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Apple Music added my most wished for feature in iOS 26

iOS 26 is a packed update for Apple Music changes, including a new feature that’s long been at the top of my wish list: pinned music.

Pinned music is a key new iOS 26 feature in Apple Music

Apple Music in iOS 26 offers the brand new Liquid Glass design found throughout Apple’s entire lineup of platforms, and a bunch of other upgrades.

One change I’ve been wanting for years is the ability to pin favorite music, and now that’s finally here.

With iOS 26’s new pinning feature, you can pin albums, playlists, and artists to the top of your Library

All you have to do is long-press on the music you want to pin. There, you’ll find new options to ‘Pin Playlist,’ ‘Pin Album,’ or ‘Pin Artist.’

Once you pin something, it will live at the top of your Library tab inside the Music app in iOS 26.

You can pin up to six items in total.

These six pinned items can be a mix of different things: for example, one artist, a couple playlists, and a few albums.

Two reasons I’m thrilled to gain pinned music

There are two main uses I’ve long had in mind that motivated my desire for pinned music:

  1. Accessing go-to music more easily
  2. Reminding myself of things I want to listen to more

The former is pretty self-explanatory, and it’s definitely been my most common use case.

But the latter feature is really valuable for me too.

In the streaming age, where all music is at my finger tips, I don’t always have the best memory of artists, albums, and playlists I want to listen to.

Top comment by Grayson

Liked by 2 people

Still can't pin "Radio Stations" 🙁. I usually use the "Energy" station when I run, but no matter how often I use it, it is always nowhere to be found when I open the Apple Music app on my watch, so I have to use Siri to start it, which can be a bit embarrassing if there are people around.

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I’ll often forget that certain music exists until I stumble back across it.

Now, I can pin music that I want to remember to listen to and be reminded of it every time I open the Music app.

My only complaint with pinned music is the limitation of six pinned items. Here’s hoping Apple expands it in the future—perhaps to nine, like in the Messages app.

Have you been using Apple Music’s new pinning feature in iOS 26? Let us know in the comments.

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Avatar for Ryan Christoffel Ryan Christoffel

Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.