They finally "fixed" Apple Music
...by making it worse.
I'm sure you know well by now: I hate Apple Music more than anything, not because of any quality issues with the service, or because I have rejected music streaming as a whole as of the last several years. Rather, I hate it because of the way it was pushed onto us, by co-opting the Music app on Apple's devices and bolting a streaming service to it.
This isn't the first time this has been done; Google Play Music did it too. But the difference here is that Apple designed the streaming service to be so integral to the app that it gets in your way all the damn time, by reminding you it exists. Go to search? There's a bunch of tiles for trending stuff. None of which you can interact with without a subscription.
It really does feel not unlike being dragged through the phone cases and accessories every time you show up at a carrier's store, even if all you're doing there is paying your bill.
I don't want to retread old ground here. What I want to highlight is that there's been a specific bug in iOS since iOS 18.0, and that is with the search function in the Music app not remembering its last state. In iOS 17, it would remember the last search destination (be it your local library, Apple Music, or Radio) and assume until you specifically told it otherwise that you'd want to search there the next time you performed a search.
For us old-fashioned local-files-only folks, this was great! It meant every time we invoked search, we'd only ever be searching our local files.
In iOS 18, this was changed. Now every time the Music app is kicked out of memory (which happens a lot if you're not actively using it all the time) the search destination resets to Apple Music. Even if you have "Show Apple Music" turned off in settings. This is made more annoying by the fact that now you have to shift your grip on the phone, reach all the way up to the tab bar, and select "Library" every. damn. time. Sure, it takes mere seconds to do this, but when you're doing it many multiple times per day, it quickly becomes annoying.
This has been broken in the very same way from iOS 18.0 to 26.2. So why am I writing about this if they "fixed" it, as per the title of this post?
Because after ignoring this entirely for nearly a year and a half, they finally paid some attention to it...and made it worse.
Previously, when that Apple Music tab would rear its ugly head, it was merely an artifact: If you did a search in it, it would pull up radio stations. This was less egregious because at the very least radio stations are free to listen to and do not require a subscription. We could give Apple credit for at the very least not shoving more subscription cruft in front of us, here.
As of 26.2.1, however, I noticed different behavior. Now when I searched for an artist, it would pull up...that artist. And a bunch of Apple Music playlists. Tapping said artist confirmed my fears: It was now pulling up Apple Music subscription-only content. If I tapped a song I knew was definitely in my library, oop, there's the "get a month free!" ad.
Are you fscking kidding me right now, Apple?
Instead of half-assing this fix (not changing the default behavior but renaming the Apple Music tab "radio" if you have Show Apple Music turned off), they decided to just make the whole damn thing worse for you if you're not subscribed. Again. And yes, I did confirm that Show Apple Music was still turned off.
I could understand this regression if I was on a beta, but no. 26.2.1 is released, to the public.
After typing yet another screed about this into a reddit reply I decided enough was enough and went looking through to find some recommendations because I remember last time I complained about this people recommended some alternative local music apps. Because I was half past done with the stock music app constantly shoving subscription garbage in my face.
The one that got consistent recommendations? Doppi. Interesting name, but at this point I'm willing to give anything a try because I'm just so ridiculously done trying to meet Apple halfway on this.
I went in with immensely lowered expectations because I tried previous music players and all they did was act as a proxy to your existing Apple Music library. By that I mean they merely acted as a forwarder, so whenever you'd interact with the lock screen controls (or tap them to go to your music app to, say, select a new song) they'd...kick you back to the stock music app.
I mean, great as a quick coat of paint, but I want a complete replacement for the music app that works just as well as it does. And I think Doppi is it. At least I hope it is.
Been using it for the last few hours and not only is it a real audio player (and not just acting as a proxy), but...you can add music to it much like you would on an Android phone. Something I've longed for since I left Android for good back in 2018. It even presents a web interface for you to drag content to. Holy crap.
Where it sold me though was how it could just...grab my existing synced library and interface with it without me having to do much of anything. It's technically acting as a proxy here (as it isn't moving the files or anything), but with none of the downsides of the other apps I've used. Doppi still acts as a real audio player, the lock screen controls kick me back to Doppi in this instance, not Music.app.
I've still got some growing pains to deal with, and retraining my muscle memory, but...at least right now? This feels like the fix I've been looking for. I know it's absolutely absurd to have to go to a 3rd party developer to get around some broken behavior Apple won't fix (because let's be honest, it's a convenient way for them to advertise to you even if you've completely opted out of it), but hey, at least Apple's been oh so kind to open iOS up enough to allow an app to do what Doppi does. I'm thankful for that, at least.
As much as I got my (sorta) happy ending here, I do still hope (and will gladly still file feedback) that Apple fixes the broken search behavior in Music for good. But given how long this bug has persisted, I don't have high hopes.
Maybe this whole saga should go on Bugs Apple Loves.