Blog · August 28, 2026

Why Songkrate only works with Apple Music

The question I get most is some version of "this looks great, when is Spotify support coming?" And I get it. Half the families I know run on Spotify, and a kids music player that only works with one streaming service feels like a choice somebody made just to annoy you.

So here is the honest answer, which turns out to be the story of why Songkrate can exist at all.

What a parent-curated player actually needs

For an app like Songkrate to work, a music service has to allow four things at the same time:

That combination is rarer than you would think. Streaming services mostly do not want other people's apps playing their catalog, which is fair enough. It's their catalog.

Apple said yes

Apple built MusicKit, an official toolkit whose entire point is letting third-party apps play full Apple Music songs for subscribers. Real songs, native playback, inside my app, with Apple's blessing in writing. That is the foundation Songkrate stands on.

And here is my favorite part: every play in Songkrate counts as a normal Apple Music play. The artists your kids love get paid exactly as if the song had been played in Apple's own app. Your kid's fortieth run through the same song this week is still supporting the person who made it. Nothing about Songkrate skims that away.

What Songkrate adds

MusicKit provides access to music. It does not decide what belongs in your child's library. That part is the whole product.

Songkrate starts each child with an empty crate. You search Apple Music from the parent side and deliberately add the songs, albums, or artists that child may have. On the kid side, browsing and search stop at the edge of that crate. There is no wider catalog behind it, no recommendation feed quietly restocking the shelves, and no trusting a record label's idea of "clean." If you didn't add it, it isn't there.

An explicit filter works the opposite way: it starts with everything and tries to subtract the bad. I wrote a whole breakdown of Apple's filter and where it leaks, but the short version is that you will not win a subtraction game against 100 million songs.

Why there is no Spotify version

Songkrate does not support Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, or Tidal today.

Adding another service is not a matter of swapping a logo. Each one has its own playback tools, account rules, device support, and developer terms, and Songkrate depends on official full-song playback inside its own parent and child experience. Apple Music gives me a supported, durable way to build that. Rather than promise integrations I cannot responsibly ship, I would rather be plain: Songkrate is an Apple Music app. If your family runs on another service, it is not a fit today, and I would rather say that here than have you find out after making an account.

Yes, it's a second subscription

Let me be upfront about the money, because I am asking you to pay for two things and you should know what each one buys.

Apple Music pays for the catalog and the actual music: 100 million songs, streamed and licensed, artists paid. Songkrate pays for everything Apple Music doesn't do: the parent approval workflow, a separate profile and library for each kid, sync across iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, listening history, and a player built so a seven-year-old can run it without wandering somewhere weird.

Songkrate has a 14-day trial, then it's $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. The trial exists so you can decide whether that second layer earns its keep before you pay for it.

Could this change later?

Maybe, if another service ever offers an official and durable way to support the same experience. There is no secret cross-platform version on a roadmap. For now, supporting one service well is what lets Songkrate keep a simple promise: parents choose the music, and kids get real freedom inside that boundary.

I'm Pedro. Songkrate turns the Apple Music you already pay for into a kid-safe music player. You approve every song from the full catalog, your kids get their own player on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, and nothing you didn't approve exists in it. $4.99 a month after the free trial. Try it here.

Try it with your own kids

Songkrate turns the Apple Music you already pay for into a player that only has the songs you approved. Free trial, then $4.99/month.

Download on the App Store
14-day free trialDownload on the App Store