Tidal announced the new Apple Watch app on Tuesday, noting that it will include support for offline listening and untethered access to your music library directly on your wrist. While the music service has built a name for itself by offering lossless and high-fidelity music, that quality won’t transfer to the Apple Watch app, according to The Verge. The Apple Watch isn’t equipped with the necessary storage to support offline listening at the higher bitrates Tidal is known for. Instead, users will be able to download and listen to music using an audio bitrate of 96Kbps, which is fairly standard for most general listening purposes. The Verge reports that expanding to the Apple Watch is most likely a response to the service’s competitors releasing similar applications over the past couple of weeks. There’s also the added convenience factor that comes into play when launching an app like this. Where Tidal subscribers would previously have had to rely on keeping their iPhone around, the Apple Watch app will let them listen to their library without being near their phone. It’s a small convenience, but one that could help users that listen to music when jogging or completing other activities where they may not want to carry their phone around. The Tidal Apple Watch app requires users to have a Series 3 or later, with watchOS 7.1 or higher installed on the watch.
