Apple’s Music Haptics feature is rolling out now as part of the official release of iOS 18. It’s an accessibility tool integrated with Apple Music on iPhone. Put simply, it uses the phone’s speaker-based haptic system, which the company calls the Taptic Engine, to create “tap, textures, and refined vibrations to the song’s audio.”
It’s clearly aimed at people with hearing loss, helping them feel the music, and it works with Apple Music, Apple Music Classical and Shazam. The company says it will also integrate with third-party apps as long as your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi or cellular.
To get started, go to the Accessibility settings menu and turn on Music Haptics. Once enabled, an easily identifiable logo will appear on the Now Playing screen in the Apple Music app. Tapping the logo will pause the feature, and tapping it again will turn it back on. Music Haptics is supported worldwide on iPhone 12 and later, as long as your device is updated to iOS 18.
To celebrate the launch, Apple Music has unveiled a series of haptic playlists, with channels called “Haptics Beats” and “Haptics Bass” filled with songs you can tap and vibrate to.
Some people have already been trying out the feature, with one user noting that when they place their phone on a box with Music Haptics turned on, it “sounds like an Atari game.” I disagree, but hey, listen for yourself.
