What you need to know
- Apple is rebuilding the Apple Music app as a native app on the Mac.
- Underlying code in the macOS Monterey 12.2 beta has revealed the change.
The Apple Music app on the Mac is about to get a lot better.
As reported by 9to5Mac, code found within the macOS Monterey 12.2 beta reveals that Apple is finally rebuilding the Apple Music app as a native app for macOS.
As first noted by Luming Yin on Twitter, Apple Music in macOS 12.2 beta now uses AppKit – which is macOS' native interface framework. 9to5Mac was able to confirm based on macOS code that the Music app is now using JET, which is a technology created by Apple to turn web content into native apps.Some parts of the Music app were already native, such as the music library. But now Mac users will notice that searching for new songs in Apple Music is much faster as the results pages are displayed with a native interface instead of as a webpage. Scrolling between elements has also become smoother with the beta app, and trackpad gestures are now more responsive.
It also looks like Apple Music isn't the only app that's being rebuilt as a native app on the Mac. The Apple TV app is also being converted to a native backend.
Yin mentioned that the Apple TV app has also been rebuilt with a native backend. While this is indeed true, 9to5Mac found out that Apple had already updated the TV app with JET technology in macOS Monterey 12.1, which is available for everyone. Of course, more refinements are expected for both apps in the upcoming macOS 12.2 betas.
When Apple broke apart iTunes into the Music, Podcasts, and TV app on the Mac, it used its Catalyst technology to do so. Catalyst was Apple's way of converting iPad apps and bringing them to the Mac. The issue was that a lot of the iTunes backend was still running on the app, which made the performance a bit of a mess.
According to the report, the app is already running much faster. It will be a breath of fresh air when Apple releases a new version of the Music app for the Mac that is fully native.
