Frequently Asked Questions

Hyperdrive is an Apple Music companion app for iPhone and iPad. Play something in Hyperdrive or the Music app and Hyperdrive puts it on stage, with animated Experience Themes, a scene made for every song, and playback controls that stay out of the way.

Hyperdrive requires iOS 27 or iPadOS 27 or later.

The Hyperdrive theme makes its richest scenes with Apple Intelligence. On devices without it, Hyperdrive builds scenes from each album's genre and artwork instead.

Yes. Hyperdrive is free to download and includes seven Experience Themes. An optional Hyperdrive Pro subscription unlocks six more themes, music video clips in the Hyperdrive theme, weather that follows the song, and the Supernova app icon.

Experience Themes are the animated scenes that play behind your music — from flying through hyperspace to northern lights, the open sea, or the colors of the album you're listening to.

Swipe left or right to move between them, and choose and order your favorites from the dashboard.

Seven: Starfield, Weather, Album Colors, Aurora, Ocean, Underwater, and Hyperdrive.

Hyperdrive Pro adds Starfield Pro, Nebula, Smoke & Ash, 90s Radio, Rainy Window, and seasonal themes like Halloween 2026.

Yes. New themes, including seasonal ones, are planned as Hyperdrive grows.

The Hyperdrive theme gives every song a scene of its own, drawn from its lyrics when they're available and from what Hyperdrive knows of it otherwise.

Scenes are made on your device with Apple Intelligence and saved there so songs don't need working out again. Only your settings sync with iCloud; scenes and lyrics stay on your device.

iOS does not allow third-party apps to access the live audio stream from Apple Music — a platform-level restriction tied to DRM (Digital Rights Management) protections on licensed music.

Hyperdrive's scenes are driven by each track's metadata, artwork, and lyrics rather than the audio waveform, so they're ambient scenes to enjoy while you listen rather than audio-reactive visualizers.

It surrounds your music with animated scenes that take on each song's palette, light, and pace, with a transition between songs. Tap anywhere for controls, or swipe the player away to enjoy just the scene.

For location-aware themes, and to bring your current weather conditions into themes that integrate weather. Hyperdrive gets the conditions where you are from Apple Weather, and uses your location to place the sun and moon where they really are in your sky.

Location is only used while the app is open, and it's optional: without it, choose the weather yourself, and Hyperdrive estimates where the sun and moon are from your time zone.

Hyperdrive doesn't require an account and doesn't keep a database of its users. Your settings sync between your devices with iCloud; everything else stays on your device. See the Privacy Policy for details.

The free version includes seven themes and all of Hyperdrive's core features. Pro adds:

• Six exclusive themes
• Music video clips in the Hyperdrive theme, when a song has one
• Hyperdrive weather for the Weather, Ocean, and Rainy Window themes
• The Supernova app icon
• Direct support for continued development

Hyperdrive Pro will be available at launch alongside the free version, as a monthly or yearly subscription. Pricing will be announced soon.

Pro subscribers can switch Hyperdrive's Home Screen icon to Supernova, a gold take on the original, from Settings › App Icon. More icons are on the way.

Subscriptions are managed by Apple. Cancel anytime from your Apple Account subscriptions, or from Manage Subscription in Hyperdrive's Pro tab. If you reinstall or switch devices, use Restore Purchases in the app.