AI app Petey uses ChatGPT to make Apple Music playlists for you

Petey, the mobile app that introduced ChatGPT to Apple Watch users, recently brought its feature set to the iPhone, allowing users to access its AI assistant more quickly and even swap out Siri with Petey using Apple’s Shortcuts. Now, Petey has a new trick up its sleeve. In its latest update, out today, the app can be connected to Apple Music, so it can make playlists for you or help you add individual songs to your Apple Music library.

The new feature arrives alongside several other updates, including the ability to access the latest AI model, GPT-4, through a paid “Petey Premium” subscription.

In addition to being a clever tool, Petey’s new Apple Music feature demonstrates the extent to which Apple and others could leverage AI to serve up recommendations within their own apps if they chose. It’s unclear if that will be the case with iOS 17, however, as reports have said it will be a more minor software update this time around.

To get Petey’s music recommendations, you simply type your request for a playlist into the app’s interface. For example, a request for 90s grunge returns expected results like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden and others.

The app then lines up short previews of each recommended song below the returned playlist allowing you to scroll through and sample each one. If you like the song, you can tap on the three-dot “more” menu next to the song to either listen to the full version in Apple Music or save the track to your Library.

You can also tap to “learn more” about the song which opens NowPlaying, Petey developer Hidde van der Ploeg’s liner notes iOS app that offers various facts and details about songs, records and artists.

The product designer-turned-indie app maker launched the well-received NowPlaying app in 2021, but its current 2.0 release arrived in November and now serves as a handy companion to Petey, with this new feature’s arrival.

Beyond saving individual songs to your Apple Music Library, Petey also offers the option to create a playlist. With a tap of the “Create Playlist” button, users can give the AI-built playlist a name, then open it up in Apple Music’s app and begin listening.

Of course, these features require users to have an Apple Music subscription as the service doesn’t have a free tier. Users also have to have either a Basic or Premium subscription to use Petey on iOS or they can use their own OpenAI API key.

Other updates that are rolling out today alongside the Apple Music integrations and support for GPT-4 include other payment options for the Petey Basic subscription, alternative app icons and the ability to send messages to your phone from Apple Watch even if you don’t have a Basic subscription or your own API key.

Petey is a free download from the App Store but requires a subscription to use its features on iPhone. The app is gaining a bit of a following, as it’s now seen 24.7,000 total installs since its Apple Watch-only launch on March 8, the developer says. The iPhone version has been out only since April 6.