Apple Music finally comes to Android

NEW YORK—It took nearly five months but Apple Music has finally made its way to Android.

On Tuesday Apple released its new music service for Android, allowing Android users to be able to listen to Beats 1, The Beatles, Taylor Swift and other artists through Apple's service.

Functionally the service is nearly identical to its iOS counterpart. You access the service by logging in with your Apple ID (if you are new to Apple you can create one).

If you already subscribe to Apple Music you can begin listening immediately once you login, if you're new you'll be prompted to sign up for an Apple Music subscription. As the app is currently in Beta, the only option currently available is to sign up for an individual subscription for $9.99 per month.

Signing up for a family subscription, which allows six people to share a subscription for $14.99 per month, will currently need to be done on a Mac or iOS device.

Similar to its launch on iOS in June, Apple will be offering a free 3-month trial to new users trying the service on Android.

Feature wise, with the exception of music videos (coming soon), the app features all of Apple Music's trademark functions. You can listen to radio stations like Beats 1 or create your own based off of artists and songs, follow artists using "Connect," browse your music collection and create playlists. You can't sync your Android phone directly with iTunes to transfer music already in your collection, but you can browse your tracks in the My Music tab.

The app will also sync with your playlists made on an iOS, Mac or Windows PC. As with the iOS app, you can also search Apple Music for new tracks to listen or add to a playlist. You can also download songs and playlists for offline listening.

Apple Music is the third Apple app to make it to Android, joining a "move to iOS" app to transfer files from an Android phone to an iPhone and an app for controlling the new Beats Pill+ speaker.

In a bit of irony, as the app is fairly new, searching in the Google Play Store for "Apple Music" is currently returning Spotify, Amazon Music and Beats Music. Those interested in trying Apple Music on Android can find the free app in the Play Store by searching for "Apple" or downloading from this direct link.

Follow Eli Blumenthal on Twitter @eliblumenthal