It looks like Google’s dessert-themed naming scheme isn’t the only thing getting replaced with Android 10. YouTube Music is kicking Google Play Music aside as Android’s prepackaged music player, YouTube announced Saturday. The app will come bundled with all devices launching with Android 10.
If you’re a Google Play Music stan, don’t worry though: Just because it doesn’t come preloaded like in previous versions doesn’t mean it’s gone for good.
“Music listeners with new Android 10 devices can continue to enjoy Google Play Music by downloading it from the Play Store and logging in to their accounts,” YouTube Music’s product manager Brandon Bilinski wrote in a blog post.
The app will also be bundled with new devices shipping with Android 9.
Google’s talked about this switchover since YouTube Music launched in 2015, and the service’s design overhaul last year seemed to hint that Google Play Music’s days might be numbered. For all of Google’s other industry knockouts, its music player never quite racked up the same kind of cultural clout or user base as competitors like Spotify and Apple Music. Meanwhile, YouTube has maintained a strong foothold as a kind of de facto music streaming platform for many of its billion-plus users, and their viewing histories are automatically carried over to YouTube Music.
While the player itself is free, a premium subscription will set you back around $15 a month, or you can get it bundled with a YouTube Premium subscription for $18 per month. It comes with the perks you’d expect from a music streaming service subscription: no ads, downloadable playlists, etc.
While Google has slowly been migrating features from its original music player to YouTube Music, its interface still feels a bit clunky compared to what you’d find with rival services. Though it’s still a huge improvement compared to its debut design, which took few notes from Spotify’s successful formula.
Users who currently house their tunes on Google Play Music are uneasy about the switch as well. If it does eventually get the ax, there’s no timeline as of yet explaining how or if any of this data would be transferred over. According to Tom’s Guide, the two service’s music libraries and features don’t match up perfectly either.
We reached out to Google to see what’s up on that front and will update this with their response.