Who remembers the games that shipped with classic iPods? You could have a pixel war in Parachute, smash blocks in Brick, play cards in Solitaire, and test your knowledge of your own iPod’s library with Music Quiz. Of course, Apple has since discontinued the iPod, but they seem to have trouble letting go of the past. Music Quiz lives on as a hidden iPhone game.
The hidden music quiz hasn’t been around forever, but isn’t all that new either. Apple first added it to the iPhone not as a game but as a shortcut, back in 2020 with iOS 14. The game was part of a small series of “Starter Shortcuts”—the idea, I assume, was to offer users a quick look at what was possible with shortcuts (even though the app launch two years prior with iOS 12). Either way, it doesn’t seem to have been a wholly effective marketing campaign—I had no idea this music quiz existed. It’s just the kind of hidden feature that’s a pleasant surprise to discover.
How to play Apple’s hidden Music Quiz on your iPhone
If you haven’t deleted any shortcuts from your iPhone before, Music Quiz should be on your device right now. To find it, you can swipe down on the home screen or lock screen to pull up a spotlight search, type “Music Quiz,” then tap the purple music icon that appears. You can also find it in the Shortcuts app in the “Starter Shortcuts” folder, or by searching for Music Quiz if you deleted it in the past.
To play the game, you’ll need to add songs to your Music library. Any songs will work, whether you bought them from iTunes, imported them from your library, or downloaded them from Apple Music. Music Quiz will randomly pull songs from your library for a five-round game. The game will play one song per round, and you’ll need to guess which it is from the song titles that Music Quiz offers you.
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For any Shortcuts tinkerers out there, take a look at how intricate this simple game is. You can see the entire build of the shortcut by tapping the (•••) icon on the Music Quiz tile. Apple certainly took some time to build the game. Too bad not many people seem to know about it.
