Apple Music offers both edited and explicit versions of many songs in its catalog. Edited versions remove profanity and other potentially offensive content from a song’s lyrics. This allows Apple Music to provide cleaner versions of songs for situations where explicit content may not be appropriate, like for kids or family listening. Apple provides the option to play either edited or explicit versions across their devices and services like iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch and iTunes.
While edited versions can be useful in some contexts, many subscribers want to be able to access the original explicit versions, especially for certain genres like hip-hop where explicit lyrics are common. Fortunately, Apple provides ways to disable edited music and only play explicit song versions instead. This guide will cover how to turn off edited music across Apple’s various platforms.
What is Edited Music?
Edited music refers to versions of songs that have been modified or shortened from the original full-length track. This is typically done by the original artist or record label. Edits make the song more concise by removing certain parts like extended intros, outros, or instrumental breaks. The main identifiable parts of the song – verses, chorus, etc. – remain intact (Source).
Edits allow songs to be tailored for different formats like radio airplay where shorter track lengths are desired. They also let DJs more easily mix between songs. Artists may release both the original version and edited versions of a song. The edits simply provide more options for listeners (Source).
In summary, an edited song is a modified shorter version of the original track intended for broadcast or mixability, with the key components still intact.
Why Apple Offers Edited Versions
Apple offers edited, “clean” versions of some songs on its Apple Music streaming service for a few reasons:
To comply with restrictions in certain regions – In some countries, there are laws or cultural norms against profanity and explicit content in music. Offering edited versions allows Apple to make songs available that would otherwise be banned.
For parental controls – The edited versions allow parents to let their children access Apple Music without worrying about them hearing profanity or explicit lyrics. Apple’s parental controls let you restrict access to explicit music.
For personal preference – Some listeners simply prefer non-explicit versions of songs. Apple caters to this by providing edited alternatives in its catalog.
As an alternative option – Even for songs that are available in their original explicit form, Apple offers the edited version as an optional alternative in case someone prefers it.
Apple works with record labels and uses audio editing technology to create these “clean” versions of songs. While it aims to preserve the integrity of the music, some editing choices have been controversial with artists and fans who prefer the original versions. Still, Apple sees a value in providing options to accommodate regional laws, parental controls, and personal tastes.
How to Turn Off Edited Music on iPhone
You can easily turn off edited or explicit music on your iPhone by adjusting a setting in the Settings app:
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap “Music”.
3. Under “Playback”, toggle the switch off for “Show Explicit Songs”.
With this setting disabled, any explicit or edited songs in your Apple Music library will be hidden and not playable. This prevents explicit content from appearing in playlists or radio stations.
You can toggle this setting back on at any time to re-enable explicit content and view edited songs again (Source).
The setting is device-specific, so you’ll need to adjust it on each of your iPhones separately if you want to turn off edited content across devices.
How to Turn Off Edited Music on iPad
Turning off edited music on an iPad follows the same process as on an iPhone. To disable the editing of explicit music on your iPad:
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on “Screen Time”.
3. Select “Content & Privacy Restrictions”.
4. Enter your passcode if prompted.
5. Under “Music, Podcasts, News” turn the switch for “Explicit Content” to the ON position.
This will disable the filtering of explicit content and allow you to listen to unedited music in Apple Music on your iPad. The steps are identical to the process on an iPhone due to the similarities between the two operating systems.
How to Turn Off Edited Music on Mac
To turn off edited music and enable explicit content in the Music app on a Mac computer, follow these steps:
1. Open the Music app on your Mac.
2. Click on Music in the menu bar at the top and select Preferences.
3. In the Preferences window, click on the Restrictions tab.
4. Uncheck the box next to “Restrict explicit content.”
This will disable the filter for explicit content and allow you to access unedited song versions in your Apple Music library on that device. You may need to synchronize your library after changing the restriction to get the unedited versions to appear.
How to Turn Off Edited Music on Apple TV
To turn off edited music and access explicit song versions on your Apple TV, you’ll need to disable the “Restrict Explicit Content” setting in the Music app. Here are the steps:
1. Open the Settings app on your Apple TV.
2. Select “Music”.
3. Locate the “Restrict Explicit Content” option and make sure it is turned off (the toggle should be gray rather than green).
With this setting disabled, you’ll be able to listen to unedited song versions containing explicit lyrics on your Apple TV. The Apple TV will no longer automatically swap in cleaned up versions of tracks. Do keep in mind that some songs may only be available in their edited forms.
If you ever want to re-enable the restrictions and block explicit song versions, simply return to the Music settings and turn “Restrict Explicit Content” back on.
For more information, see Apple’s guide on adjusting music settings on Apple TV.
How to Turn Off Edited Music on Apple Watch
Unfortunately, it is not possible to turn off edited music directly on the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch mirrors the music settings from your paired iPhone, so any changes need to be made on the iPhone first before they will apply to the Apple Watch.
If you go into the Apple Watch app on your iPhone and navigate to My Watch > Music, you will not see any options to disable edited or clean versions of songs. The Apple Watch simply plays the versions of songs synced from your iPhone library according to your settings.
So if you want to listen to unedited songs on your Apple Watch, you will need to disable the setting to play clean versions first in your iPhone’s Music app settings as covered above. Once edited music is turned off on the iPhone, the full explicit versions of songs will then play on your Apple Watch as well.
According to Apple’s own support site: “To change options for music on your Apple Watch, use the Apple Watch app on iPhone. The music settings on your iPhone determine the music experience on your Apple Watch.” (https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/remove-music-apd2a0c58acd/watchos)
Listening to Full Versions on iTunes
While Apple offers edited “clean” versions of many songs on their platforms, you can still purchase the full unedited versions on the iTunes store. The iTunes store has both edited and unedited versions available for most songs.
To buy the explicit unedited versions of songs on iTunes, simply search for the song title or artist and look for the “explicit” tag. You can then purchase the unedited track. iTunes will make the full explicit versions available and you can download them to your computer or device.
According to discussions on the Apple forums, songs purchased as explicit versions on iTunes will play as the unedited full versions across Apple devices and platforms (source). So purchasing the explicit tracks on iTunes allows you to listen to the full unedited songs on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, etc.
iTunes gives you the ability to buy the original unedited recordings, even if Apple’s platforms play clean versions by default. Just look for the explicit tag when searching for songs on the iTunes store.
Summary
Here’s a recap on how to disable edited songs across Apple devices:
On iPhone, go to Settings > Music > Disable “Show Clean Versions”.
On iPad, tap Settings > Music and turn off “Show Clean Version”.
On Mac, open Music app preferences from the Menu bar and uncheck “Show Clean Versions”.
On Apple TV, go to Settings > Apps > Music and disable “Show Clean Versions”.
On Apple Watch, you cannot disable edited songs – it plays the same versions as your paired iPhone.
To listen to full explicit versions, find the songs in your iTunes library on a Mac/PC and play from there.
Disabling the edited music settings across Apple devices ensures you’ll hear the original unedited versions of songs in your library.
