Apple Music for Android released, first major service available on Google's operating system

The app is currently in beta, though it has all of the features of the versions for Apple’s platforms

Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue (L) high fives with recording artist Drake during the Apple Music introduction at the Apple WWDC on June 8, 2015 in San Francisco, California (Getty Images)

The Apple Music app has been released for Android, marking the first time that Apple has made a major app for Google’s mobile platform.

The company launches Apple Music this summer, promising at the time that an Android app would be coming later in the year. The company has just launched that app, and it is now available to buy in Google’s Play Store.

The app has launched in every country where it has Apple Music, apart from China. It plans to launch a version of it there “very soon”.

It features almost every feature that is available on Apple’s own platforms, including recommendation service For You, New, Radio and Beats 1. It doesn’t include the option to subscribe to the multi-user family plan, or to watch videos.

The app looks mostly like the one for iPhone. But it also uses some of Android’s look too, including putting the various different menus at the top rather than the bottom of the screen.

The app is the first big service that Apple also offers on Google’s Android platform, though it did release an app called Switch to Android, which can be downloaded onto phones with Google’s operating system and then used to move data onto an iPhone.

The company has traditionally been more relaxed about putting its entertainment software onto other platforms. There is a version of iTunes and QuickTime available for the PC, for instance, even though most of Apple’s computer software is only available on its Macs.