iOS 11 wish list: Handoff for iTunes and Apple Music

With Handoff you can push, not just data, but also the state of activity between iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Imagine having that for iTunes and Apple Music..

Handoff — the feature when you can start an activity on one device and continue it on another — was introduced a couple of years ago. Since then, we've gotten the ability to unlock our Macs with Apple Watch and authorize Apple Pay on the web with Touch ID on our iPhones. What we haven't gotten is the ability to start listening to our playlist on Mac and then walk away and have it seamlessly switch to our iPhone. It would be great to be able to start watching The Flash on Apple TV and then, when you're tired, take it with you to bed on your iPad. Maybe Apple's working on something from iOS 10.1, iOS 10.2, or iOS 10.3. If not, I'd love to see handoff for iTunes as part of iOS 11

Handoff all the things

Continuity, which includes handoff, was a revelation. Instead of just syncing data, it synced activity — what you were working on and the state of that work. It led to even more cool stuff, like being able to tell Siri to "remember this" and Siri being able to bookmark what you were doing and where, and take you right back to it anytime you wanted.

Super. Cool.

Even handoff by itself is amazing. You can start an email on your iPhone and then switch to Mac to really pound it out. You can prep a Keynote on your Mac and then make last-minute adjustments on your iPad right before the pitch. You can even start a call on your Apple Watch and complete it on your iPhone. For messaging, browsing, document editing, and more, it's ludicrously great. As long as you're logged into the same Apple ID, and in proximity, everything you do can be started, continued, or finished on all of your devices.

Almost.

Handoff currently doesn't work with anything iTunes — music, movies, TV shows, etc. — or with the Apple TV.

Though Handoff shipped in 2014, Apple bought Beats in 2015 and my guess is that — and the new Apple Music service that followed — complicated matters. Figuring out how to bring the past into the future is no easy task.

Technology alone...

Apple seems to have everything in place to enable handoff for iTunes and Apple Music.

Continuity works by using Bluetooth LE to broadcast activities, then activates the internet, iCloud, or direct peer-to-peer Wi-Fi transfer to make that activity's content available on other devices to continue those activities. So, iMore for Safari on the Mac would trigger Safari for iPhone to load iMore as well. Keynote on iPad would cause Keynote on your Mac to check for the current file in iCloud Drive and, if so, grab it. A half-composed Mail message on the iPhone might push the content of that Mail message right to the iPad.

Doing peer-to-peer Wi-Fi transfer is okay with small files. Trying to push a 1.3 GB TV show file or 3-4 GB movie file, however, is an entirely different matter. That why I've kept this constrained to iTunes and not talked about audio and video files in general.

iTunes and Apple Music content is available on iCloud's servers: That's how we're able to re-download music, movies, and TV shows we've already purchased. It's also how Apple Music can just start playing almost any song any time you ask for it.

So, extending Handoff to iTunes and Apple Music could take advantage of the existing systems. Apple ID would make sure who is involved in the transaction and that they're authorized. Bluetooth LE would take care of proximity and broadcast that you're listening or watching, what you're listening or watching, and where you are in the timeline. Pick up another device, and that request goes to Apple's servers, finds the iTunes content, and starts streaming from exactly that point.

Even more media

Because Netflix and other streaming services work in a similarly cloud-centric way, my guess is they could work in a similar way for Handoff as well. You can already open the Netflix app on any device, find the show you were watching, and resume it. Handoff would just make the process faster — you wouldn't have to open the app and find the show, you'd just swipe or tap and keep watching.

Continuity, like extensibility and on-demand resources, is transformative. It unbundles apps, letting their discreet functionality come to where ever you are. It decouples the interface and changes it from pull to push. It's going to change the way we use our devices.

We've already gotten the next generation Apple Music service and the all-new Apple TV. All we need now is handoff to tie it all together. Here's hoping iOS 11 can deliver!

Your wish list?

What would you like to see for handoff and continuity in iOS 11? Let me know!

We've filed a feature request for Handoff for iTunes with Apple: rdar://25024354. Dupes appreciated. Also comments below if it's also a feature you'd like to see!