iOS 27.2 beta 4 swaps Apple Music’s red icon for black and white

Apple’s red Apple Music icon is gone from the latest iOS 27.2 developer build. According to 9to5Mac, iOS 27.2 beta 4 arrived for developers on 13 October with a new Music app icon, plus colour changes inside the app that point to a wider branding refresh.

What changed in beta 4

The new icon is black and white, replacing the previous red-and-white icon. In light mode, the logo is black on a white background, and in dark mode it’s white on a black background, as MacRumors reported. The Mac Observer adds that the music note looks slightly sharper, and that beta 4 carries build number 24B5110a.

There are additional changes besides the icon. 9to5Mac says the active tab in the Music app now uses blue instead of the old red-pink, and widgets now use a plain black background instead of red-pink. Inside your Library, the Playlists, Albums, Artists and Songs sections have also lost their colour in favour of a black-and-white look.

Part of a slower rebrand

The icon follows a new Apple Music logo that 9to5Mac says has been spreading to more places, including an appearance in iOS 27.2 beta 3 last week. The Mac Observer describes that logo as a heavier lowercase wordmark, which makes the monochrome icon look like the next step rather than a one-off tweak. 9to5Mac frames it as a gradual refresh, and the beta 4 changes carry it from the logo into the app’s everyday interface.

Early reaction hasn’t been kind. Cult of Mac reports that users responded negatively to the black-and-white icon, and 9to5Mac’s top reader comment calls it dull. Cult of Mac also points out the obvious caveat: this is a beta, so Apple can still revert or adjust the design before the public release.

If you’re not on the developer track, nothing changes on your iPhone yet. We’ll watch for the public iOS 27.2 release, and our iOS 27 overview covers the broader update. Apple’s reported plans for the customisable Camera app are a separate story from this cosmetic work.