When iOS 18 comes out later this year, it will include a welcome new feature in the Apple Music app: better crossfading. That's when one track merges into another, and while Apple introduced a version of it in iOS 17, it's pretty crude, which seems silly when the operating system is trying to be so much smarter elsewhere. Thankfully, and as previously rumored, the next iOS update will make it much better. (Via PhoneArena)
Crossfading is designed to prevent silence between songs and mimics what a DJ does, albeit more akin to a radio DJ than a dance music DJ. The new, smarter version in iOS 18 can reportedly analyse songs and then choose the most appropriate crossfade setting, so if a song is designed to stop abruptly on impact, the new feature won’t override that, whereas if the current song is fading out then Apple Music will start showing the next track.
How to use Smart Crossfade in Apple Music
The new Smart Crossfade feature is an improvement on the existing Crossfade option, and is once again found in Settings > Music – it’s just below the Sound Check option, and in iOS 18 has a toggle to turn Crossfade on and off, as well as a slider to adjust how long you want your crossfades to last. You can adjust the slider from 1 second to 12 seconds.
The same feature is also coming to Apple Music in macOS 15 Sequoia, though so far in beta builds it’s been labeled “Smart Song Transitions” – the interface is slightly different, so instead of a Crossfade toggle there’s a “Song Transitions” dropdown where Smart is an option. It does have the same 1-12 second slider as the Crossfade setting in iOS 17 and 18, though.
Smart Crossfade is a feature you'll often see in music app users' wish lists, and not just in Apple Music, so it's likely a welcome improvement. And like the current Crossfade, it shouldn't affect the way you experience albums: it can understand that you're listening to consecutive album tracks, and won't try to interfere with the spaces between those tracks. It looks like it will simply activate if you're in a playlist, listening to a station, or have a variety of music queued up.
There's no sign yet of the same feature coming to Apple's Music app for Android, though it does do things slightly differently: the choice on Android for crossfading is automatic, manual, or disabled.
iOS 18 is likely to be released in September 2024, alongside the iPhone 16.
