In less than three weeks, Apple will reveal iOS 18 with an array of AI features and other upgrades. We already have some idea about what to expect at the upcoming WWDC 2024 event. Now, a recent report from AppleInsider indicates that iOS 18 and macOS 15 will bring smarter song transitions to the Apple Music app.
Apple is reportedly testing a new feature called “smart song transitions” that’s built on the existing support for crossfade in Apple Music. If you’re an Apple Music user, you would surely remember that Apple was very late in adding crossfade support to the app. In fact, this feature was added to the iPhone in the iOS 17 update released last year.
According to the report, the new addition will allow users to adjust the crossfade duration and pick between one and twelve seconds. With smart song transitions, the crossfade option is expected to close the gap between songs. It would lower the volume of the song that’s ending and increase the volume of the new song, creating a successful transition so the music never comes to a pause.
It’s worth knowing that this is already possible with the crossfade option. On your iPhone, go to Settings -> Music -> Crossfade. When you enable Crossfade, you’ll see a slider to adjust the duration from between one second and twelve seconds.
Well, if the Smart Song Transition feature is coming to iOS 18, we might assume it to dynamically apply the Crossfade effect to the track a user is playing. This means it could trigger the Crossfade effect based on when and how an individual track ends.
Otherwise, the report states that the upcoming iOS 18 will bring a new Spatial Gaming mode and other audio improvements. While there are no further details, it could be a dedicated mode that lets you enjoy an immersive gaming experience on Apple hardware.
The report also suggests that Apple is exploring a new feature called “Passthrough” for Apple Music and QuickTime Player. Unfortunately, there is no concrete information on what this feature is all about. The site suggests Passthrough would be a fresh branding for the existing Spatial Audio feature.
Well, this is unlikely to happen. Apple has recently embraced the “Spatial” branding with the Spatial Computer label on the Vision Pro and Spatial video recording support on iPhone 15 Pro models. Now that “Spatial Gaming” is also coming to iOS 18, it doesn’t make much sense to rebrand Spatial Audio as Passthrough.
We’ll get all the answers on June 10, when Apple will give us the first preview of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11, and visionOS 2 during the WWDC’s keynote opening.
