Apple removes Home Sharing service from iOS 8.4; Company provides Apple Music access plan as an alternative

Along with the debut of the Apple Music streaming service alongside the rollout of iOS 8.4 to iPhone, iPad, and iPod users, Apple has quietly deactivated a key feature on the operating system's Home Sharing app, leaving users who have downloaded the update without a service to use.

9to5Mac.com reports on the disabling of the sharing feature, which previously lets users stream audio and video from their library to an iOS device over Wi-Fi. After the update however, only videos can be streamed without issue. The Music page inside iOS 8.4's settings also has had the option for Home Sharing removed entirely.

Home Sharing has been a standby of iOS ever since version 4.3, but with the update, all handheld devices running iOS 8.4 will no longer be able to access the feature, but it appears that the Mac and Apple TV is exempted from the change.

Apple has made the change official by updating the support page for Home Sharing to reflect the change. However, Apple Insider noted that Home Sharing is currently listed in the Release Notes for iOS 8.4 as "not currently available", which may mean that it could return in some form in future releases of the operating system.

The company did not provide a reason for the removal of the media sharing feature, but it could be possible that a big part of the reason that Home Sharing was dropped is Apple's recent legal wrangling over licensing agreements with several artists. In place of Home Sharing, Apple is offering a $14.99 a month plan for up to six users to access the Apple Music library.

Aside from Apple Music, iOS 8.4 also has Beats 1, a 24/7 live radio station, resetting audiobook playback to default to the iBooks app, while the iPhone will now be able to open textbooks created with iBooks Author.