Apple Music is a popular music and video streaming service developed by Apple. With over 90 million songs available on demand, Apple Music offers users a vast library of content to stream and download. However, streaming large amounts of audio and video content can consume significant amounts of mobile data. For users with limited data plans, this can become a concern. So does Apple Music use up a lot of data? Let’s take a closer look.
Quick Answers
– Apple Music can use a significant amount of data if you stream a lot of songs or video. Audio streaming consumes about 60MB per hour, while video uses about 230MB per hour.
– Downloading content to listen offline uses less data than streaming. Apple Music downloads use about 0.63MB per minute of song time.
– Streaming over WiFi doesn’t count against mobile data limits. Connect to WiFi whenever possible to save your mobile data.
– Cellular data usage can be monitored in Settings on iOS devices or within the Apple Music app.
– Certain settings like audio quality and enabling music videos affect data usage amounts. Higher quality uses more data.
– Apple Music offers tools to control cellular data use like enabling Downloads only over WiFi and lowering streaming quality.
How Apple Music Uses Data
The amount of data Apple Music consumes depends primarily on whether you are streaming content or listening to downloaded music, and whether you are on a WiFi or cellular connection. Here is an overview of data usage amounts for Apple Music:
Streaming Music
Apple Music members can stream over 90 million songs on demand over a cellular or WiFi data connection. Streaming music consumes about 60MB of data per hour at the default AAC 256kbps quality according to Apple. This equates to about 1MB per minute.
So streaming audio through Apple Music for 5 hours would use around 300MB of data. This can add up quickly if you regularly stream music throughout the day. It’s comparable to other popular music streaming services like Spotify in terms of data usage.
Streaming Video
In addition to audio, Apple Music users can also stream music videos from the service’s catalog. Streaming video consumes significantly more data than audio.
Apple estimates streaming video over Apple Music uses approximately 230MB per hour. That’s almost 4x higher than streaming audio alone. Even streaming video for just 1 hour per day could add up to around 6.9GB of data usage per month.
Downloads
Instead of streaming, users can download music, music videos or playlists to their device to listen offline. Downloaded content doesn’t consume cellular data while listening and can help conserve data usage.
According to Apple, downloading audio content consumes about 0.63MB per minute of song time. So a 4 minute song would use around 2.5MB when downloaded. Downloading an hour of music would total around 38MB.
| Content Type | Data Usage |
|---|---|
| Audio streaming | 60MB per hour |
| Video streaming | 230MB per hour |
| Downloads | 0.63MB per minute |
WiFi vs Cellular Data
Importantly, any streaming or downloading done while connected to WiFi does not count against cellular data limits. To conserve mobile data usage with Apple Music, connect to WiFi networks whenever available to stream content or download songs, videos and playlists.
Cellular data is more expensive and limited than WiFi, so streaming over WiFi is ideal when possible. Turning on WiFi Assist can also help transition between connections smoothly.
Monitoring Data Usage
To keep track of how much data Apple Music is using, you can monitor usage through Settings on iPhone or iPad as well as through the Apple Music app.
iOS Settings
On iOS devices, cellular data usage for Apple Music can be viewed by going to Settings > Cellular > Music. There you can see a breakdown of cellular data used in the current period and enable options like Downloads Only on Cellular Data.
Apple Music App
In the Apple Music app, you can view your network data usage by tapping on your profile icon in the Listen Now tab > View Account > Manage Storage. This shows data usage for music downloads and streams.
You can also enable “High Quality Streaming” for WiFi only to prevent large streams from consuming cellular data.
Adjusting Audio/Video Quality
One of the biggest factors affecting Apple Music’s data usage is audio and video quality. Higher quality streaming will consume more data, while lower quality uses less.
Audio Quality
By default, Apple Music streams audio at 256kbps AAC quality. This provides a good balance of sound quality and data usage. However, you can adjust quality under Settings > Music > Audio Quality.
Options include:
- High Quality AAC (256kbps): Default streaming quality. Uses ~60MB/hr.
- High Efficiency AAC (96kbps): Lower quality but uses 50% less data (~30MB/hr).
- Lossless (24-bit/48kHz): Highest quality audio but consumes significantly more data.
So switching to a lower quality can potentially cut your Apple Music streaming data usage in half. However, sound quality is noticeably degraded.
Video Quality
Similarly, video quality can be adjusted under Settings > Music > Video Quality. Options include:
- Higher Quality (1080p): Default HD quality. Uses ~230MB/hr.
- Standard Quality (720p): Good balance of quality and data savings (~165MB/hr)
- Lower Quality (480p): Maximum data savings but noticeably lower quality.
Again, using a lower video streaming quality can significantly reduce your cellular data usage with Apple Music’s video features.
Downloads Settings
To save on streaming data usage, Apple Music lets you download content to your device storage to listen offline. Here are some download settings to manage data usage:
Downloads only over WiFi
To prevent large downloads from consuming cellular data, you can restrict music/video downloads to WiFi only under Settings > Music > Downloads over WiFi.
Automatic Downloads
You can also disable automatic downloads for new music under Account Settings > Automatic Downloads, and manually select songs to save when on WiFi.
Remove Downloads
Old downloads can be manually removed from the Downloaded Music section to recover storage space and prevent filling up your device.
Using Cellular Data Settings
Some additional iOS settings can help minimize cellular data usage:
Disable Cellular Access
You can disable Apple Music’s access to cellular data altogether under Settings > Cellular > Music. This will prevent any streaming or downloads over cellular connections.
Low Data Mode
Enabling Low Data Mode (Settings > Cellular) helps minimize background data usage across all apps and services.
Disable Music Videos
Since music videos consume much more data than audio, you can disable music video playback under Account > Settings > Play Music Videos to prevent large video streams over cellular connections.
Conclusion
Apple Music has the potential to consume significant amounts of cellular data through audio and video streaming, with usage varying based on listening and viewing habits. Streaming over WiFi when available is the best way to minimize cellular data usage. Monitoring your usage in Settings, moderating streaming quality, utilizing downloads, and enabling cellular data restrictions can also help keep Apple Music data usage in check. While high quality audio and video may require more data, Apple Music provides customizable options to help balance quality and conserve your monthly data.