What’s New in Albums for iOS and iPadOS 17

Interactive Widgets

Collection Widget

The Collection widget now includes a Play button to start playing that collection. Long-press the widget on your home screen to set whether tapping an album in the widget should open it in the app or play it.

Shortcuts

Now Playing Widget

Play controls in the Now Playing widget! We truly live in a golden age of computing. The Now Playing Info widget has been redesigned from the ground up to feel more in line with the Now Playing screen in the main app.

New Shortcut Actions

Albums is now much more automatable, whether you’re a Shortcuts guru or just want a quick way to resume playback.

There are new Shortcuts actions for tagging, starting queues, and toggling in-app settings. Collections, albums, listening history sessions, and Release Feed entries are now queryable from the Shortcuts app so you can build the automations of your dreams!

In-App Shortcut Gallery

The Siri & Automations page on the Settings tab contains a gallery of pre-built shortcuts for common tasks.