How it works

notch.fm and Apple Music

You can connect Apple Music to notch.fm today: your library comes across, and songs play in the browser and on your phone’s lock screen. notch.fm is an independent app: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Apple, and it is not made or reviewed by them.

Last reviewed 25 September 2026

One thing on this page has not shipped: pushing playlists across. Likes do go to Apple Music now. A playlist you build here stays here for the moment, and is kept so it goes across when that lands. Nothing here is a date - a date that slips is worse than no date. One more thing is not coming at all rather than coming later, and the section below says which and why.

You can start without connecting anything#

This is the part worth knowing before you wait for anything. Your scores, your five tag axes, your comments, your playlists and every chart built on them are notch.fm’s own data. They are not stored in a music service and they do not come from one.

So rating a library is not work you repeat. Connecting Apple Music attaches to what you have already built, and disconnecting it later leaves all of it intact - there is nothing to migrate, nothing to re-rate, and nothing that only counts while a service is attached.

Getting your music in covers the routes that exist today, including starting from an empty library.

What it reads#

The same principle the rest of the app is held to: only what it uses, and only where it maps to something on screen.

Your library: The songs you have saved, so there is something to rate without typing any of it in.
Track and album details: Title, artist, album, year, length and cover art, so a song looks like itself while you score it.
What is playing now: So a score lands on the right song, and a comment can be pinned to a moment in it.

What it writes back#

A like: Press the heart and the song is saved to your Apple Music library, and marked as loved so Apple's own recommendations hear about it.
An unlike: Clears the loved mark. The song stays in your Apple Music library: Apple gives apps no way to take a song back out of one, so that part is yours to do in Apple Music. notch.fm shows it as unliked either way.
A playlist: Not yet. Build one here and it is kept here, and it goes across when pushing playlists to Apple Music is built.

Anything that cannot go out right now is kept and shown as waiting, so nothing you press is lost. The sync menu lists what is waiting by name, and says which of it is waiting on us rather than on you.

Playback already works, and it is not in the list above because it is not a write: pressing play starts the song on your own account, through Apple’s own player running in your browser. Nothing is stored in your library by it.

No background writing of any kind, and a score is never written into Apple Music - it is notch.fm’s, and there is nowhere in a music service to put it.

What it never does#

Host or sell music. A notch.fm subscription buys notch.fm features. It is not a music licence and it does not include an Apple Music subscription.
Speak for Apple in any way. Nothing in this app is provided, reviewed or endorsed by them, and this page is not an announcement on their behalf.
Keep access you revoked. Disconnecting is one button in Settings, effective immediately, exactly as it is for every other service.

Apple Music itself#

An Apple Music subscription is bought from Apple, never from notch.fm. You can read about it at Apple Music.

Apple and Apple Music are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. notch.fm is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Apple.