How much data does Apple Music use?

What Apple says, and what it leaves out

Apple's support pages are clear about the direction and silent about the size. Streaming lossless audio over a mobile or Wi-Fi network consumes significantly more data, downloads take significantly more space, and higher resolutions use more than lower ones. In the cellular settings, Apple adds that High Quality, Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless use significantly more data than High Efficiency, may lead to extra charges from your carrier, and can make songs take longer to start.

What Apple does publish is the format. The whole catalogue is encoded in Apple Lossless (ALAC), at resolutions from 16-bit/44.1 kHz, CD quality, up to 24-bit/192 kHz. In the settings, Lossless means up to 24-bit/48 kHz and Hi-Res Lossless up to 24-bit/192 kHz. There is no per-hour figure for any of the options, which is why this article gives a ceiling and a way to measure rather than a table.

The five choices for mobile data

• None: no streaming at all on mobile data.
• High Efficiency: the setting Apple uses as the low-data reference.
• High Quality: significantly more data than High Efficiency.
• Lossless: up to 24-bit/48 kHz.
• Hi-Res Lossless: up to 24-bit/192 kHz.

To set it, go to Settings, Apps, Music and make sure Cellular Data is on. Then tap Audio Quality, turn on Lossless Audio and tap Cellular Streaming; with Lossless Audio on, Apple's steps list all five choices. Wi-Fi streaming and downloads have their own settings in the same screen.

None is more useful than it looks: Music keeps playing everything you downloaded, but nothing streams on the travel line. On Android, the same options sit in the Apple Music app under More, Settings, Audio Quality.

A lossless ceiling you can work out yourself

• 16-bit/44.1 kHz stereo, uncompressed: 1,411 kbit/s, about 635 MB per hour.
• 24-bit/48 kHz stereo, uncompressed: 2,304 kbit/s, about 1.04 GB per hour.
• 24-bit/192 kHz stereo, uncompressed: 9,216 kbit/s, about 4.1 GB per hour.

These are not Apple's figures. They are the size of the same audio without any compression: bits per sample, times samples per second, times two channels, then converted to megabytes per hour. ALAC compresses without losing anything, so real Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless streams come in below these ceilings. Apple does not say by how much, because it depends on the music. Even so, they show the scale behind Apple's warning: the uncompressed ceiling for 24-bit/192 kHz is more than six times that of CD quality.

Lossless you will not hear on AirPods

Before choosing Lossless for mobile data, check what you are listening on. Apple says AirPods and Beats wireless headphones use the Apple AAC Bluetooth codec and that Bluetooth connections are not lossless. To play at sample rates above 48 kHz, an iPhone needs an external digital-to-analogue converter. Apple notes that AirPods Max with USB-C can play lossless audio over a USB-C cable, not over Bluetooth.

In plain terms, on a train with AirPods, Hi-Res Lossless spends your plan on resolution that does not reach your ears in that form. Lossless streaming makes sense with wired equipment that supports it, and even then it is usually better kept for downloads at the hotel, where the extra size costs storage instead of data.

Dolby Atmos, downloads and the switches around them

Dolby Atmos is set under Settings, Apps, Music, Dolby Atmos, with Automatic, which plays it on compatible headphones such as AirPods Pro, or Always On. Apple gives no data figure for Atmos either. For offline listening, Download in Dolby Atmos decides whether tracks available in Atmos download in Atmos or in stereo.

Two more switches decide what happens behind your back. Automatic Downloads downloads every song you add to your library, and Download over Cellular decides whether downloads can use mobile data. On a trip, keep the first if you like it, but turn the second off so new additions wait for Wi-Fi. Low Data Mode on the travel line covers both: Apple says it turns off automatic downloads and high-quality streaming in Music.

Coming from Spotify, and measuring your own hour

If you are used to Spotify, the difference is that Spotify publishes the approximate bitrate of each quality setting, so you can plan from its numbers; the Spotify guide has them. Apple Music does not, so the honest figure is the one you measure.

On an iPhone, go to Settings, Cellular, tap Reset Statistics at the bottom, turn off Wi-Fi and stream 30 minutes of music you have not downloaded, at the setting you plan to use. The Music line shows what it took; double it for an hour, multiply by your daily listening and add it to the data calculator. If the number is uncomfortable, the fix is the same as on any service: download the playlists at home and set Cellular Streaming to High Efficiency or None.