How to use Apple Music, TV and iCloud on non-Apple devices

You may have noticed some bricks being removed from the so-called Apple walled garden – in other words, the applications and services that Apple runs are no longer available only on Apple hardware, such as iPhones, iPads and Macs.

It may not be a big surprise at this point: as Apple seeks to extract as much revenue from these services as possible, it knows that users will want to hear their Apple Music playlists on Chromebooks, watch their Apple TV + programs without buying a real Apple TV and so on.

While Apple devices still offer the best experience for Apple services and not all Apple services can be accessed on non-Apple hardware, here’s what you can do in terms of accessing these applications on devices not manufactured by Apple. It is particularly useful if you are sharing Apple subscriptions with family members who do not use Apple devices exclusively.

Apple Music

Apple’s Spotify competitor was honored to be the first Apple app to appear on Android, if you don’t count a complementary Beats app and an Android switcher for iOS. If you are an Apple Music subscriber and have an Android device, you can install Apple Music for Android to get all the benefits of streaming.

It is important to note, however, that you need to be an Apple Music subscriber: the app will show the tracks you have purchased from the iTunes Store and those you have imported into the Music app on macOS (or iTunes on Windows), but you cannot run the app unless you’re paying a $ 10 monthly subscription.

For now, the extensive iTunes media player has turned into a dedicated music application on macOS, but it is still available on Windows. That may change soon, but iTunes for Windows (or whatever replaces it) remains the best way to get Apple Music on Windows. You can access all of your imported and purchased music with or without an Apple Music subscription and add streaming if you need to.

Apple Music on the web is also available – it’s a very useful option if you’re trying to access your playlists on a Chromebook or on a computer where you can’t access your music library in a desktop application. You don’t get advanced features like offline syncing, but it’s another way to access Apple Music from any computer, Mac or other.

Speaking of Chromebooks, the Android app will run on these laptops if you need offline syncing and a host of other features. The app doesn’t work on Android TV (or Google TV), but you can use the Android app to Chromecast your music on any device with Android TV on board. It is also worth mentioning that there is no native Apple Music app for tablets or Amazon Fire TV devices, although you can use Apple Music through Alexa.

Apple TV