Hi, I'm an individual developer in Japan planning a web app with MusicKit JS, and I'd like to confirm my reading of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement, section 3.3.6(D) (MusicKit), before I start building. The design A "host" picks a song. Other people in the same room hear that same song. Every user plays it on their own device, through their own Apple Music subscription, in their own MusicKit JS instance. My server never receives, stores, caches, transcodes, or transmits any audio. My server only relays control metadata: a song identifier and an approximate playback position, so each client can start near the same point. Each user explicitly taps to start playback in their own browser. Standard play / pause / skip controls are available to every user. Apple Music playback is free for everyone in the app. No paywall, no ads, and no requirement to hand over personal information in order to listen. My questions 3.3.6(D) says "MusicKit Content cannot be synchronized with any other content." I read this as referring to synchronization with other media (for example, using a song as a soundtrack for video or images), and not as prohibiting multiple users independently playing the same song at roughly the same time through their own subscriptions. Is that reading correct? 3.3.6(D) says I must not "require payment for or indirectly monetize access to the Apple Music service." If Apple Music playback stays entirely free for all users, and I separately charge hosts for features unrelated to playback (for example audience analytics, custom branding for their room page, and scheduling tools), would that count as indirect monetization of access to the Apple Music service? 3.3.6(D) says "users must initiate playback." If a user taps play once and a queue then continues to the next track automatically (ordinary continuous playback), is that acceptable? Or does the user need to tap for each track individually when the host changes the selection? I'd like to build this correctly from the start, so any guidance is appreciated. If these are better directed to another channel, a pointer would be very welcome. Thanks, Sho

We’ve worked extensively on beatsinspace.net/mixes, where authenticated users with an Apple Music subscription can listen to full Beats in Space mixes through MusicKit JS on the web. https://www.beatsinspace.net/mixes Each mix is published as an Apple Music album, with the tracks acting as chapters within one continuous DJ mix. However, there is a noticeable gap between every track when listening through the website. The same mixes play seamlessly in the native Apple Music app. We’ve tested this across Chrome and Safari, as well as in a standalone prototype, and the issue appears to happen specifically with MusicKit JS playback. Do we know why this is happening and whether there is a supported way to prevent it? Would deeply appreciate any pointers here. Thank you!

Hi all — hoping someone has hit this. Our MusicKit JS (v3) web app calls authorize() and it rejects with AUTHORIZATION_ERROR / "Unauthorized" (no Music User Token is issued), even though the same developer token returns HTTP 200 for catalog requests (/v1/catalog/us/search) — so the token itself is valid. Setup (all verified): MusicKit JS v3 from js-cdn.music.apple.com/musickit/v3/musickit.js; MusicKit.configure() succeeds, storefront resolves to "us". Developer token is ES256, valid, and includes the origin claim for our exact site origin. Our MusicKit key is enabled for Media Services and tied to a Media ID that has MusicKit enabled. Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin. Repro: sign in with an active Apple Music subscriber and tap Allow -> authorize() rejects. Reproduces for two subscriber Apple IDs, in Chrome and Edge, with third-party cookies allowed. Error object: { name: "AUTHORIZATION_ERROR", message: "Unauthorized", isMKError: true }, thrown inside musickit.js during the authorize() flow. The served MusicKit build is a prerelease (3.2526.0-prerelease.x). We've ruled out the usual suspects on our side (origin claim, referrer policy, token validity, API version, cookies, and portal provisioning). Has anyone resolved this, or is there an additional server-side enablement needed for a team/Media ID to issue web user tokens? Also filed as FB23587284. Thanks!

I’m developing a third-party Apple Music streaming app using MusicKit (ApplicationMusicPlayer + catalog requests). Issue: Whenever Apple releases an Apple Music update that shows the “What’s New?” onboarding/modal screen in the native Apple Music app, MusicKit in our app completely breaks for all users. Attempts to play anything (queue, prepareToPlay, etc.) fail silently or with service-related errors. Playback and most MusicKit operations remain broken until the user opens the native Apple Music app, dismisses the “What’s New?” screen, and returns to our app. After that single native interaction (we deliberately stopped users from going any further within Apple Music to verify this), everything works perfectly again. Reproduction Steps: Apple Music receives an update with “What’s New?” screen. User launches our third-party app and attempts playback. MusicKit fails. User opens Apple Music → dismisses modal → returns to our app. MusicKit works again. Expected Behavior: Third-party MusicKit apps should not become non-functional because the native Apple Music app has a pending onboarding screen. Shared backend services (account readiness, tokens, subscription state, etc.) should initialize independently. Environment: iOS 26.4.2 Devices verified to be affected: iPhone 13 Pro iPhone XR iPhone 15 Workarounds attempted: Re-requesting MusicAuthorization Recreating ApplicationMusicPlayer Stopping/re-queuing Background/foreground app None resolve it without the native Apple Music interaction. This appears to be a recurring integration fragility with shared Apple Music services. Has anyone else seen this? Any recommended recovery path or API to force service initialization? Thanks!

