Apple Music is now available on Roku devices, but without its best features

Apple Music is now available on Roku devices, but without its best features
(Image credit: Apple/Roku)

Apple Music is now available on Roku. Apple's streaming app launched on the Roku channel store yesterday, bringing 90 million tracks, 30,000 playlists, music videos, Apple Radio and more to any device that runs the Roku platform.

These devices include the Roku Streambar soundbar, and streaming sticks like the Roku Premiere, Roku Streaming Stick+ and Roku Streaming Stick 4K.

You won't get the full Apple Music experience, however. That's because both lossless support and spatial audio are missing, a Roku spokesperson told The Verge

Lossless audio is higher-resolution than standard music files, packing in more information to make for a more detailed listen. Apple Music offers lossless in two forms: Apple Music Lossless (up to 24-bit/48kHz), and Hi-Res Lossless (up to 24-bit/192kHz). You can find out more in our in-depth article.

Spatial audio, meanwhile, delivers surround sound and 3D audio.

Apple Music supports these features on its Android app, and the Apple TV 4K streaming box, so it's a little disappointing that Roku users will miss out. However, the Roku spokesperson said both features are not supported "at this time", so there's always a chance they will arrive further down the line.

Apple Music was the first major streaming service to offer hi-res streaming at no extra cost. This was swiftly followed by Amazon Music Unlimited, which folded its HD tier into the main subscription. Spotify has long touted a Spotify HiFi hi-res tier, but it looks like this has been delayed indefinitely.

Existing Apple Music subscribers can sign in to the service on Roku, or you can subscribe through the Roku channel store.

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Joe Svetlik

Joe has been writing about tech for 17 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Stuff, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Men's Health, GQ, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and many more (including What Hi-Fi?). His specialities include all things mobile, headphones and speakers that he can't justifying spending money on.