How to play Apple Music on Roku

With Roku, you can stream thousands of free or paid channels, such as Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon video, sling, HBO Now, etc. Unfortunately, Apple Music is not included. However, you can use Airplay to stream Apple Music to Roku from iOS and Mac, or Screen Mirror Apple Music from Android. Besides, the Play on Roku feature of the Roku mobile app allows you to play songs from the music library stored on your phone or tablet. Here we will instroduce the 3 ways to stream Apple Music on Roku in detail.

Option 1. AirPlay Apple Music to Roku from iOS/Mac

Option 2. Screen Mirror Apple Music from Android

Option 3. Play Apple Music on Roku with Roku mobile app

Option 1. AirPlay Apple Music to Roku from iOS/Mac

Before you can use AirPlay with your Roku device, check that

Both your Roku device and Apple device support AirPlay.
Your Roku device and Apple device are on the same wireless network.

Once they are, you can use the steps below to view content on your TV using AirPlay.

On your Apple device, find the Apple Music song you wish to stream.
Tap or click the the AirPlay audio icon .
Select your Roku device from the AirPlay menu.

Option 2. Screen Mirror Apple Music from Android

Screen mirroring allows you to copy (or "mirror") everything you see on your compatible mobile device onto your TV screen. What you see on your mobile device is what appears on your TV - only bigger. You can use the Roku device comparison chart to determine the current products that support screen mirroring for Android and Windows devices.

Screen mirroring may have different name on different Android devices. Here are some common terms used on popular devices: Smart View, Quick Connect, SmartShare, AllShare Cast, Wireless display, Display mirroring, HTC Connect, Screen casting, Cast. Here we will take Samsung Galaxy S9 that uses the term “Smart View” in place of screen mirroring as example.

Go to settings and tap Smart View (or equivalent term used by your Android device).
Select your Roku device from the Smart View menu (or equivalent) to start the connection.

Option 3. Play Apple Music on Roku with Roku mobile app

Play on Roku is a feature built in to the free Roku mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Play on Roku lets you share photos, videos, and songs stored on your compatible mobile device to your Roku streaming player or Roku TV. After you launch the mobile app and choose what to view from your phone or tablet, it will appear on your TV. You can use the Roku device comparison chart to determine which Roku products support Play on Roku.

What file types are supported with Play on Roku?

Play on Roku supports the following file types:

Photos: JPG and PNG
Video: MP4 (MPEG-4 Pt 14), MOV, M4V
Music: MP3 and M4A (*DRM-protected music files, such as M4P, are not supported)

As you can see from above, DRM protected M4P songs are not supported. When you download Apple Music songs for offline playback, they are stored in this format, so to play Apple Music songs with Roku mobile app, you need to remove DRM from the Apple Music songs and convert M4P to MP3 first. Here we will recommend Ondesoft iTunes Converter, which allows you to easily remove DRM from Apple Music songs without downloading them and output Roku compatible MP3, AAC, FLAC, etc. Below steps will show you how to remove DRM from streaming Apple Music songs and play them on Roku.

1. Download and Launch Apple Music Converter

Download, install and launch Ondesoft Apple Music Converter on your Mac or Windows.

2. Sign in your Apple Music account

Click the Sign in button and enter your Apple ID.

3. Change output format(optional)

The default output format is lossless M4A. Ondesoft Apple Music Converter also supports converting Apple Music to MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV and AIFF. You can also customize output file name with any combination of title, artist, album, playlist index and track ID.

4. Select music

Follow the on-screen instructions to choose the playlist or album you want to convert.

Click Add songs.

5. Start Conversion

By default, all songs in the playlist/album will be checked. If there are songs you don't want to convert, please uncheck the box. Then click Convert button to start downloading songs to the format you choose.