YouTube Music replaces Google Play Music as default app for tunes in Android 10

By Christian de Looper Published September 27, 2019

Google has completed YouTube Music’s replacement of Google Play Music. The YouTube Music app will now come pre-installed on all Android 10 devices, doing away with Google Play Music, which was the previous music-streaming app on Android. The app will also be installed on new devices that ship with Android 9.

Until now, to use YouTube Music, you had to download it separately from the Google Play Store, but now you’ll be able to use it out of the box. In other words, the two apps will essentially switch places — so you’ll still be able to download Google Play Music from the Play Store if you so choose.

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“Music listeners on Android devices are now just a few taps away from streaming their go-to tracks and discovering new music,” said Google in a blog post. “From the gym, to the car, to work — it’s all here, right in your back pocket. Discover official songs, albums and playlists, music videos, remixes, live performances, hard-to-find music, and more. Whatever your mood, we’ve got you covered.”

The fact that YouTube Music will come pre-installed on Android means that it’ll likely get a lot more attention, especially over time, as users buy new devices and sign into their accounts.

It’s no surprise that YouTube Music is replacing Play Music as the default music app on Android. When Google originally launched YouTube Music last year, it was clear that it intended YouTube Music to be its flagship music-streaming product, and that it would slowly but surely do away with Google Play Music. That said, it has been a little slow in bringing users over from Google Play Music to YouTube Music, especially when it comes to loading users’ libraries onto the new service. Understandably, many users are unwilling to make the switch to the new service until they can access their libraries in it.

Still, YouTube has been heavily marketing the new service, in the form of ads on YouTube.com, pop-ups, and more. Most of the ads come in the form of ads for YouTube Premium, which allows for ad-free watching on YouTube and offline downloads, as well as a subscription to YouTube Music Premium.

Christian de Looper

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…

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