Google Launches Music Beta App For iOS

Google's Music Beta service, which allows users to upload up to 20,000 tracks to the cloud and then access them from any computer, has been less than easy to enjoy on iOS devices, since the website was formatted for a desktop browser. Android users have had the luxury of a native Google Music app since the service was launched, but iOS users have not had that option. Today, Google released an HTML5-powered webapp for Google Music specifically for iOS4 users, so they can play music from their Google Music account on their iPhones or iPads.

The mobile webapp is pretty spartan, but it does look similar to the native Google Music app for Android. Users can browse the artists, albums, songs, playlist, and genres in their libraries. Tracks will play in the background while browsing other parts of the library, and you can control playback with the standard iOS play, pause, and skip controls. The option to cache the music for offline use isn't available in the webapp, and you cannot create either standard playlist or instant mixes. Performance varies on the size of your library, and scrolling through artists and tracks can be a bit sluggish if you happen have a large music library .

[Pictures via: Engadget]

The Google Music webapp for iOS is certainly no replacement for a native app, but it is nice to have an option to play your uploaded tracks from your iPad or iPhone. Hopefully Google will add more features in the future, or even come out with a dedicated app for iOS devices. For now though, the webapp will have to suffice.

Users with an invite the beta service can browse to music.google.com in Safari browser on their iPhone or iPad to access the new Music Beta webapp.