Is this our first glimpse of macOS 10.15’s Music and TV apps?

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If so they look awfully familiar…

Image credit: Shutterstock (Image credit: Shutterstock)

We expect Apple to officially show off macOS 10.15 – the upcoming version of its operating system for Mac and MacBook computers – at its WWDC 2019 event on June 3, and screenshots have emerged that appear to show off the new Music and TV apps that are being rumored to debut with the update.

We’ve been hearing for a while that Apple is planning to break up its iTunes software into separate apps, and these screenshots – if real – show how those apps will look.

Previous rumors suggested that the macOS 10.15 Music app would basically be iTunes – with a similar interface and built on the same code – and these screenshots back that up, with both the Music and TV apps having user interfaces that look a lot like iTunes, with a colored sidebar and a media player at the top.

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(Image credit: 9to5mac)

This screenshot apparently shows the new TV app of macOS 10.15 (Image credit: 9to5Mac)

Familiarity breeds contempt

Having the two new apps look – and we assume behave – so similarly to iTunes will at least make them easy to use, as anyone familiar with iTunes will be able to find their way around the apps without any problem.

According to the screenshots, the Music app in macOS 10.15 will be able to sync to a user’s iPhone, iPad and iPod, much like iTunes, with the devices appearing in the sidebar.

The search bar has been slightly moved, and now resides in the sidebar, and from there you can search your own local music library, as well as Apple’s Music streaming service – which is a feature included in iTunes.

The TV app lets you browse shows by genre in the sidebar, while along the top are options for ‘Watch Now’, ‘Movies’, ‘TV Shows’, ‘Kids’ and ‘Library’.

However, the similarities with iTunes may disappoint anyone who was hoping Apple would take this opportunity to do something more innovative with the new apps.

For example, many of us were hoping the Music and TV apps would be based on Apple’s Marzipan tech, which allows apps to run on both iOS devices like iPhones, and on macOS computers.

Instead, if these images (which were published by 9to5Mac, which received them from an anonymous source) are genuine, it looks like Apple is playing it safe with these new apps.

Matt Hanson
Matt Hanson
Managing Editor, Core Tech

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. He’s personally reviewed and used most of the laptops in our best laptops guide - and since joining TechRadar in 2014, he's reviewed over 250 laptops and computing accessories personally.