I’m trying to build a playlist editor on macOS. I can create playlists via the Apple Music HTTP API, but DELETE always returns 401 even immediately after creation with the same tokens. Minimal repro: #!/usr/bin/env bash set -euo pipefail BASE_URL="https://api.music.apple.com/v1" PLAYLIST_NAME="${PLAYLIST_NAME:-blah}" : "${APPLE_MUSIC_DEV_TOKEN:?}" : "${APPLE_MUSIC_USER_TOKEN:?}" create_body="$(mktemp)" delete_body="$(mktemp)" trap 'rm -f "$create_body" "$delete_body"' EXIT curl -sS --compressed -o "$create_body" -w "Create status: %{http_code}\n" \ -X POST "${BASE_URL}/me/library/playlists" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${APPLE_MUSIC_DEV_TOKEN}" \ -H "Music-User-Token: ${APPLE_MUSIC_USER_TOKEN}" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d "{\"attributes\":{\"name\":\"${PLAYLIST_NAME}\"}}" playlist_id="$(python3 - "$create_body" <<'PY' import json, sys with open(sys.argv[1], "r", encoding="utf-8") as f: data = json.load(f) print(data["data"][0]["id"]) PY )" curl -sS --compressed -o "$delete_body" -w "Delete status: %{http_code}\n" \ -X DELETE "${BASE_URL}/me/library/playlists/${playlist_id}" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${APPLE_MUSIC_DEV_TOKEN}" \ -H "Music-User-Token: ${APPLE_MUSIC_USER_TOKEN}" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" I capture the response bodies like this: cat "$create_body" cat "$delete_body" Result: Create: 201 Delete: 401 I also checked the latest macOS SDK’s MusicKit interfaces and MusicLibrary.createPlaylist/edit/add(to:) are marked @available(macOS, unavailable), so I can’t create/ delete via MusicKit on macOS either. Question: How can I implement a playlist editor on macOS (create/delete/modify) if: MusicKit write APIs are unavailable on macOS, and The HTTP API can create but DELETE returns 401? Any guidance or official workaround would be hugely appreciated.

Hi everyone. I’m building a macOS-first desktop app where music drives the app's behavior loop. The app is currently an Electron prototype. The blocker: we’re testing Apple Music inside an Electron app. MusicKit JS authorization works, catalog search works, and setting the queue works, but playback does not actually start in Electron. What we tried: Created Apple Developer / MusicKit credentials. Generated Apple Music developer tokens successfully. Retrieved a Music User Token through MusicKit JS. Confirmed Apple Music API calls work. Confirmed /v1/test and /me/storefront return 200 OK. Built a local HTTP auth/playback window inside Electron instead of using file://. Tested music.setQueue() with both: { song: songId } { url: catalogUrl } In Electron, the queue loads correctly: queueEmpty=false queueLength=1 volume=1 playbackRate=1 But after music.play(), playbackTime stays at 0 and no audio plays. Then we ran the same MusicKit playback test in normal Chrome using the same token, same local origin, same catalog track, and same queue descriptor. Chrome played successfully and playbackTime advanced. We also checked Electron directly and found navigator.requestMediaKeySystemAccess is missing, so our current theory is that stock Electron lacks the protected media / EME support Apple Music web playback needs. Important: we are not trying to bypass DRM or extract audio. We just want a legitimate way for a user-authorized macOS app to control Apple Music playback or observe playback state. What we’re considering next: Use the native macOS Music app as the playback engine and control it from our app. Test AppleScript / Automation permissions for play, pause, next, current track, player state, etc. Later, possibly build a native Swift helper using Apple Music / MediaPlayer APIs and communicate with Electron over IPC. Avoid relying on Electron MusicKit JS playback if this is a known dead end. Questions: Has anyone successfully made Apple Music / MusicKit JS playback work inside Electron? Is the missing EME/protected-media layer the expected blocker here? Is controlling the native macOS Music app the more realistic path? Any gotchas with AppleScript, MusicKit native APIs, or Electron + native helper architecture for this use case? Any pointers from people who have dealt with Electron + Apple Music / protected media would be appreciated.

