Learn how to listen to Apple Music songs in Dolby Atmos on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, HomePod, Vision Pro, and Android phone to enjoy an immersive, three-dimensional audio experience.
When you listen to songs in Dolby Atmos, it gives you the feeling as if you are enjoying the audio in three dimensions with sounds coming from all sides. You can try a demo on Dolby’s official website.
If an Apple Music track or all songs of an album support Dolby Atmos, you will see the Dolby Atmos badge on its details page. This badge also appears on the Now Playing screen. You can even listen to supported tracks in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos for a truly theater-like surround sound.
Also see: How to listen to Apple Music in Lossless quality
Listen to Apple Music in Dolby Atmos
First, you have to make sure Dolby Atmos is enabled for the Music app on your device, and then all you need to do is play a song or album that’s available in Dolby Atmos.
On iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro
1) Open the Settings app, scroll down, and tap Apps > Music.
2) Tap Dolby Atmos and make sure it’s set to Automatic or Always on.
- Automatic: Select this if you are using Apple AirPods, Beats headphones, or other earphones/speakers compatible with Dolby Atmos. You should also select this if you listen through the built-in speakers on recent iPhones.
- Always On: When you select this, Apple Music will try to play Dolby Atmos on any earphone or speaker; however, the sound may not be as intended. Select this if you use other wireless or wired headphones.
3) Open the Music app and play a song or album with the Dolby Atmos badge.
On Mac
1) Open the Music app and click Music > Settings from the top menu bar.
2) Go to the Playback tab.
3) Set Dolby Atmos to Automatic or Always On. The fundamentals for this are similar to what we have explained in the iPhone section above.
4) Now, play a Dolby-Atmos-supported song in the Music app.
Apple TV
1) Open the Settings app on the Apple TV 4K.
2) Scroll down to Apps and select Music.
3) Select Dolby Atmos and choose Automatic. There’s no Always On option here, but you can turn off Dolby Atmos if you want to.
Since Apple TV 4K doesn’t come with speakers, you’ll need to rely on external speakers, HomePod, AirPods, television, or headphones with Dolby Atmos support.
HomePod
1) Open the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
2) Tap the menu icon from the top of the Home tab and select Home Settings.
3) Select your account under the People heading.
4) Tap Apple Music under the Connected Media section.
5) Turn on Dolby Atmos.
Note that the HomePod mini does not support Dolby Atmos, but the bigger HomePods do.
Android phone
1) Open the Apple Music app on your Android phone that supports Dolby Atmos.
2) Tap the three dots menu button from the top and select Settings.
3) Tap Dolby Atmos and turn it on.
On some Android phones, you may not see the Dolby Atmos option in the Apple Music app settings, but if you turn on Dolby Atmos in your phone’s Settings, supported Apple Music tracks may play in Dolby Atmos and you will notice the difference.
You can learn more about listening in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos on Apple’s website.
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