14 DAY TRIAL // Audiophiles rejoice! Apple is finally bringing support for playing your beloved FLAC audio files on your favorite iOS and Apple TV devices with the forthcoming iOS 11 and tvOS 11 major updates.
iOS 11 is only four days apart, and it's a massive update to Apple's iOS mobile operating system for supported iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices that introduces countless enhancements and new features, among which there's FLAC playback support, which appears to only be supported on a limited number of devices.
Apple already lists FLAC playback in the technical specifications of its iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus devices, as well as the newly announced iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X. On the same manner, it would appear that the upcoming tvOS 11 operating system is also bringing FLAC playback to Apple TV 4K.
Great news for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus audiophiles
As an iPhone 7 owner and audiophile, I'm more than excited to discover that iOS 11 will enable FLAC playback, while also being able to play MP3, Apple Lossless, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3), Protected AAC, AAC-LC, HE-AAC, HE-AAC v2, Linear PCM, AAX, AAX+, Audible Enhanced Audio, and Audible formats 2, 3, 4 streams.
iPad Pro owners will also get FLAC playback through the iOS 11 update. Unfortunately, FLAC playback doesn't seem to be supported on iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus devices, nor the iPhone SE, which will be upgradable to the soon-to-be-released iOS 11 operating system, due for release next week, on September 19, 2017.
Anyway, don't expect Apple to list any FLAC music on its Apple Music or iTunes store, but that's OK because if you're an audiophile, most probably you have a huge collection of FLAC files on your disk drives that you'll soon be able to take on the go and listen on your iPhone 7, iPhone 8 or iPhone X device.