Cratebits is a third-party app for Apple Music that helps you manage your listen-later list efficiently and enjoyably. Does your playlist named "Listen Later" pile up into an overwhelming 400+ song collection, leaving you unsure where to even start listening? Have you ever wished you could save entire albums or artists instead of just individual songs? That's the problem Cratebits solves.
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Why Not Just Use Playlists?
It's a fair question. Here are some of the frustrations with the typical "Listen Later" playlist approach:
- It doesn't scale: Starts with 20 tracks, somehow becomes 347. Where do you even begin?
- Painful to manage: Finding and removing songs after listening is tedious. Most people just... don't.
- Limited format: Playlists only handle individual songs. What about saving whole albums?
- Music gets buried: Songs you added months ago get buried under newer additions.
How It Works
It works in a simple cycle of Save → Listen → Review:
Note: The screenshots and demo videos below are from a prototype. The UI and features of the final app may differ significantly.
1. Save Music Items
Save music you want to listen to later. You can share items directly from Apple Music or search within the Cratebits app. The key is that you can save entire albums or artists, not just individual songs.
2. Explore Listen-Later List
Saved items are stored in the Cratebits Listen-Later list, separate from your Apple Music library, so you don't clutter your actual collection with 'maybes'.
3. Create Listen-Now List
Instead of staring at an overwhelming pile of saved music, the app picks a small selection for you to listen to today — your "Listen-Now" list. This manageable list contains around 10-15 items, so you won't feel overwhelmed. The selection can be random, semi-automatic (you choose an album or artist, and the app picks the songs), or you can select a specific vibe or genre.
4. Discover New Music
The Listen-Now list syncs with a regular Apple Music playlist, so you can listen in Apple Music as you normally would.
5. Review Your List
This is the part that keeps your list from becoming another endless pile. You can review items while listening or after finishing your playlist. Quickly decide what to do with each item—love it? Add it to your main library. Not feeling it? Remove it. Want to give it another chance? Keep it in the Listen-Later list. You can swipe through what you've heard, with previews to jog your memory of each track.