What a favorite in Apple Music actually does
The star in Music looks like a single feature. Under it are two things: a flag on the song, and a playlist built from that flag. Knowing which is which explains most of the odd behavior people report
The flag
Every song in Music has a favorite flag, called favorited in Music's scripting dictionary. Click the star in the player, use Song → Favorite, or click Likeit's menu bar star, and that flag changes. Older versions of Music called the same thing Love, which is why you still see both words
The playlist
Music keeps a playlist called Favorite Songs (Favourite Songs with British spelling). Songs you favorite appear there. Music also uses the flag to shape the recommendations it shows you
Library songs, streaming songs and radio
- Songs in your library carry the flag directly
- Apple Music streaming songs you add to the library carry it too. A favorited streaming song shows up in Favorite Songs as its own entry
- Radio and catalog songs you have not added to the library play as stream items. Favoriting one works: a few seconds later a separate copy of the song appears in Favorite Songs. That copy, not the stream item, is the real record of the favorite
The third case matters when you remove a favorite. Clearing the flag on the stream item changes nothing you can see, because the copy in Favorite Songs is what Music shows. To remove the favorite, the flag has to be cleared on the copy. Likeit does exactly that: when you click the star on a filled song, it finds the song with the same title and artist in Favorite Songs and clears it there
Why the star in Music updates late
After the flag changes from outside the Music window, the Music window can take several seconds to redraw its own star. The value is already set. We wrote about the delay in why the star in Music updates late
Ratings are a different thing
Music also has 1 to 5 star ratings. They are separate from favorites, and Music does not let other apps change the rating of Apple Music songs, so a one-click rating from the menu bar is not possible. Favorites are the part of Music that other apps can reliably control
Likeit is built around that one flag: click the star in the menu bar, the current song is a favorite, click again to undo