many of these services allow you to create your own playlists and curate libraries of your favorite songs. Some of these apps are even better than Apple Music when it comes to user-friendliness or intuitiveness, and artists occasionally market exclusively without those platforms. However, these services often require subscriptions for you to unlock their full functionality and extra benefits.
Transfer MP3s to Your iPhone
Those on the hunt for ways to enjoy music for free often wonder how to add MP3s to iPhone. The good news is that this isn’t particularly difficult, and you can actually transfer raw MP3 files straight to your iPhone using Mac software. It’s easy to download single tracks (instead of full albums) right from the Internet and bring those files to your phone to be played through third-party apps that you download from the App Store.
Downloading MP3 files is a particularly good way to get access to songs that may not be readily available in albums or rare songs that aren’t actually sold anywhere else. While it’s never a good idea to pirate music, sometimes it may be your only option when the song you want to hear just isn’t being sold or produced any longer. You can also download YouTube MP3 files for the same reason.
Safari Hack
There’s also a lesser-known way to play music in the background through using a special Apple Safari “hack”. This involves creating your own webpage. Then you link that webpage to various streaming stations’ .m3u files. .m3u files are regularly URLs that launch in iTunes if you were to use them on a desktop or laptop.
You do need a little HTML coding experience in order to make the most of this method, but it’s not too difficult to learn. In many cases, you can just copy and paste the necessary code in a few minutes and be good to go. Once you link the files to your custom created webpage, you can then access the webpage using your iPhone’s Safari browser and listen to music as you go about your daily activities.
All in all, there are plenty of intuitive and novel ways to listen to music on your iPhone without having to use Apple Music. Feel free to use any of the above methods depending on what works best for you.
