Retro: A Pocket Music Player for Apple Music

Your Apple Music on a pocket music player

If you carried an iPod, you’ll know this look. Retro turns Now Playing into a pocket music player: a white, glossy screen with a Now Playing title bar, your album art, the song, artist, and album, and the elapsed and remaining time above a progress bar. The body below it is tinted to your Marquee theme, so it can be as classic or as colorful as you like.

It plays the same Apple Music library and catalog you already use, with nothing to import. On iPad, the player sits beside the controls in landscape, like all eight of Marquee’s player styles.

How the wheel works

The wheel works like the iPod’s click wheel did for playback, with a tap for each control:

1. Left — previous song.
2. Right — next song.
3. Bottom or the center button — play or pause.
4. Menu — close the player.

Every press has a little haptic feedback, and the center button sinks like a real key. The wheel is for tapping, not turning: to jump to a different part of a song, drag the progress bar on the screen, and use the volume slider below the player for volume.

The Retro Player widget

The Retro Player widget puts the pocket player on your home screen in every size, from small to extra-large. The small size is the wheel on its own, with your album art in the center button. The wheel controls are real: tap left, right, the bottom, or the center to skip back, skip forward, or play and pause without opening the app, and tap Menu to jump to the full player. It works on tinted and clear home screens too. See the rest of the set on the music widgets page.

How to turn on the Retro player

1. Download Marquee free from the App Store and allow access to Apple Music.
2. Go to the Customize tab and pick the Retro player style. Styles beyond Classic are part of Marquee Pro, which starts with a free trial.
3. Play something and open Now Playing. To add the widget, touch and hold your home screen, tap Edit, then Add Widget, and search for Marquee.