Apple iOS 8.4 Beta 3 Brings Major Updates To Music App

Apple Inc. sent out a third beta version of its upcoming iOS 8.4 update, including a major overhaul of Apple’s music application, as it prepares to relaunch Beats Music as a competitor to Spotify and Jay-Z's Tidal music service.

With iOS 8.4 beta 3, the music app gets such features as a new look to the "Up Next" button, a more prominent "Now Playing" screen and toggles for showing music offline, an updated music search history, which includes searches within the app as opposed to just iTunes Radio searches, and an iPhone logo to indicate music that's stored offline.

The iOS 8.4 beta 3 update is now being sent wirelessly to developers, who can download the new software manually. The update is compatible with the iPhone 4s and newer, the iPad Air 2 and newer, and the iPod Touch 5G. Standard users will have to wait until Apple releases the software publicly to take advantage of these new features.

Pundits suspect Apple is sprucing up its music app ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference, during which the tech giant is expected to announce its Beats-branded streaming music service. The service is said to be a rebranded version of Apple’s current Beats music service; however, the new service is expected to incorporate aspects of iTunes and offers exclusive content.

WWDC takes place on June 8, when Apple is also expected to announce an update to its computer operating system, OS X. The company has, as well, released its second public beta for the current operating system OS X 10.10.4 (Yosemite).