My MusicKit developer token returns 401 (empty body) on every Apple Music API catalog endpoint. I've tried two different keys — both fail identically. Setup: Team ID: K79RSBVM9G Key ID: URNQV5UDGB (MusicKit enabled, associated with Media ID media.audio.explore.musickit) Apple Developer Program License Agreement accepted April 14, 2026 Token format (matches docs exactly): Header: {"alg":"ES256","kid":"URNQV5UDGB"} Payload: {"iss":"K79RSBVM9G","iat":,"exp":<now+15777000>} What works: /v1/storefronts/us returns 200 What fails: Every catalog endpoint returns 401 with empty body: /v1/catalog/us/search?types=artists&term=test /v1/catalog/us/artists/5920832 /v1/catalog/us/genres /v1/test The token self-verifies (signature is valid). I've tried with and without typ:"JWT", with the origin claim, and with a manually signed JWT bypassing the jsonwebtoken library. Same 401 every time. What am I missing?

Has anyone seen this issue? We have a user who changed their Apple ID password about 5 days ago. Now when they authenticate via MusicKit JS: authorize() succeeds and returns a user token Immediately calling any /me/ endpoint returns 403 "Invalid authentication" (code 40300) Developer token works fine on catalog endpoints User has active Apple Music subscription Other users work fine through the same flow App doesn't appear in user's "Apps Using Your Apple ID" We've tried: Calling unauthorize() before authorize() Clearing localStorage/sessionStorage/cookies Multiple re-auth attempts over several days The token is freshly issued but Apple's API immediately rejects it. Anyone encountered this after a password change? Any workarounds?

Hi all, I've been working on some personal programming projects and have gotten into using the Apple Music API. I'm currently looking to get a list of recent songs using the /v1/me/recent/played/tracks endpoint and it's working well. However, I know there are some songs I've listened to multiple times in a row, and those are not showing up as unique tracks when querying this endpoint. I'm only seeing a list of the different songs I've listened to lately, not a true list of the most recent plays on my account. Is this intended behavior or am I going about something incorrectly here? My query is using that endpoint & specifying the types to be only [songs]. Thanks in advance for any ideas or insight.

I am developing a SWIFITUI app that transfers playlists between Apple Music and Spotify but I am not directly create my requests to those companies APIs. I have my own backend. But when fetching users playlists due to "https://api.music.apple.com/v1/me/library/playlists" the response is 403 all the time. I tried many ways including creating new DevToken and UserToken when user login and sending those tokens in headers with Authorization and Music-User-Token. What else can be the problem? Note: My team ids in Xcode and apple developer portal seems different. Maybe this is the problem.

If I make a request to https://api.music.apple.com/v1/storefronts/us with the proper developer jwt token in the header, I receive the a successful response with a list of store fronts. If I remove the token, I do get back a 401 error. If I call any other catalog base query, I am getting back a 500 error. For instance: https://api.music.apple.com/v1/catalog/us/albums/310730204 returns a 500 error with the body being {"message":"An unexpected error occurred"} I'm not sure what I can do to fix this. Please help.

My app is properly configured with MusicKit. I've generated a JWT using my valid credentials (Team ID, Key ID, private key), and I’ve ensured the time settings are correct via NTP. When I call: https://api.music.apple.com/v1/catalog/jp/search?term=ado&amp;types=songs I consistently receive a 500 Internal Server Error. The JWT is generated using ES256 with valid iat and exp values. I’ve confirmed the token decodes properly using jwt.io, and it's passed via the Authorization: Bearer header. Things I’ve confirmed: Key ID, Team ID, private key are correct App ID is configured with MusicKit capability JWT is generated and signed correctly macOS time is synced via NTP Used both curl and Python to test — same result Is there anything else I should check on the Apple Developer Console (like App ID, Certificates, or provisioning profile)? Or could this be a backend issue on Apple’s side? Any guidance would be appreciated.

Hello, I want to know if there are any restrictions with MusicKit to be used in a mobile app to be able to manipulate audio with an EQ on tracks coming from Apple Music, without modifying the actual track structure/data of course, just the audio output.

When making a call to https://api.music.apple.com/v1/me/library/artists to get a user's library artists, it returns the following (as an example): [ { id: 'r.FCwruQb', type: 'library-artists', href: '/v1/me/library/artists/r.FCwruQb?l=en-US', attributes: { name: 'A Great Big World' } }, { id: 'r.7VSWOgj', type: 'library-artists', href: '/v1/me/library/artists/r.7VSWOgj?l=en-US', attributes: { name: 'Aaliyah' } }, ... ] If I try and use an artist id from that retuned data to look up additional information about the artist by calling https://api.music.apple.com/v1/catalog/us/artists/{id}, it fails. User Library Artists don't seem to equal Catalog Artists. It'd be great if there was a way to use these interchangeably. Am I missing something?

