I’m building a personal iPhone app that organizes my music library. When I tap an album in my app, I want Apple’s Music app to open directly to that album’s page in Library, showing the tracks synced from my computer.
My app can already read the albums and their tracks using MusicKit. I’ve tried normal Apple Music sharing links, but those open the catalog version of the album. I need the page I see when I find the album through Library in the Music app.
Starting or changing playback is fine, but the album page must appear. Only starting the music or opening Now Playing would not be enough.
Is there a supported API or link format that can do this? A documentation link or a small code example would be helpful.
Thanks for the clear description of what you need, including that playback alone isn't enough.
I didn't find a supported API or documented link format that opens an album's Library page in the Music app. MusicKit lets your app read the library with MusicLibraryRequest and control playback. Neither MusicKit nor Media Player documents a way to open the Music app to a library item. The SystemMusicPlayer documentation lists what the player shares with the Music app, such as repeat mode, shuffle mode, and playback status. The player "doesn't share other aspects of the Music app's state."
The documentation for the url property on Album says only "The URL for the album." In a quick test on an iPhone with iOS 27.0, all 16 albums from MusicLibraryRequest<Album> had a nil value for url, so there was nothing to open. That included albums that are also in the Apple Music catalog.
If a system interface inside your app would work instead, iOS 27 adds musicPicker(isPresented:title:selection:). It presents a picker for selecting items from the Apple Music catalog and the person's library. It selects songs, tracks, and music videos, so it doesn't replace the Music app's album page.
If you'd like a way to open a library album in Music, please file an enhancement request using Feedback Assistant. Describe the album page you want to show and how your app uses it. Please note that filing an enhancement request does not guarantee Apple will add any requested functionality to Apple products in the future. However, with that said, filing an enhancement request is a good way to get your ideas in front of the folks who make decisions about that sort of thing. Bug Reporting: How and Why? has tips on creating your report.