Without much fanfare, Apple Music lossless and spatial audio finally rolled out in the Android app

Launched in June, both Apple Music lossless (Apple's answer to the still unreleased Spotify HiFi) and the music service's spatial audio feature were only available on iOS and macOS devices And now they are being offered to non-iPhone users

As of this writing, neither feature can be enabled on my Android phone, but Engadget has confirmed that updates are gradually adding them

Lossless audio is what allows Apple Music subscribers to play back compatible songs in higher resolution, or high quality This includes support for both "CD-quality" 16-bit/441 kHz streaming and 24-bit/48 kHz, which is true high-resolution audio

Note, however, that you will need good wired headphones, such as the Sony WH-1000XM4 in wired mode, to hear the difference and enable lossless streaming Current Bluetooth technology, even Apple's high-end AirPods Max headphones, cannot handle the amount of data that lossless requires

Conversely, Spacial Audio is compatible with a wider range of playback devices - though the best headphones are recommended to get the most out of its 3D audio effect Spacial Audio uses Dolby Atmos mastering to make it appear that different vocal and instrumental elements are being played back from the surrounds; when playing a song in the Apple Music app, look for the Dolby Atmos logo to see if content is available in Spacial Audio

You may also need to enable spatial audio in Apple Music settings, unless you are using Apple or Beats headphones with the Apple H1 or W1 chipsApple AirPods, AirPods Pro, Powerbeats Pro, etc should automatically have spatial audio enabled

While the delay in bringing Apple Music's lossless and spatial audio to Android is obvious, its eventual appearance may be another sign that Apple is loosening up on keeping all of its best features within its own ecosystem The Beats Studio Buds previously signaled a change in approach, ditching the H1 and W1 chips in favor of a processor that allows for greater feature and connectivity parity between iOS and Android