I take that MusicKit JS is built with TypeScript, based on the attributions in the script: https://js-cdn.music.apple.com/musickit/v3/musickit.js In the script it points to https://js-cdn.music.apple.com/musickit/v1/acknowledgements.txt – I assume this should be the v3 URL for the v3 version? It returns the same content nonetheless. This contains attributions for TypeScript. Currently there's a third-party effort with DefinitelyTyped, which publishes the NPM package @types/musickit-js. The latest supported version available is v1. However, there is no version compatible with v3. This makes it hard to use MusicKit JS v3 in a TypeScript project. Please publish the types, ideally on the CDN along with the musickit.js file. Also consider publishing an officially Apple supported DefinitelyTyped package, or help to maintain the existing @types/musickit-js to make consuming this even easier.

We are developing an apple music app on phone, the developed web works fine on chrome, but when i load it on webivew on my phone, i can't play the first song, We doubt that the drm init, key exchange, session creation was on the music.play() function, while we trigger the play, the drm or session was not ok for play a real song, so it got an error so we may wanna know: what about the realative process of drm, key, session, etc in the play() function? are there some state detect function to show weather the drm is ok？

Feature Request: Long-Lived Access to Personal Apple Music Data Use Case Summary I'm developing a personal portfolio website (using Nuxt) and want to display information from my own Apple Music library - showcasing personal playlists, recently played tracks, or a read-only "now playing" widget. This is purely for personal use on my website and doesn't require other users to log in. With Spotify's API, implementing this was straightforward thanks to automatic token refresh. I want a similarly seamless integration with Apple Music. Challenge with MusicKit and Music User Tokens Apple Music API requirements Apple's Music API requires a valid Music User Token (MUT) for requests involving personal library data. Beyond the Apple Developer Token, you must obtain a user-specific token via MusicKit authentication to access your own library playlists, play history, or current playback status. Token expiration and manual renewal Music User Tokens expire after approximately 6 months without any mechanism to automatically refresh or renew them - unlike typical OAuth flows that provide refresh tokens. Apple's guidance suggests the device (e.g., iPhone) is responsible for obtaining new user tokens when old ones expire. This works for interactive apps on Apple devices but fails in server-side or long-lived web contexts like a personal website widget. Impact on personal projects Displaying Apple Music data on a public-facing site becomes difficult. I would need to periodically re-authenticate through the MusicKit JS flow every few months just to keep a widget alive. Embedding credentials in a public site is insecure, and manual token refreshing is cumbersome and easy to forget. Comparison to Spotify's Token Model Spotify's API offers a developer-friendly authentication model. Their OAuth flow provides a Refresh Token that applications can use to obtain new access tokens automatically without requiring user re-authorization. This means a personal app can maintain continuous access to a user's Spotify data for extended periods until access is revoked. When building a similar feature with Spotify, this automatic token renewal was crucial. I could safely store the refresh token on my server and have my app periodically update the access token. Many developers have created public-facing widgets showing currently playing tracks on blogs or GitHub profiles using this model. Unfortunately, Apple Music's API lacks an equivalent capability, putting it at a disadvantage for personal projects. Proposed Solutions I request Apple's consideration for one of these enhancements: Provide a mechanism to refresh or extend a Music User Token programmatically for server-side applications. This could be an OAuth-style refresh token issued alongside the MUT, or a dedicated endpoint to exchange an expired MUT for a new one. This would enable renewal without a full user re-auth/login each time. Allow developers to access their own Apple Music library data with just the long-lived Developer Token. Apple could permit GET requests to personal library endpoints using the Developer Token alone, or a special token tied to the developer's Apple ID. This access would be read-only - no ability to modify the library, purely for retrieving data. It could be an opt-in feature in the Apple Developer account settings. Either solution would significantly improve the developer experience for Apple Music API in personal projects. Security and Privacy Considerations This request is not about accessing others' data or creating privacy loopholes - it's about empowering an Apple Music subscriber to access their own information more conveniently. The proposed options respect privacy principles: The data accessed is only what the user already has access to - their own playlists, library items, or playback status. An automatic token refresh can be designed securely (revocable tokens bound to a single account with no increase in permissions). Read-only developer token access could be restricted to non-sensitive data and require explicit opt-in. Conclusion I request an improvement to Apple Music's developer experience through either (1) an automatic Music User Token refresh mechanism, or (2) a provision for read-only personal library access using a Developer Token. This would bring Apple Music integration capabilities closer to parity with services like Spotify for personal projects. I ask Apple's Developer Relations and the Apple Music API team to consider this feature request. If there are existing best practices or workarounds with current APIs, I would appreciate guidance. I invite feedback from Apple or other developers. Are there known patterns for maintaining an Apple Music user token for server-side applications, or any plans to support non-interactive use cases? Any advice is welcome. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to integrating Apple Music into my personal site as smoothly as with other services, and believe many developers would benefit from this added flexibility. Sources: User Authentication for MusicKit - Requirements for Music User Tokens StackOverflow: Do Apple Music User Tokens expire? - Confirmation of 6-month expiration MetaBrainz GSoC Blog - Documentation of MusicKit authentication limitations Apple Developer Forums - Information on token renewal behavior Spotify for Developers - Documentation on refresh token mechanism

