watchOS 7 now supports DRM audio streaming, opening the door for music apps

Audible on Apple Watch
Audible on Apple Watch (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple has announced that Fairplay is now available on watchOS 7.
  • This will allow developers to create audio streaming apps with DRM content.
  • The update could pave the way for music apps to enable streaming to Apple Watch.

Music apps could finally start streaming to Apple Watch will Apple's latest announcement for watchOS 7.

Reported by 9to5Mac, Apple is rolling out Fairplay support to watchOS 7. This will allow developers to create audio streaming apps with DRM content for the Apple Watch.

The session, called 'What's new in streaming audio for Apple Watch', goes over how to implement FairPlay into an Apple Watch app.

What's new in streaming audio for Apple WatchDeliver a smooth streaming audio experience straight to the wrist. We'll talk about some of the new things for building great streaming apps unique to Apple Watch. Learn how to integrate more audio formats, deliver streams more efficiently through new codecs, and add encrypted content to expand your app's media library.

Fairplay has already been built into iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS, so its introduction to Apple Watch is a welcome one. The enhancement could finally open up audio streaming to Apple Watch for a very important category: music apps. With Fairplay, developers could enable audio streaming for their music apps without the worry of users pirating content.

One streaming service that has long been requested to add audio streaming to its Apple Watch app is Spotify. With today's announcement, it could create the scenario the company needs to add audio streaming to its app. We'll have to wait and see once watchOS 7 releases to the public this fall.

Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.