iOS 17.1 Adds Custom Playlist Art Options to Apple Music

Apple added a new feature to the Apple Music app in the first beta of iOS 17.1 that offers a selection of color-matched playlist artwork options for the first time.

iOS 17 Playlist Artwork Feature 1
As of beta one, Apple provides eight different artwork styles featuring geometric shapes and gradients, with the title of the playlist in the top left corner. The colors used in the artwork are picked from the album artwork of whatever song is first in the playlist. The default artwork continues to be the tiled album artwork of the first four songs in a playlist and the ability to choose a custom image from Photos or Files remains.

Previously, users had to keep the basic tiled image or upload a custom image. Since not all users have custom graphics or photos they want to use for playlists and the default artwork is relatively simple, playlists can be difficult to identify and look fairly generic. Now, users can quickly and easily set a unique appearance for each playlist that fits in with ‌Apple Music‌'s UI.

Other ‌Apple Music‌ changes and improvements in iOS 17.1 include favoriting songs from the Lock Screen and suggested songs in playlists. The ability for multiple users to collaborate on and add to the same playlist and ‌Apple Music‌ SharePlay for CarPlay are also expected to be added in a future update. iOS 17.1 introduces a host of new features, including NameDrop to Apple Watch, UK bank balances in the Wallet app, and more.

Related Roundups: iOS 17, iPadOS 17
Related Forums: iOS 17, iPadOS 17

Top Rated Comments

morphineseason Avatar
11 weeks ago
Didn't they decouple all the stock apps from iOS years ago so they could update the apps via App Store whenever they wanted? So why do they remain tied to iOS updates? Makes no sense to me. iOS updates should be for actual OS updates and features, not for their apps. Really just makes it seem like they've run out of ideas with every major iOS release.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zach-coleman Avatar
11 weeks ago

What about letting us customize the Music app home screen more than we can now? I would love to be able to remove the recently added music section from the home screen.
Also would love to be able to assign album artwork of my own to the artist section, which is missing a lot of artwork/covers. And no way to add them.
Bring back the old app design where you could customize the bottom navbar please. I wish I could just go straight into playlists…
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ignatius345 Avatar
11 weeks ago
What I'm really wanting these days is the ability to TAG a song or an artist however I choose (say "driving music" or "upbeat" or "solo artist") so I could assemble smart playlists based on tags. Playlists are all well and good (and definitely have their place), but the concept has not really evolved past the mixtape paradigm.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
talkingheads Avatar
11 weeks ago
What about letting us customize the Music app home screen more than we can now? I would love to be able to remove the recently added music section from the home screen.
Also would love to be able to assign album artwork of my own to the artist section, which is missing a lot of artwork/covers. And no way to add them.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
talkingheads Avatar
11 weeks ago

Bring back the old app design where you could customize the bottom navbar please. I wish I could just go straight into playlists…
Yes please Apple bring it back.
The Music app on the Mac has the same problems that I mentioned above.
We need more customization options on both OS’s.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrENGLISH Avatar
11 weeks ago
Honestly surprised it has taken this long for such a basic feature.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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