If you want Beats Music on your Mac, skip the Web client and install the Beats Android app

Posted:
in macOS edited April 2015
Apple's Beats Music service has been praised for its experience on mobile devices, but the same can't be said of its Web-based player. Fortunately, there's an easy way to get the Beats Music Android app running on your Mac.




The Beats web client has some notable shortcomings: it uses Flash for the player, and many users find that it stops responding often and at seemingly random intervals. It also lacks access to Beats Music's famous The Sentence feature and runs in a browser window, which means it can be difficult to hunt down if you have lots of tabs or windows open.

We can fix almost all of these issues by using Google's App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) to run Beats Music's Android app almost like a native Mac app, complete with its own tileable window and an entry in the application switcher.

Note: Before you get started, you'll need to acquire a copy of the Beats Music Android APK (application package). If you use an Android phone or tablet, you can copy the APK from your device using an app like APK Extractor from Google Play.

If you don't have an Android device, you'll have to grab the APK in another way --?because that's not an entirely above-board process, we'll leave it as an exercise for the reader, but there are a number of websites and Chrome extensions that make it easy.

Step 1: Install Google Chrome

Because Google designed ARC primarily for Chrome OS, the runtime relies on a local installation of the Chrome browser on OS X Machines. Chrome is available as a free download from Google --?install it as you would any normal Mac app, then open the browser and follow the on-screen prompts to configure it for the first time.

Step 2: Install ARC Welder




ARC Welder is a Chrome extension that helps prepare APKs to run under ARC. Just click "Install" on ARC Welder's page in the Chrome Web Store, and Chrome will download, install, and configure it automatically.

If ARC Welder is the first Chrome app you've used, installing it will also put the Chrome App Launcher in the dock -- you'll be able to launch Beats Music from here when we're done. If you prefer, you can remove the Chrome App Launcher from the dock and access your installed apps via Chrome's Bookmarks bar instead.

Step 3: Using ARC Welder to install Beats Music

Once everything is installed, launch ARC Welder from the Chrome App Launcher. The first thing it will ask you to do is choose a location for it to use as a file store -- we chose to create an ARC Welder folder inside our ~/Documents directory, but you can pick any location that you so desire.

On the next screen, click "Add your APK" and select the Beats Music APK that you downloaded earlier (it should be called com.beatsmusic.android.client.apk). ARC Welder will analyze the file, and then present you with a number of options for the app environment, like device orientation and form factor.

We recommend changing the "Orientation" setting to "Portrait," choosing "Phone" as the form factor, and disabling clipboard access; you can leave the "OAuth Client ID" and "Additional Metadata" fields blank.

When you're ready, click "Launch App" --?after a few software gyrations, you should see the app pop up in its own window. Now, just log in with your existing Beats Music credentials and you're good to go.

Post-installation notes

If you want to experiment with different options in ARC Welder --?form factors or orientations --?just keep it open after clicking "Launch App." You can change settings and re-launch the app as many times as you want, and simply close ARC Welder when you're done. The Beats Music app will retain the most recent settings.




Chrome comes with a built-in notification server, and by default Beats Music will overwhelm you with blank notifications. You can disable Beats notifications by clicking the Chrome notifications icon in the menu bar (a bell), then clicking the gear in the top-right corner and unticking the box next to Beats Music. You can hide (or show) the notifications icon from the Chrome menu.




Also, take note that Chrome must be running for the Beats Music app to work, though you don't need to have any browser windows open. If you try to launch the app while Chrome is closed, it will spawn a Chrome process before opening the app.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    Talk about irony.
  • Reply 2 of 20
    pscooter63pscooter63 Posts: 1,080member

    Is is just me, or is the cure worse than the disease?

     

    (Hint: I wonder if AI did their due diligence between this article and the AFNetworking article.)

  • Reply 3 of 20

    Uh, no. I'll stick with Spotify until Apple integrates Beats Music, thank you very much.

  • Reply 4 of 20
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Worst. Idea. Ever.
  • Reply 5 of 20

    I am glad today is Tuesday instead of Friday or Saturday because this article will not remain at the top for long!

     

    I wonder why the author chose to hide behind "Kasper's Automated Slave" instead of using his/her name.

  • Reply 6 of 20

    The negative comments here really surprise me. I think this is a great hack to work around the totally crappy Beats web player.

  • Reply 7 of 20
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by leavingthebigG View Post

     

    I am glad today is Tuesday instead of Friday or Saturday because this article will not remain at the top for long!

     

    I wonder why the author chose to hide behind "Kasper's Automated Slave" instead of using his/her name.




    Which forum article is not posted by Kasper's Automated Slave? 

     

    Although you are correct that in this case the original article was written by Appleinsider Staff.

  • Reply 8 of 20
    Slow news day?
  • Reply 9 of 20
    schlackschlack Posts: 719member
    as a beats subscriber, it's disappointing that i end up using pandora most of the time on my desktop because it actually works.
  • Reply 10 of 20
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    What a mess. I hope Apple integrates beats music into iTunes.
  • Reply 11 of 20
    crimguycrimguy Posts: 124member
    I generally favored beats way of doing things over spotify, and thought it was great for music discovery. However, the interface and reliability of spotify has won me over until they sort out the app's reliability and make some kind of desktop app that works well with airfoil or airplay. sending the sound from the browser is not how it should be done.
  • Reply 12 of 20
    markbyrnmarkbyrn Posts: 661member
    Too much convoluted effort for too little return.
  • Reply 13 of 20
    I generally don't install Google viruses on my Macs.
  • Reply 14 of 20
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    I generally don't install Google viruses on my Macs.
    Then it's a good thing there aren't any so you don't have a worry. :D

    Sorry. . .;)
  • Reply 15 of 20
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member

    Apple needs a web-based player for iTunes Radio. I would love to use it on my work computer, but can not install iTunes.

    I'm sure there are others that would use the Radio service more if it was also available through a web site.

  • Reply 16 of 20
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member

    The Beats iOS UI is hideous. On Android it's likely the same. I don't know why one would want to jump through hoops for that on a Mac.

  • Reply 17 of 20
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post



    I generally don't install Google viruses on my Macs.



    I believe you mean spyware

  • Reply 18 of 20
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    cpsro wrote: »

    I believe you mean spyware

    There ya go. With that said Beats Privacy Policy doesn't look all that bad, pretty run-of-the-mill.
    https://account.beatsmusic.com/legal/privacypolicy#how-we-share-information
  • Reply 19 of 20
    swiftswift Posts: 436member
    Google AND Android. Yikes. Like their search engine. Not much else.
  • Reply 20 of 20
    damn_its_hotdamn_its_hot Posts: 1,209member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BobJohnson View Post

     

    The negative comments here really surprise me. I think this is a great hack to work around the totally crappy Beats web player.




    You said it not me, it is a hack (as in quick and dirty)! Nothing more, nothing less. There is a reason Apple has not allowed interpreters/emulators, etc… and that is because of the potential for nastiness. This "solution" is IMHO not worth the hassles you will end up with it because of it. Apple has not vetted it -- Gobble is not standing by it. IMHO take a cold shower to ease that woody and then have some patience.

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