iOS 18.4 adds a dedicated Ambient Music feature – and I have 3 big questions

Apple is now offering a second release candidate for iOS 18.4, a late-stage pre-release version that implies the update will soon make its way to the wider iPhone user base – bringing with it an unexpected, but welcome, musical addition to the iPhone experience.

iOS 18.4 introduces a dedicated Ambient Music feature to iPhone, accessible via the Control Center. To access the new feature, users can add the Ambient Music icon to the Control Center during customization, similar to how Shazam music recognition is accessed.

Once added, users can tap the icon to choose one of four ambient music playlists – Chill, Sleep, Productivity, and Wellbeing.

Oddly enough, the Ambient Music feature doesn’t have a proper dedicated app. Tapping the Dynamic Island while the music plays takes you to a pretty standard-looking music player in the vein of Apple Music, and you can cast the audio over AirPlay, but as Gadget Hacks notes, there’s no icon on the home screen.

Instead, Apple seems to be positioning Ambient Music as an expanded version of its existing Background Sounds, which include white noise, forest ambience, and ocean waves.

I think this sounds like a nice addition. I’ve been a fan of ambient music genre for about six years, and have listened to it for studying and working – I’m certainly a believer in its benefits for focus and relaxation.

Though Apple probably won’t say as much, there are also possibly some health benefits to this new ambient music tool. According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, ambient music has been shown to decrease anxiety and even ease physical pain.

So overall, a pretty cool idea – but it remains an unusual one, and as such I still have some questions about Apple’s chillest new feature.

Where’s the music coming from?

This is the big one for me – who is making this music, and how? Presumably these playlists are each at least a few hours long, and those tracks have got to come from somewhere.

Optimistically, I could guess that the tracks will be pulled from similar genre tags and existing playlists available via Apple Music, maybe with a few additional exclusives thrown in – Apple Music is renowned for its curated playlists, after all.

However, recent developments in the music and mobile industries have me concerned at the prospect of AI generated sound being used for these playlists – not that Apple has confirmed or suggested this. If that turns out to be the case, I’ll be giving it a swerve.

How are the artists getting paid?

The tracks added to these on-demand ambient playlists will probably become some of the most listened-to ambient tracks around, thanks to their ease of access and embedding in the fabric of iOS.

It’d be nice to know how Apple plans to reimburse the artists behind these songs – especially if the tracks have been chosen by human curators for the four playlist types.

It’s possible that the artists will be paid typical streaming royalties for the use of their music, but with Apple Music paying just $0.01 per stream that’ll take a lot of listens to add up to much.

What’s next?

Let’s face it – “dedicated ambient music button” probably wasn’t on any of our 2025 Apple bingo cards, and now I’m left wondering what’s next for Apple’s growing list of software eccentricities.

It’s not the first time the company has given a whole feature to some kind of mindfulness activity – see the iPhone Journal app for the most prominent example.

Maybe we’ll see Apple extend the relaxation vibe to the visual side of things, with a dedicated calming color profile or virtual environments designed to bring users a sense of zen.

Or perhaps we’ll just see more of these half-option-half-radio features crop up. Dedicated Control Center hard techno button anyone? Just me? I’ll see myself out.

In any case, I’m looking forward to trying out this and the other new features coming to the best iPhones with iOS 18.4. Let us know if the Ambient Music feature is something you’d use in the comments below.