Apple’s music streaming service is now available, heating up the competition in the music-streaming arena. But what does this mean for you? It means that for three months you can stream 30 million songs for free.
Apple Music has some tough competition, most notably Spotify, which already has a large share of the music-streaming market. To try and convert users, Apple is offering a free three-month trial. All you have to do is sign up for the service to receive three months for free.
How to get it
iPhone and iPad
If you’re using an iPhone or iPad, you’ll need iOS 8.4 to use Apple Music. If you haven’t already updated your operating system, open up your device and go into ‘Settings’, tap ‘General’ and then tap ‘Software Update’. Tapping ‘Download and Install’ will begin the update process. Be sure to do this over wifi only, as it will use a lot of data otherwise. Once you are running iOS 8.4, tap the white ‘Music’ icon on your device.
PC and Mac
To use Apple Music on a desktop computer, you need to have iTunes installed and updated to the latest version (12.2). If you don’t have iTunes, click here to download it.
If your iTunes isn’t up to date, you can update it on your PC by opening iTunes and clicking on the dropdown menu in the top left hand corner of the screen, and then clicking ‘Show Menu Bar’. Now click ‘Help’ on the menu bar and select ‘Check for Updates’.
To update on a Mac, open iTunes and click the ‘iTunes’ dropdown menu located in the top left corner of the screen and then click on ‘Check for Updates’.
Android users have been promised to receive the streaming service later this year in September, but they will unfortunately not receive a free three-month trial.
Activate your trial
To sign up for a free trial, you will need a valid credit card. Activating your trial will sign you up for automatic payments until you choose to cancel them (read below for cancellation instructions).
To activate on an iPhone or iPad, simply open up the Music app and you will be given an option to activate a trial. Follow the prompts and you’re ready to start streaming. Remember that using this service will use internet data every time you listen to a song. So if possible, try to use it on wifi rather than mobile data.
To activate on Mac or PC open up iTunes and click on the ‘For You’ tab then follow the prompts.
Turn off automatic payments
Doing this will ensure that your free trial remains a free trial, unless you want to continue using and paying for the service. To do this on iPhone or iPad, open the Music app then tap the ‘Profile’ icon (the red silhouette in the top left corner), then tap ‘View Apple ID’. Now enter your password and tap ‘Payment Information’ then scroll down and tap ‘Manage’. Select Apple Music and toggle the ‘Automatic Renewal’ option to ‘Off’.
On Mac or PC, click on the ‘Profile’ icon (the silhouette of a person located in the top left corner), then click ‘Account Info’. Now navigate to ‘Settings’ and look for ‘Subscriptions’. Once you’ve found it, click the adjacent ‘Manage’ button. Select ‘Apple Music’ and toggle the ‘Automatic Renewal’ option to ‘Off’.
