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iOS 26.1 expands Music app’s latest feature with AirPlay upgrade

Avatar for Ryan Christoffel  | Nov 7 2025 - 7:17 am PT
5 Comments

iOS 26 gave Apple Music a bunch of great new features, including the DJ-like AutoMix effect for song transitions. Now with iOS 26.1’s launch earlier this week, AutoMix has expanded to even work over AirPlay.

AutoMix now works with AirPlay in iOS 26.1, bringing seamless song transitions everywhere

ios 26 apple music automix

AutoMix has been one of my favorite new Apple Music features in a packed iOS 26 release.

I understand it’s not for everyone. And occasionally I find it ending a track sooner than I’d like. But the vast majority of the time, I’ve found AutoMix a delightful addition to my music listening experience.

AutoMix works great when listening over AirPods or built-in device speakers, but I’ve always missed the feature when playing music over my in-home speaker setup.

I use HomePods around the house, and they don’t yet offer native AutoMix support. In fact, only with the recent HomePod 26 software update did they finally gain Crossfade.

But now with iOS 26.1, AutoMix is supported when using AirPlay with speakers like the HomePod, or other AirPlay speakers.

If you’re unfamiliar with the AutoMix feature, here’s how Apple describes it:

AutoMix transitions one song into the next like a DJ does, time stretching and beatmatching to deliver a continuous playback experience

It’s great to see AutoMix expand so quickly after iOS 26’s release. I love getting to enjoy the feature not just with AirPods, or using my built-in iPhone speaker, but also throughout the house.

For more on AutoMix’s compatibility, including details on scenarios when iOS won’t use it, see Apple’s support document here.

And in case you missed it, iOS 26.1 also includes a great new Apple Music swipe gesture for quickly switching tracks.

Have you been using AutoMix in Apple Music, and are you glad to have it available via AirPlay in iOS 26.1? Let us know in the comments.

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Author

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.