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Home Sharing removed from iOS 8.4, will return for iOS 9

Since iOS 8.4 dropped at the end of June, many users have noted that Apple’s long-running ‘Home Sharing’ feature has been missing in action. After some bubbling disappointment on social media, Eddy Cue has taken to Twitter to confirm that the company are working to reinstate the feature in time for the release of iOS 9 this Fall.

Home Sharing allows users to share content from the iTunes library on their main computer with other devices on a home network. This has become a much-loved feature as it allows a potentially huge music library to be streamed around the house to devices with much lower storage capacities like iPhones, iPads and Apple TVs.

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Home Sharing is still available on Apple TV and Macs

However, in the latest release of iOS the ability to stream music is no longer available. iOS 8.4 brought with it the huge new music streaming behemoth Apple Music, and it’s understood that licensing issues with record labels meant the Home Sharing feature had to be dropped to facilitate Apple Music. Until now it was unclear if this was a temporary or a permanent move.

Apple Chief Eddy Cue has responded to a query on Twitter about the removal of Home Sharing, confirming that Apple is fully intending to reinstate the feature for the next release if possible.

Cue has been fairly active on social media recently – most notably confirming that artists would be paid during Apple Music’s free trial, after criticism from Taylor Swift. We’ll have to wait and see if Apple manage to iron out the kinks in time for Home Sharing to make its grand reappearance in iOS 9. In the meantime it’s nice to see Apple execs embracing social media to directly respond to questions and criticism.

Read more: Apple Music released as part of iOS 8.4 update