iOS 15.5 reintroduces the API that allows third-party clients to change playback speed on Apple Music

iOS 15.5 reintroduces the API that allows Apple Music third-party clients to change playback speed. For unknown reasons, the company removed the ability for these apps to control playback speed, allowing users to switch between different songs at the same time without having to install a new app.

MusicKit is an official Apple API that allows developers to create apps with access to Apple Music, such as third-party clients.

Since this API was removed in iOS 15.4, multiple developers have complained about it to Apple.

An Apple engineer revealed at the time that the company was “tracking this issue internally,” but no further details were provided. Fortunately, it appears that developers can now use this API again.

As iGeneration pointed out, the same Apple engineer confirmed in the Apple Developer forum that the Apple Music team “re-evaluated our previous decision” to disable the feature.

As a result, the API for allowing Apple Music apps to change playback speed is now back in the fourth beta of iOS 15.5, which is now available for developers.

It’s unclear what prompted Apple to disable this feature, but given that the company’s engineer used the word “safely” to describe the problem, it’s possible that the feature was disabled due to a bug.

Developers will, of course, need to update their apps to ensure that the feature works after the official release of iOS 15.5.