YouTube Music has crossed the 500 million install count in the Play Store. Well, it doesn’t necessarily mean that these many people have willingly switched over to YouTube Music from the Play Music. Instead, it’s likely a result of Google’s tireless efforts.
YouTube Music is nowhere near as good as Google wants it to be, or even as good as Play Music, the service it’ll be replacing soon. And that is essentially why the latter still continues to exist. However, YouTube Music now comes pre-installed on all Android smartphones shipping with Android 10, replacing the Play Music, of course. So users have no choice but to keep it.
Additionally, Google now throws a pop-up asking users to download YouTube Music every time they open Play Music. The pop-up even warns that they may lose their uploaded library if they don’t switch over to the new app.
Well, it’s not entirely new as the app has been around since 2015. However, Google relaunched it in 2018 and is now developing it as a full-fledged music streaming service. The app will rival the likes of Spotify while replacing Play Music on all Android smartphones in the near future. The fact that it has crossed 500 million installs suggests that it’s already on the way to do so.
Many of those may have been forced installs or “pre-installed” counts, while some other users may not even care whether they have Play Music or YouYube Music on their phones. But it’s certain that Google is nearing its goal with YouTube Music.
YouTube Music crosses 500 million installs as Play Music nears the dead end
YouTube Music has been rapidly picking up new features over the past year or so. The app added support for Google Assistant and Android TV in recent months. It also rolled out lyrics integration for the web client. Earlier this week, Google rolled out a major overhaul to YouTube Music playlists. The recent changes essentially make playlists a central feature for the app.
Users have been facing some difficulties while transferring songs from Play Music to YouTube Music. Google recently said that it has recognized the issues and is working on fixing them. The company is also reportedly working on a feature that’d let YouTube Music users cast uploaded songs to their smart speakers. It’ll be a free-to-use feature for all.
YouTube Music may be lacking many features from Play Music, but the service has been rapidly improving lately. It’ll eventually replace the latter on your phone. So if you haven’t tried YouTube Music yet, head over to Google Play Store and give it a go, while adding another digit to the download count.