Apple Music is a music and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. It offers access to over 90 million songs, playlists curated by music experts, and music videos. Some of the key features of Apple Music include the ability to download music for offline listening, get suggestions based on your taste with playlists like “For You,” listen to radio stations focused on different music genres, and access exclusive content.
While Apple Music runs smoothly most of the time, users may encounter situations where they need to properly exit or close the Apple Music app. For example, if the app is running slowly, freezing, or consuming significant battery life, completely closing out of the app can help troubleshoot these kinds of issues. Some users may want to exit the app to stop music or videos from autoplaying. Others may be looking to pause or cancel their Apple Music subscription and want to ensure the app is fully closed before doing so.
Quitting Apple Music on iPhone/iPad
To completely close out of the Apple Music app on an iPhone or iPad, you can use the app switcher to swipe it away. Simply double click the home button and swipe up on the Apple Music app preview to force close it. This will quit the app and stop any music playback or streaming.
You can also disable Apple Music from automatically reopening on your iPhone or iPad by going to Settings > Apple Music and turning off “Show in My List.” This will prevent the Apple Music app from reappearing every time you restart your device or switch between apps (source).
Quitting Apple Music on Mac
To fully quit Apple Music on a Mac computer, there are a couple methods you can use:
First, you can click the Apple Music menu bar icon and select “Quit” from the menu. This will completely quit the Apple Music application (source).
Alternatively, you can right-click on the Apple Music icon in your Dock and select “Quit” from the context menu. This will also fully quit Apple Music and prevent it from running in the background (source).
Quitting the app fully will ensure Apple Music stops playing music and using system resources until you manually reopen it again.
Stopping Apple Music from Reopening
If you want Apple Music to stay closed after you quit the application or restart your Mac, there are a couple steps you can take:
First, uncheck the “Reopen windows when logging back in” option in your System Preferences. To do this, go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > General and uncheck the box next to “Reopen windows when logging back in.” This will prevent all apps, including Apple Music, from reopening when you log back into your Mac (1, 2).
You can also specifically prevent Apple Music from reopening on login by removing it from your Login Items list. Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Users & Groups. Select your user account, then click the Login Items tab. Find Apple Music in the list and select it, then click the – button to remove it. This will stop Apple Music from launching automatically on login, while other apps can still reopen (3).
With those two steps, Apple Music should stay closed after you choose to quit the app or restart your Mac.
Pausing Apple Music Subscription
If you want to temporarily pause your Apple Music subscription, you can do so directly from your Account Settings. This allows you to freeze your subscription for up to 6 months and then seamlessly resume it when you’re ready.
To pause your Apple Music subscription:
- On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, open the Settings app.
- Tap on your Apple ID banner at the top of the screen.
- Tap on Subscriptions.
- Under Active, tap on Apple Music.
- Tap on Pause Subscription.
This will immediately pause your Apple Music subscription. You will no longer be billed monthly, but you will lose access to the service including streaming music, personalized playlists, and other benefits.
When you’re ready to resume, simply return to your Subscriptions and tap Resume. Your Apple Music access will be restored and billing will resume at your next payment date. If you don’t manually resume, your subscription will automatically reactive at the end of the 6 month expiration period.
Pausing can be a convenient way to temporarily disable Apple Music if you know you won’t be using it for an extended period of time. Just remember to resume if you still want access after your pause period ends.
Canceling Apple Music Subscription
If you wish to cancel your Apple Music subscription, you can do so directly from your Account Settings. Simply go to music.apple.com, click on your profile icon, and select “View Account”. This will take you to your Account Settings page.
On the Account Settings page, find the “Subscriptions” section and click “Edit” next to your Apple Music subscription. Then click “Cancel Subscription” and confirm to complete the cancellation.
According to Apple’s support page (source), after cancellation, you will continue to have access to Apple Music until the end of your current billing cycle. You can rejoin Apple Music at any time by restarting your subscription.
Cancelling is easy and straightforward. And with the flexibility to resume your subscription, you can take breaks from Apple Music as needed.
Deleting the Apple Music App
If you want to completely remove the Apple Music app from your device, you can delete the app icon. However, this will not cancel your Apple Music subscription.
On an iPhone or iPad, you can delete the Apple Music app by going to your Home Screen, long pressing the Apple Music app icon, and selecting Delete App. The app will be removed from your Home Screen.
On a Mac, you can delete the Apple Music app by clicking and dragging the Apple Music app icon from the Applications folder to the Trash. This will remove the app from your Mac.
While deleting the app itself removes the icon from your device, it does not delete your Apple Music data, subscription, or account. To fully cancel Apple Music, you will need to manage your subscription separately.
Removing Apple Music Download Cache
Over time, Apple Music can consume significant storage space on your device by caching streamed and downloaded songs, albums, and music videos. Deleting this cached content is an easy way to free up space.
On an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage > Music. Tap Edit in the top right and select which content to remove from the cache. Tap Delete Data to confirm.
On a Mac, open Finder and select Music in the sidebar. Right click on any album or playlist and select Remove Download. You can also go to Music > Preferences > Downloads and manually delete cached items.
This will remove downloaded Apple Music files no longer needed while retaining your Library and playlists. Regularly clearing the Apple Music cache is recommended to maximize free storage, especially for devices with limited capacity.
For more details on freeing up space by deleting the Apple Music cache, see this helpful guide: [How to Clear the Apple Music Cache on Desktop and Mobile](https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-clear-cache-apple-music/)
Disassociating Apple ID from Apple Music
If you want to completely remove your Apple ID from Apple Music, you can sign out in your device’s settings. This will disassociate your Apple ID from the Apple Music service across all of your devices.
To sign out of your Apple ID from Apple Music:
- On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, open the Settings app.
- Tap on your name at the top of the screen.
- Tap on iTunes & App Store.
- Tap on your Apple ID.
- Tap Sign Out. Confirm by tapping Sign Out again.
Once you sign out, your Apple ID will no longer be associated with Apple Music or any previously downloaded content. You can sign in again with a different Apple ID if desired. This is the most complete way to disassociate your account if you no longer wish to use Apple Music at all.
Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204074
Conclusion
In summary, there are a few main ways to quit and close out of Apple Music on iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices.
On iOS devices, you can swipe up to close the app or double click the home button to bring up your recent apps and swipe up on the Apple Music app preview. On Macs, you can click the close button in the app window or press Command+Q to force quit Apple Music.
To prevent Apple Music from automatically reopening, you can turn off the setting to reopen apps on restart. You can also pause or cancel your paid Apple Music subscription if you no longer wish to use the service.
For additional help on quitting, closing, or canceling Apple Music, you can visit Apple’s own support site which has guides for managing your subscription and closing apps on iOS and MacOS devices.