watchOS 7 now supports DRM audio streaming, opening the door for music apps

Music apps could finally start streaming to Apple Watch will Apple's latest announcement for watchOS 7.

Reported by 9to5Mac, Apple is rolling out Fairplay support to watchOS 7. This will allow developers to create audio streaming apps with DRM content for the Apple Watch.

The session, called 'What's new in streaming audio for Apple Watch', goes over how to implement FairPlay into an Apple Watch app.

What's new in streaming audio for Apple Watch

Deliver a smooth streaming audio experience straight to the wrist. We'll talk about some of the new things for building great streaming apps unique to Apple Watch. Learn how to integrate more audio formats, deliver streams more efficiently through new codecs, and add encrypted content to expand your app's media library.

Fairplay has already been built into iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS, so its introduction to Apple Watch is a welcome one. The enhancement could finally open up audio streaming to Apple Watch for a very important category: music apps. With Fairplay, developers could enable audio streaming for their music apps without the worry of users pirating content.

One streaming service that has long been requested to add audio streaming to its Apple Watch app is Spotify. With today's announcement, it could create the scenario the company needs to add audio streaming to its app. We'll have to wait and see once watchOS 7 releases to the public this fall.