Saving money on expenses is currently at the top of many households’ agendas, and signing up for a trial that gets you Apple Music for free — at least for a while — is a compelling way to lower overall costs.
You also get access to one of the best music streaming services: Apple Music gives you access to more than 75 million songs and in multiple lossless streaming options from CD sound quality (16-bit/44.1 kHz) to true Hi-Res audio (up to 24 -bit/192kHz). Subscribers also get Spatial Audio support at no extra cost.
Apple Music content can be streamed or downloaded to a device for offline playback, and there are also song- and genre-based radio stations and curated playlists. Plus, Apple Music integrates with your existing iCloud Music Library, so you can combine Apple Music songs with songs previously purchased on iTunes and listen to them in one unified location.
And of course, you can also sync your Apple music library with other Apple devices and play them on the best smart speakers or even many of the best smart TVs. In short, there are plenty of reasons why you might want to get Apple Music for free — so here’s how you do it.
How to Get Apple Music for Free
The right Apple Music subscription for you
As with all streaming services, Apple Music offers customized subscriptions for its service, which are available through music platform home page†
The most affordable monthly option is the recently introduced Apple Music Voice Subscription at $4.99 / £4.99 a month, but this only lets you play music through Siri.
Apple Music’s student subscription also costs $4.99 / £4.99 per month, while the standard music subscriptions cost $9.99 / £9.99 for individuals (or $99 / £99 per year) and $14.99 / £14.99 for families. The Apple One plan combines Apple Music, Apple Arcade, iCloud+ and Apple TV+ for $14.95/£14.95 per month.
Free Apple Music Trial via Apple
If you’re a new Apple Music subscriber, you’ll automatically get a one-month free trial. Before February 2022, this free trial lasted three months, so while it’s now competitive with other streaming services, it’s not as good as it used to be.
To get the free trial, go to Apple Music and choose “Try It Free” in the top right corner, or click “Try It Free” from any of the Voice, Student, Individual, and Family subscription options.
If you don’t want to pay for Apple Music after your trial is over, make sure you cancel your subscription before it automatically renews.
To do this on an iPhone, go to Settings and click on the section at the top with your Apple ID. Tap Subscriptions, find the one you want to cancel and tap it. Then tap Unsubscribe at the bottom of the page.
Free Apple Music on Verizon
If you subscribe to Verizon Wireless’s 5G Get More unlimited plan ($55/month per line), you get a free subscription to Apple Music. This plan also includes other perks like Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, and Hulu, as well as your choice of Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass.
Verizon’s cheaper 5G Play More and Do More plans ($45/month per line), meanwhile, offer a 6-month trial of Apple Music.
Check out the best Verizon phone plans to learn more about what each deal includes.
Free six-month trial of Apple Music via Best Buy
Currently, new subscribers can get a six-month free trial of Apple Music through Best Buy. The only caveat is that you’ll need to sign up for a Best Buy account (also free). After “purchasing” the trial version, you will receive a code to enter in the Apple Music app. You’ll still need to enter your credit card information into the Apple Music app, though, so make sure you cancel the subscription before you’re charged (unless you decide you want to continue).
Free six-month trial for Apple Music with Apple products
Another way to enhance the standard one-month free trial of Apple Music is to purchase an Apple audio product through the Apple Store† Purchases of Apple earbuds, including AirPods (2nd and 3rd generation) and AirPods Pro, along with the AirPods Max headphones, all come with a six-month free trial of Apple Music when purchased through the official website. Beats products (also Apple-owned) currently only offer the six-month free trial of Apple Music for select products, so please check before completing your purchase.
Free Apple Music Trial via Shazam
There is another way to improve the standard one-month Apple Music trial and you don’t have to buy anything. This Shazam offer runs from time to time and in the past it offered five months of free Apple Music. Currently there is a three months free offer†
Shazam is a music identification service from Apple built into Siri and iOS. Users can identify tracks using a dedicated Shazam button in the Control Center, or simply by asking Siri “what’s this song”. Users can link their Shazam app to Apple Music to access a custom playlist of all their Shazam songs.
MacWorld also reports that you may be able to use Shazam to qualify for another free plan, even if you’ve had a trial of Apple Music in the past.
We haven’t tested these ourselves, but in theory all you need to do is download Shazam to your iPhone or iPad and then look for the “Limited Time Only” listing under your Recent Shazams. Click Try Now and you will be invited to Apple Music’s current free trial offer. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll see the date the free trial ends and you’ll be billed. Make a note to cancel or switch to the cheap Voice plan right before that.
Free six-month trial of Apple Music with EE (UK)
In the UK, EE offers new and existing customers six months of free Apple Music without using your mobile data cap.
If you are not a customer, you must of course log in to the EE network first. Then just text MUSIC to 150 or sign up to My EE or download the My EE app and go to Plan & Add-ons, then Add-ons, then Get more add-ons and follow the instructions sent to you.
Full terms and conditions and further instructions are available on the EE website.
Get an additional Apple Music trial through Family Sharing
Once you’ve used up your three (or more) month trial, you generally won’t be able to get more months for free using the same method, even if you wait a year or so. But there’s a trick to getting an extra three months — and it involves Family Sharing.
Start by taking out an individual free trial of Apple Music and by the end of your trial, set up Family Sharing in the Settings section of iCloud.
Then invite another family member (or more family members) to join the service. Once they sign up, they can also take advantage of the Apple Music free trial – but the trick is that when they do, everyone else in the family group also gets the free trial, even if they’ve had it before as an individual. Smart, huh?
If you take advantage of any of these free trials, don’t forget to find out how to transfer Spotify playlists to Apple Music and also make sure to check out the best audiophile headphones so you can do justice to your favorite songs .
More Stories
How to do lateral raises?
Brightening up a darkroom — 7 tips and tricks
Playing Steam games on a Chromebook