Get six months of Apple Music free this Christmas

Update: Apple is no longer offering this particular deal, but as of 28 November 2020 there is a free five month trial of Apple Music on offer. More information here: How to get Apple Music for free.

Everyone knows that if you like a track that’s being played on the radio, TV, or wherever you happen to be, you can Shazam it to find out what it’s called. But this right now Shazamming a track won’t only give you all the information about the hit – it will also give you a free six month subscription to Apple Music.

From now until New Years Eve you can get a six months subscription to Apple Music for free. All you need to do is Shazam something with the Shazam iPhone app. When you do so you will automatically be able to sign up for six months Apple Music for free.

The deal isn’t only open to those who have never subscribed to Apple Music. Apple has confirmed to Macworld that previous subscribers who resubscribe can get three months for free.

Apple ran the same promotion over the Black Friday weekend, when they told us: “Apple Music is running a Black Friday – Cyber Monday deal through Shazam in the USA, UK and Canada from 29 November – 2 December where new iOS Apple Music subscribers get 6 months free. If you were a previous subscriber and resubscribe you get three free months.”

It seems that the new Christmas promotion is an extension of this.

How to get 6 months Apple Music for free

Here’s what to do if you want to get 6 months of Apple Music for free:

1. Download the Shazam app from the App Store here if you don’t already have it.
2. Open the Shazam app on your iPhone or iPad.
3. Tap on the Library symbol in the top left of the home screen, or swipe from left to right.
4. You should see a promotion for the Limited Time offer in the column of Recent Shazams.
5. Tap on Try Now.
6. On the next page tap on Try It Free.
7. A page will open in Apple Music explaining that you are getting 6 months Apple Music for free. Tap on Confirm.

Alternatively:

1. Wait for a song to play and tap the Shazam logo in the middle of the screen. Wait while it ‘listens’ to the track.
2. Shazam will reward you with the details of the track playing as well as links to Apple Music, a video, lyrics, and other tracks by the same artist. You will also see details of the promotion: “Get up to 6 months free of Apple Music. You need to tap on this text (rather than the Open in Apple Music button).
3. This will take you through to a page where you can sign up for the promotion: tap on Try It Free. 
4. You will be taken to a page titled Redeem Code and it will tell you that you are getting 6 months of Apple Music individual membership for free.

Once the free period is up you will automatically be subscribed to Apple Music for £9.99 a month, but you can end your subscription at any time, so we suggest that if you don’t want to pay for Apple Music you set a reminder to remind you to cancel the subscription in six months time. We have details of how to cancel a subscription to Apple Music below.

How to get Apple Music for free – existing subscribers

Here’s what to do if you are a subscriber, or have been a subscriber to Apple Music and want to get 3 months of Apple Music for free:

Apple confirmed to us that “If you were a previous subscriber and resubscribe you get three free months”.

We suggest that to take advantage of this promotion you cancel your subscription to Apple Music, that’s easy to do if you follow these steps:

1. Tap on Settings.
2. Tap on your Apple ID information at the top of the screen.
3. Tap on Subscriptions.
4. Tap on Apple Music.
5. On the next screen tap on Cancel Subscription.

Because Apple Music is paid for monthly your subscription will run until the end of the subscription period. Luckily you can still take advantage of this deal even if your subscription is still running. (For example, if your next billing date is later in December). When you click on the deal you can get a Redeem Code which you can add to your account balance.

Once you have cancelled your subscription, or if you have previously been a subscriber to Apple Music, here’s what you need to do to get your three months of free Apple Music:

1. Open the Shazam app.
2. You need to disconnect from Apple Music. To do this tap on the Library symbol in the top left of the home screen, or swipe from left to right.
3. This will take you to your Library page, from here tap on the cog in the top left corner to go to Settings.
4. Now tap on Disconnect beside Apple Music.
5. Tap on Disconnect when it pops up at the bottom of the screen. Now the word Connect will appear beside Apple Music.

Now that you are no longer subscribed to Apple Music and have disconnected your Apple Music account from Shazam you should see details of the offer.

Having cancelled your subscription to Apple Music you should be able to follow the steps above to get your free three months Apple Music.

If your subscription period hasn’t ended you can choose to add to your account balance with an iTunes Pass. To do so follow these steps after following the tutorial above:

1. Click on Get Started on the Redeem Code page.
2. Sign In with your Apple ID.
3. Click on Add iTunes Pass to wallet.
4. And click Add.

If you want to sign up for Apple Music you can do so on Apple’s website here.

Once you have got your free subscription to Apple Music get a HomePod so you can enjoy it in full volume! You can buy a HomePod from Apple here.