Hello Apple Developer Community, We are developing a music management platform for restaurants and cafes in Saudi Arabia. Our app enables businesses to schedule playlists and allows visitors to request songs via barcodes. Music playback is powered by Apple Music, and users must have their own Apple Music subscriptions to access the music. Our service charges a monthly subscription fee for these management features, not for music access itself. Project Overview and MusicKit Role Our app integrates MusicKit to leverage Apple Music’s catalog and playback capabilities. Users log in with their Apple Music accounts, ensuring they have an active subscription for music playback. Our platform’s value lies in its tools—playlist scheduling and song requests—which are built on top of MusicKit’s APIs. We offer these features exclusively in Saudi Arabia. Legal Context in Saudi Arabia In Saudi Arabia, to our understanding, no special licenses are required for playing music in commercial venues like restaurants and cafes. This means our clients can use Apple Music subscriptions for playback without additional performance rights licenses. While this aligns with local laws, we recognize that Apple’s global policies may impose stricter requirements, prompting our need for clarification. Subscription Model and Monetization Concerns We charge a monthly subscription fee for access to our app’s features (e.g., scheduling playlists and managing song requests). This fee is separate from the Apple Music subscription, which users must maintain for playback. However, Apple’s MusicKit terms state: "You agree not to require payment for or indirectly monetize access to the Apple Music service." We’re concerned whether our subscription model might be interpreted as indirectly monetizing Apple Music access, given its reliance on MusicKit for functionality. Scheduling Feature and Synchronization Rights Our app allows businesses to schedule playlists for general time slots (e.g., “play this playlist from 6 PM to 8 PM”). It does not support precise scheduling, such as playing a specific song at an exact moment (e.g., “play this song at 7:30 PM”). Apple’s guidelines mention that “deeper or more complex music integration” may require additional licenses, like synchronization rights. We’re unsure if our general scheduling feature crosses this threshold or remains within MusicKit’s standard usage. Questions for Clarification We’d greatly appreciate expert input on the following: Monetization: Does our subscription fee for management features (scheduling and song requests) violate Apple’s policy against indirectly monetizing Apple Music access? Local Context: Given that Saudi Arabia requires no additional licenses for commercial music playback, does this impact our compliance with Apple’s global terms? Scheduling: Does our playlist scheduling for general time slots (not exact moments) fall within MusicKit’s permitted scope, or does it require further licensing? Thank you in advance for any insights or guidance to ensure our app aligns with Apple’s policies!

Hello, I am having difficulties with configuring MusicKit correctly for my web app that I am building, seeking assistance with the issues I am having. Would greatly appreciate any help! After allowing access to the following, "Access Request media.mydomain.com would like to access Apple Music, media library, and listening activity for myemail'@icloud.com.", I get a popup error that states, "Authorization failed. Please try again.". Following is the information that is given in developer console: [Error] Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 403 () (webPlayerLogout, line 0) [Error] Authorization failed: AUTHORIZATION_ERROR: Unauthorized (anonymous function) (media.mydomain.com:398)

In MusicKit Web the playback states are provided as numbers. For example the playbackStateDidChange event listener will return: {oldState: 2, state: 3, item:...} When the state changes from playing (2) to paused (3). Those are pretty easy to guess, but I'm having a hard time with some of the others: completed, ended, loading, none, paused, playing, seeking, stalled, stopped, waiting. I cannot find a mapping of states to numbers documented anywhere. I got the above states from an enum in a d.ts file that is often incorrect/incomplete. Can someone help out pointing to the docs or provide a mapping? Thanks.