One of the flashiest tweaks in iOS 26 is the lock screen makeover when music is playing: album artwork can now animate in full-screen, with playback controls floating atop a “liquid glass” platter. If you’re enrolled in the Apple Music beta or running the iOS 26 developer beta, you may have already noticed that tapping on animated album art expands it to fill the screen and bring it to life when you lock your phone. But here’s the real news: Apple is not keeping this party exclusive to its own streaming service. Through a new API named MPMediaItemAnimatedArtwork, third‑party developers can feed the system animated artwork for display on the lock screen—opening the door for Spotify, Tidal, podcast apps, and more to join the fun.

Album artwork has long been a visual treat, but it was historically confined to static images in the Music app and lock screen widget. With iOS 26, Apple leans into its “Liquid Glass” design ethos—layering depth, translucency, and motion throughout the interface. The lock screen, once a passive backdrop, now pulses with life in response to what you’re listening to, transforming from mere display into an ambient canvas. This shift follows years of incremental polish—think blurred backgrounds behind controls or subtle animations in buttons—but iOS 26 makes animation front and center, at least for album art in Apple Music today.

Under the hood, the new API is called MPMediaItemAnimatedArtwork, and it’s already live in the iOS 26 developer beta. An app with playing media can hand off an animated video clip (or similar media) to the system for lock screen display, along with a placeholder image while the animation loads. In practice, developers call out to this API when playback begins; the system then handles seamlessly animating the artwork on the lock screen when the device is locked. This approach abstracts away the low-level rendering, letting apps focus on supplying appropriately sized animated assets. You can explore the API today if you install the latest SDK from Apple’s developer portal.

Although the API is available now for testing in the developer beta, end users will have to wait for the public beta (expected around July) and the official iOS 26 release in the fall. Once the update goes live, any third‑party app that integrates MPMediaItemAnimatedArtwork will be able to show moving visuals on the lock screen—provided they’ve updated their App Store build for iOS 26 support. For now, only Apple Music is shipping animated album art on locked devices, but the framework to broaden support is already there.

On paper, this is an open invitation: Spotify, YouTube Music, Tidal, and others can enhance their iOS experience with animated covers. However, historically, some rivals have been slow to adopt Apple’s new features—for instance, past resistance to AirPlay 2 or native HomePod integration. Integrating animated artwork may not be trivial: developers must source or produce animated assets, manage file sizes, and ensure performance (animations shouldn’t drain battery or hog CPU). Still, user demand for richer experiences could drive adoption, especially if animated artwork becomes a differentiator in a crowded streaming market.

While music stands out as the primary use case, the API isn’t inherently limited to songs. Podcast apps could supply dynamic show artwork—imagine a podcast cover that subtly animates while an episode plays—or audiobook players could add moving illustrations for chapters in select titles. Even meditation or ambient sound apps might leverage the framework for evolving visual moods. Of course, the practical appeal varies: not every podcast would justify animated art, but for premium or branded content, it could be a novel engagement tactic.

Developers eyeing MPMediaItemAnimatedArtwork must weigh several factors. First, asset preparation: short video loops or animated image sequences need to be optimized to avoid bloating app downloads or requiring streaming over limited connections. Second, performance: animations should play smoothly across supported devices (iPhone 11/A13 Bionic and later) without excessive battery drain. Third, fallback behavior: the API allows specifying placeholder artwork to display while the animation loads or if animated assets aren’t available. Apple’s documentation (available in the dev beta notes) likely outlines best practices for encoding, sizing, and conditional loading to ensure seamless user experiences.

For end users, animated artwork on the lock screen heightens immersion—lock the phone, and instead of a static cover, you see a living image that resonates with the song’s mood. Controls float in a translucent pane atop the animation, blending utility with aesthetics. That said, continuous animations on a locked screen may spark concerns about battery life or distraction. Early betas don’t yet expose a toggle to disable the animated art system‑wide; whether Apple adds a setting remains to be seen, but based on precedent, a control could appear before the final release. Device compatibility is also a factor: only iPhone 11 and newer (A13 Bionic or later) support the feature in iOS 26, so users on older hardware will keep seeing static art.

Animated artwork is just one piece of a broader trend toward interactive, context‑aware lock screen experiences. With iOS 26’s Liquid Glass design, we may see deeper integration between lock screen visuals and other system events—live activity widgets, adaptive wallpapers, or generative content driven by Apple Intelligence. Third‑party apps could, in theory, extend MPMediaItemAnimatedArtwork techniques to offer mini‑experiences directly on the lock screen: think lyric snippets that animate in sync, or visualizers that respond to audio frequencies. While speculative, the foundation Apple has laid opens creative doors for developers willing to experiment.