Audiobooks on Apple Music: what's in the subscription, what's missing, and how to listen well

The short version

• Apple Music does not include audiobooks. In the US it never has; German-speaking stores lost narrated audiobooks in September 2021.
• German audio dramas (Hörspiele) stayed in the subscription, plus the odd narrated title, mostly for kids. Don't count on finding a specific book.
• Apple sells audiobooks one at a time in the Books app. Audible and Spotify have their own subscriptions.
• What spoken word is in Apple Music is an album with many tracks; the Music app forgets your position and has no sleep timer. How we solved that in zentr.

Does Apple Music have audiobooks?

No. In the United States and most other countries, audiobooks have always lived in Apple Books, a separate app with its own store.

German-speaking storefronts were the exception. Until 2021, Apple Music there had a section called “Hörspiele und Hörbücher” with narrated audiobooks from many publishers. In mid-September 2021, Apple delisted them across all publishers. Berlin publisher Argon confirmed the removal as of September 15, 2021, and a spokesperson for a large German audiobook publisher told ifun.de that Apple had stopped accepting audiobook deliveries. Apple never gave a reason.

The section is now simply called “Hörspiele”, and those are what remained: Die drei ???, TKKG, John Sinclair and hundreds of other series are still included. A few narrated titles linger, mostly children's books. Finding, sorting and playing audio dramas in order is covered in Listening to Hörspiele on Apple Music. This article is about audiobooks.

Where Apple keeps its audiobooks instead

Apple sells narrated books through the Books app: one-time purchases, no subscription, and thousands of free titles, mostly classics. What you buy stays yours even if you cancel Apple Music. The Books player has what the Music app lacks: chapters, a sleep timer and adjustable speed.

Audible is the biggest audiobook service and offers two plans. Premium Plus gives you a monthly credit for one title you keep for good; the newer Standard plan costs less but only streams while you pay. Audible also has exclusives and Originals you won't find anywhere else. They play only in the Audible app, because the files are copy-protected.

Spotify Premium includes 15 hours of audiobooks a month in the US and, since April 2025, twelve in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Tight for heavy listeners, usually enough for one book a month.

Audiobooks on Apple Music, Apple Books and Audible compared (as of October 2026)

	Apple Music	Apple Books	Audible
Model	Streaming subscription	One-time purchase, no subscription	Subscription: credits (Premium Plus) or streaming (Standard)
Catalog	Music and German audio dramas; narrated books rarely	Publisher audiobooks, thousands of free titles	Largest audiobook catalog, exclusives and Originals
Offline	Yes, after “Download” in your library	Yes, purchased titles	Yes, in the Audible app
Remembers position	No, albums start from the top	Yes	Yes
Sleep timer	No, only via the Clock app	Yes	Yes
Chapters	As tracks	Yes	Yes
Other players	Yes, through Apple's API (e.g. zentr)	Books app only	Audible app only (DRM)

Why the Music app struggles with audiobooks

Anything that looks like an audiobook in Apple Music is technically an album: one cover, twenty or thirty short tracks. Within that album, the Music app plays the tracks in the right order. The gaps are around it:

• No position across sessions. Play one song in between and the album starts from the top next time, and you hunt for track 14 by hand.
• No played/unplayed state. The library doesn't show which parts you have finished.
• No sleep timer. The Music app has none; the album plays to the end.
• Chapters are tracks. Good enough for skipping, but track names often just say “Part 7”.

Tips with built-in tools

1. Add to your library and download. This needs “Sync Library” turned on under Settings → Music.
2. Turn shuffle off. Check the shuffle icon in the player before you start, or part 3 is followed by part 11.
3. Use the Clock app as a timer. Under “When Timer Ends”, pick “Stop Playing”. Playback stops after the set time: no gentle fade, but reliable.
4. Note the track number. Old-fashioned, but it saves the search the next evening; “Recently Played” at least finds the album.

Finding audiobooks and audio dramas in Apple Music

1. Search for the series, author or narrator, not the book title. Narrated titles usually sit under the narrator or series as the “artist”.
2. Browse tab, “Hörspiele” section. On German-speaking storefronts, this is where the spoken word still in the subscription lives. Good for browsing, slower than search for a specific title.
3. Nothing there? Then it's most likely for sale in the Books app or on Audible.

Your own audiobooks: MP3, CD and M4B

Audiobooks you own on CD or as DRM-free MP3s go on your iPhone without Apple Music or Apple Books. Apple's audiobook format is M4B: one file per book, with chapter marks. Ripping CDs and moving the files is explained step by step in Audio drama MP3s and CDs on iPhone. Audible files are out: copy-protected, they play only in the Audible app.

How we solved this in zentr

zentr is a player for Apple Music, podcasts, YouTube and your own files. Audio dramas were its starting point, and it treats narrated titles from Apple Music like audio drama episodes:

• Position per audiobook: zentr remembers the second you stopped at, even after a detour into music. Via iCloud, the position is the same on iPhone and iPad.
• Played and unplayed are marked, so you can see where you are in the book.
• Chapters can be picked from a list, skipped or hidden.
• Sleep timer from 15 to 90 minutes or until the end, with a gentle fade instead of a hard stop. More in Falling asleep to audio dramas.
• Speed from 0.75× to 2× in seven steps.
• Your own files: import MP3, M4A or M4B with chapter marks via “Share” or iCloud Drive. They sit in the same library as Apple Music content, with the same features.

What zentr can't do: it needs an active Apple Music subscription for catalog content and doesn't download anything itself; download an album in the Music app and zentr plays it offline too. Audible audiobooks are copy-protected and won't play in zentr, and the same goes for purchases from the Books app. The audiobooks Apple pulled in 2021 are gone for zentr as well.