Latest iOS 15.5 beta brings back a much-loved Apple Music API

iPad Air 5 Apple Music (Image credit: Luke Filipowicz / iMore)

What you need to know

Apple has added an Apple Music API back into iOS 15.5 after removing it from iOS 15.4.
The API allowed third-party developers to control the playback speed of subscription music.
Users will need iOS 15.5 installed to notice the change — the update is thought to be weeks away from public release.

Apple has re-enabled an Apple Music API that allows third-party apps to control the playback speed of songs. The API was first removed when Apple shipped iOS 15.4 but an engineer has confirmed that it is now back as of the latest iOS 15.5 beta.

In a developer forum post discussing the issue, iGeneration notes that an Apple engineer confirmed that the 'MPMediaPlayback.currentPlaybackRate' API is now operational once more after the company "re-evaluated our previous decision."

We have re-evaluated our previous decision to disable changing the playback rate for subscription content from Apple Music in third-party applications, and we came to the conclusion that we could safely enable that functionality again, just like before the release of iOS 15.4.As such, this issue is fixed in iOS 15.5 beta 4.

It isn't clear why Apple removed support for the API in the first place, but this re-evaluation of the situation does now mean that third-party developers can take advantage of it once again. Anyone who had to remove a feature from their app because of this API change can now safely add it back in. Assuming Apple doesn't decide to re-evaluate its re-evaluation of it, of course.

Apple says that the API is now available to anyone who installs the latest iOS 15.5 beta, an update that should be available to everyone within the next few weeks.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.