Apple Music is one of the most popular music streaming platforms that offers an extensive collection of songs, albums, and playlists across various genres. However, as you dive into the app, you may get overwhelmed by its UI and all the icons and symbols you see in Apple Music. In this article, we will explain the meaning of each icon and symbol in Apple Music and what they do.
Table of Contents
Quick Lookup
- What does the star icon mean on Apple Music: The star next to a song means it’s one of the most popular tracks on the album or playlist. It highlights songs that are rated high by the users and get a lot of plays.
- What does the ‘E’ icon mean on Apple Music: The ‘E’ next to a song stands for Explicit. It means the song contains strong language or mature themes, which may not be suitable for all listeners, particularly children.
- What does the infinity sign mean on Apple Music: The infinity sign in your playlist is referred to as the Autoplay button. When it’s turned on, Apple Music will continue to play similar songs after a playlist or album ends.
Homescreen Symbols and Icons on Apple Music
1. Profile Picture Icon: Tapping this icon will open your Apple Music account settings. From there, you can customize your profile, add funds to your Apple ID, manage subscriptions, configure notifications, and more.
2. Right Chevron (Arrow): Tap this icon to further explore the playlists that are available in a particular section or category.
3. Right Arrow and Double Right Arrow: In the Mini Player, which pops up when you minimize the music player, you’ll see two buttons: the Right Arrow and the Double Right Arrow. You can use these buttons to play, pause, or switch songs.
Music Player Icons in Apple Music
1. Horizontal Line: Hitting this bar will minimize your music player to a mini player.
2. Star Icon: Refer to this icon as the favorite button. Tapping it will add the current music to your favorite list.
3. Circle With 3-Dots: This icon is universally regarded as the More button. Tapping it will open a menu with a range of options, including download, SharePlay, add to playlist, share lyrics, dislike, etc.
4. Play/Pause, Previous, and Next Button: Use these buttons to control your music. Tapping the Previous button (left-pointing 2-arrows) will start the music from the beginning and double tapping it will go back to the previous track. Additionally, tapping the Next button (right-pointing 2-arrows) will take you to the subsequent music. On the other hand, the Pause and Play buttons allow you to stop or resume the music.
5. Speaker Icon With Bar: This one indicates the current volume level of your music. You can adjust the volume levels by dragging the slider left or right.
6. Chat Bubble With Quotation Mark: Consider this icon as a Lyrics button. Tapping it will display the lyrics of the currently playing song in real time.
7. Triangle With Signal: This is an AirPlay (audio) icon. You can use it to directly stream the music to other Apple-compatible devices, such as Apple TV, HomePod, or AirPlay-compatible speakers or smart TVs.
8. Three Horizontal Lines With Dots: Treat this icon as a Queue button. Use this button to view and manage the queue of songs that are currently playing or will play next.
Playlist Symbols in Apple Music
1. Person With Plus Icon: This is the Collaborate button. Tapping it allows you to invite people to join your playlist. Anyone part of that playlist group can edit and reorder songs.
2. Circle With Down Arrow: Think of this icon as the Download button. By tapping it, you can download all the songs from the playlist. This will allow you to play music even when iPhone is offline or has no internet connection.
3. Audio Waveform Icon: This icon will only appear on the album art of the song that is currently being played from the playlist.
4. E Symbol: E here stands for Explicit. If you see this icon next to a song, that means the lyrics have violent, adult, sexual, or offensive words. Typically, these songs are not recommended for children or individuals who are sensitive to such themes.
5. Criss-Cross Arrow: Treat this icon as a Shuffle button. Tapping it will shuffle your playlist order.
6. Two Arrows Rotating Clockwise: Think of this as a Repeat button. Tapping it once will fill the icon and will put the playlist in repeat mode. Tapping it again will display the number 1 and will repeat the current song until the feature is deactivated.
7. Infinity Symbol: Refer to this icon as the Autoplay button. When you enable this mode, Apple Music will automatically play similar songs after the song or playlist is finished.
8. Three-Parallel Lines Icon: You can tap on this icon and move around the songs to reshuffle the play order on your Apple Music Playlist.
9. Circle With Left Arrow: Use this icon to go back to the previous screen.
10. Circle With Plus Sign: Tap this icon to add the playlist to your Apple Music Library.
11. Star Icon Next to a Song: This icon appears when a song in the playlist or album is part of your favorities.
Radio Symbols in Apple Music
1. Calendar Icon: The Schedule icon in the top-right corner. Tap on it to check the timing of all the playlists or shows scheduled to play on Apple Music Radio. This can help you to plan your listening experience accordingly.
2. Circular Arrow With Number: The left arrow will rewind the podcast by 30 seconds, while the right arrow will fast-forward the podcast by 30 seconds. This can help you quickly navigate the podcast or show you’re watching or listening to.
3. X Icon (Cross): Hit this icon to exit the video from the full screen.
4. Two Rectangular Boxes with Arrow (Mobile): This is a PiP (Picture in Picture) icon. Tapping it will turn your video into a small floating window, enabling you to watch the video while using other apps on your iPhone. You can even resize the floating window to your liking.
5. Rectangle With Triangle Icon: This is an AirPlay (video) icon. You can use it to stream audio or video to external devices, such as Apple TV, AirPlay-enabled speakers, or other compatible devices.
6. Speaker Icon With Sound Wave: This icon indicates that the audio is enabled on a video. Tapping it will change the icon to a speaker with a line, indicating that the sound is now silenced.
Artist Page Symbols in Apple Music
1. Star Icon: Think of this as a Subscribe button. Tapping it will give you the option to receive instant notifications whenever your favorite artist releases new music.
2. Play Icon: Hit the Play button to start playing the music from the artist page.
Demystifying Apple Music’s Symbols and Icons
With so many features, it’s difficult to keep a track of the different symbols and icons in Apple Music. So far, we’ve tried to cover every possible icons and symbol appearing in Apple Music (at least in Summer 2024) to help you get the most out of it. You can also learn the meaning of different icons and symbols in Spotify and YouTube.
