Apple Music in iOS 18.1 got two upgrades that are easy to miss

iOS and iPadOS 18.1 launched this week, with Apple Intelligence the biggest addition. But the Music app also scored a couple nice upgrades you might have missed. Here’s what’s new for Apple Music.

TikTok sharing integration

Apple Music has long offered a special Instagram sharing option, but now in iOS 18.1 there’s a custom integration built for TikTok too.

When you’re listening to an Apple Music song you want to share, hitting the TikTok button in the share sheet takes you into the TikTok app.

From there, you’ll see three sharing options:

• Video
• Photo
• Message

The Video and Photo options are nice because TikTok automatically adds a song link to your post so your followers can hear a snippet of it. The Message option simply includes the song in a DM.

Customizable iPad tab bar

The second new Apple Music feature is built into the iPad version of the app. It takes advantage of the fresh tab bar design introduced in iPadOS 18.

In iPadOS 18.1, you can fully customize the content displayed in the tab bar at the top of the screen.

Apple includes several default menu options there, but if you tap and hold you can enter editing mode. The sidebar will display a variety of content you can pin to the tab bar.

My favorite way to customize the tab bar is to add my go-to playlists and playlist folders as dedicated tab bar items. That way my favorite music is kept front and center, easy to access from anywhere in the app.

iOS 18.1 Apple Music wrap-up

So far, none of the announced Apple Intelligence features coming in the year ahead have to do with Apple Music. But for now, Apple continues upgrading the Music app experience in other ways. Here’s hoping we get some AI goodies next year though, maybe in a surprise spring update.

Have you used the new iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 Music features? Let us know in the comments.

My favorite accessories for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and more

• ESR 3-in-1 MagSafe portable charger
• AirPods Pro 2
• 100W USB-C power adapter for fast charging
• tomtoc laptop/tablet sleeve bag
• Anker portable USB-C charger for Apple Watch