How to disable animated album art in Apple Music on iPhone and iPad

Learn how to turn off animated album art while listening to songs in the Music app on iPhone or iPad if you’re discomforted by motion or want to save cellular data and battery.

Two iPhone Music app screenshots with one showing animated album artwork and the other with still artwork

When you play songs in the iOS Music app (like this track by Dua Lipa), you may notice that the album art animates.

If you’re someone who is uncomfortable with motion, you may want to turn off this extra visual effect. Similarly, it can be turned off to ensure your device uses a tad bit less battery and consumes less cellular data.

All in all, while the feature is a nifty one, it’s not for everyone, and if you’d like to disable motion artwork for songs and playlists in the Music app, we’ll show you how.

Turn off motion artwork in Apple Music

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Scroll down and select Music.
  3. Tap Animated Art or Motion.
  4. Select Off.
Turn off animated art in Music settings on iPhone

Note: You’ll also notice an option for Wi-Fi Only. This is handy if you enjoy the animated artwork but don’t want to worry about data consumption. And, of course, you can pop back to this section in your Settings later if you decide to give the motion artwork another try.

Extra info: In place of using the dedicated option to disable animated album art, you can also turn off motion and all animations from your iPhone’s accessibility settings, which will ensure album covers do not animate in the Music app.

Sometimes, it’s small enhancements like this that are just fun and nice to have. It’s nothing earth-shattering or necessary, but it might just give you a little more enjoyment out of the Music app. What do you think about the motion artwork for Apple Music’s playlists?

Check out next: How to automatically pause animated images when browsing the web on iPhone, iPad, and Mac