Today, Microsoft and Apple announced a number of deeper integrations of Apple services on both Windows PCs and Xbox game consoles, including Music and TV apps for both platforms and the ability to browse your iCloud Photo Library within the Windows 11 Photos app.
The Apple Music app for Xbox is already available. Existing users can download the app and start listening to their playlists and stations, while new users can sign up for a one-month trial. The user interface for Apple Music on the Xbox is almost exactly the same as the one we’ve used before on Apple TV hardware. It doesn’t add any new features we haven’t seen before, but it’s nice to see parity between the platforms.
The Music and TV apps for Windows aren’t available yet, but the companies say they’ll both be available next year. It was already possible to access both Apple Music and Apple TV+ through web interfaces on Windows. Further, the iTunes app currently lives on in Windows. (It was previously sunset on the Mac in favor of the Apple Music app.)
The Windows iTunes app lets users listen to songs and watch TV and movies purchased through Apple’s online store. Even though Apple Music will arrive on Windows, iTunes will continue to be available, and users will still be able to access Podcasts and Books there.
While you’ll have to wait until next year to download the Music and TV apps in Windows, the iCloud Photo Library integration is available right now. You’ll have to download the iCloud Windows app (which is already used to sync a variety of things, like browser bookmarks) and opt into syncing your iCloud Photo Library. After that, both videos and photos should be available within the Windows 11 Photos app.
Apple has greatly expanded the platforms its various apps and services have been available on in recent years. There were already Apple TV apps available for the Xbox and PlayStation, for example.
