Apple Music is a streaming service that was launched by Apple as they looked to compete with the likes of Amazon Music and Spotify in the music streaming game, and though there are occasional issues with Apple Music crashing.
The app almost exclusively deals in music, with Apple boasting separate apps for other entities such as Apple Podcasts and Apple TV.
However, there are ways in which you can use Apple Music to access non-music media, making it an attractive app even for people who aren’t particularly fussed about streaming music.
In this article we are going to focus solely on audiobooks and examine whether or not you can use Apple Music to browse and listen to them.
Does Apple Music have audiobooks? The long and short of it
In the past, Apple Music did offer users the ability to browse and listen to audiobooks via Apple Music. However, at the back end of 2021 Apple made the decision to remove all audiobooks from the app.
Instead, you now have to download the Apple Books app from the app store if you want to be listen to audiobooks via an Apple branded app.
It came as no surprise really when Apple decided to move audiobooks to a separate app. After all, the vast majority of Apple Music customers are subscribed to the app for their music offerings, not for anything else.
This means that if you have an Apple Music subscription, you won’t necessarily be able to find your favourite audio books on the service. You’ll need to purchase them from Apple Books, which works on a pay-per-book basis.
Apple music subscribers will still be able to find some audio books on the platform – you can find them under the “Spoken Word and Audio Books” category.
Now, customers who are interested in audiobooks have a book-specific app ready and waiting for them, instead of having to deal with the back-end of a music app.
How to navigate Apple Books
As mentioned, all of Apple’s audiobooks can now be accessed the aptly named ‘Apple Books’.
Considering if you’re reading this you’re likely interested in audiobooks, it is worth offering you a quick run through of the Apple Books app.
As an iPhone user, you will automatically have the Apple Books app downloaded on to your device, unless you have previously deleted it.
Type in ‘books’ on the search bar on your phone to bring up the app and load it up.
Once you’re in to the app, you will see that you have multiple different options within it, including ‘library’, ‘books store’, ‘audiobooks’ and ‘search’.
All of these menu items are fairly self explanatory, which makes life easy for the user. Considering we’re talking about audiobooks here, you are going to want to select the ‘audiobooks’ tab which will take you to a landing page which offers you further options.
You are able to search for audiobooks in various different ways via this page including by genre, by newly released and by the app’s recommendations.
Once you’ve had a flick through all available audiobook options, you are able to either purchase it instantly (unless it’s free), listen to a preview of the books, or add it to your ‘want to read’ list.
After you’ve purchased a book, it will be saved to your library, giving you the ability to go back and listen/read it whenever you feel like it.
Alternatives to Apple Books
It goes without saying that Apple Books isn’t the only audiobook app on the market today, and there are plenty of arguments to suggest that there are better ones too.
Here are a few apps that you should consider looking at if you are keen to access more audiobooks via a mobile phone app:
Audible
Audible is one of the most popular apps around when it comes to audiobooks. It is owned by Amazon, which might have something to do with it, but it’s a really slick app which offers users the opportunity to listen to a huge range of audiobooks.
One standout feature on Audible is the fact that you can dictate how speed the narration goes, allowing you to slow it down if you want to take in more of the story or speed it up if you want to get to the end of a chapter before you commute to work is over.
Audiobooks
If you are looking for free audiobooks, then ‘Audiobooks’ is the app that you need to download.
The quality of the audiobooks may not be as good as those offered on Apple Books and Audible, but you won’t spend a penny as long as you use this app.
The audiobooks on here are typically quite short in length, making them perfect for night time reading before you fall asleep or for the commute to and/or from work.
Conclusion
Going back to the original question that we posed at the start of this article – no, Apple Music no longer hosts audiobooks on their platform.
However, that doesn’t mean that you consumption of audiobooks needs to end. As we’ve discussed, there are plenty of apps out there that offer users audiobooks so check them out and carry on your audiobook experience away from Apple Music.
