iOS 9 will let you stream Apple Music's high quality tracks without Wi-Fi

Apple Music

The beta release of iOS 9, Apple's upcoming new operating system for its mobile devices, is in early adopters' hands and it's revealed a new feature that will allow you to stream your Apple Music tunes in high quality over your cellular connection.

At the moment Apple Music only uses high quality streaming when your device is connected via Wi-Fi, and switches to a lower bit rate – which requires less data – when you're using your cellular connection.

This helps prevent Apple Music customers from getting a nasty surprise when they get their phone bill and find they've gone over their data allowance.

Choices, choices

While this is considerate of Apple, some of us have rather generous data allowances and value high audio quality above all else.

The new option that will be included with iOS 9 at least gives those people the choice of streaming in high quality when away from a wireless network.

The new option, labelled "High Quality on Cellular", can be found in the Music section of Settings on your iOS device, and comes with a warning about high data costs and a slightly longer time for some songs to load.

At the moment Apple Music's high quality bitrate is 256kbps, which is lower than Spotify's 320kbps and Tidal's lossless 1411kbps, so don't go expecting CD-quality audio just yet.

Once we've got iOS 9 installed we will give this option a try and let you know if the better quality is worth the higher phone bills.

Via SlashGear

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. Ever since he got an Amiga A500+ for Christmas in 1991, he's loved using (and playing on) computers, and will talk endlessly about how The Secret of Monkey Island is the best game ever made.