On this page
Most guides to this answer it with a list of apps. That skips the question that decides which method works at all: where is the song?
A song you stream from Apple Music, a song you have as a file and a song inside a video you recorded are three different situations on an iPhone. Each has a method that works and methods that do not, and picking the wrong one is how people end up with an app that will not open the song they wanted.
First, where does the song live?
In the Apple Music catalogue. You play it in the Music app, from a subscription. You can download it for offline listening, but it does not become a file you can see in the Files app or hand to another app.
As a file. An MP3, M4A, WAV or FLAC that you bought, recorded, were sent, or exported from somewhere. Apple's guide to finding files on your iPhone lists where these can sit: On My iPhone, iCloud Drive, or a third-party cloud service you have added to Files.
Inside a video. A performance you filmed, a screen recording, a video someone sent you. It lives in Photos, and the song is the soundtrack.
The first is handled inside Apple's app. The other two are what vocal separation apps are for.
An Apple Music song: use Apple Music Sing
If the song is in the Apple Music catalogue, Apple has built the feature into the Music app. From Apple's support page, How to use Apple Music Sing:
What you need. An Apple Music subscription, and an iPhone 11 or later, or iPhone SE (3rd generation), updated to the latest version of iOS.
How to use it.
- Open Music and play a song from the Apple Music catalogue.
- Tap the song that is playing to open the full player.
- Tap the lyrics control at the bottom of the screen, then tap the microphone.
- Drag the vocal slider to turn the singer down.
If the microphone never appears, Apple's explanation is simple: Sing "might not be available for that song."
Two limits are worth knowing before you plan around it.
It changes what you hear, not what you have. Apple describes a slider in the player. It does not describe saving the result, so it is the right tool for singing along at home and the wrong one if you need a backing track to take somewhere — a practice app, a video edit, a performance.
The song is not yours to process elsewhere. Apple's Media Services terms say you agree "not to modify" the content you get through its services. Sing is Apple's own way of doing it inside its own app; taking the track out to run it through something else is not what the subscription allows.
A song you have as a file
This is the case a vocal separation app exists for, and the method is the same whichever app you use.
- Get the song into Files. If it is already in On My iPhone, iCloud Drive or a cloud service shown in Files, it is ready. If someone sent it to you, save it to Files from the share sheet first.
- Open it from the app. Most separation apps on iPhone open audio through the system file picker, which shows the same locations as the Files app.
- Choose two stems or four. Two gives you vocals and instrumental. Four usually separates vocals, drums, bass and everything else — useful if you are learning one instrument's part.
- Separate, then listen before you export. Solo the instrumental and play the chorus, which is usually the hardest part of a song to get clean.
- Export the stem you need. The instrumental is your karaoke track. The vocal stem on its own is an acapella.
When the export finishes, the app hands it to the share sheet, and Save to Files puts it somewhere every other app can reach.
A song inside a video
If the song is the soundtrack of a video in Photos, you do not need to extract the audio first. Apps that accept video take it straight from the Photos picker, separate the audio, and can give you back either an audio file or the same video with only the music or only the voice.
That second option is the useful one for a performance you filmed: the picture stays as it was and the track underneath changes.
Uploaded or on the phone
There are two kinds of tool, and the difference is not visible in how they look.
Server-side. You pick the file, it is uploaded, a server separates it and you download the stems. Most web tools in Safari work this way, and so do some apps.
On-device. The separation model runs on the iPhone itself. Nothing is uploaded, and it works without a connection.
For a commercial song, which kind you use mostly comes down to convenience. It matters more for your own recordings — an unreleased demo, a cover you have not posted, a video of your family singing — where uploading means a copy exists somewhere you do not control. If that matters to you, check the app's privacy policy or its App Store privacy label before you pick the file, not after.
Getting the cleanest instrumental
No app removes vocals perfectly, because the separator only has the finished mix to work from — it estimates which parts of the sound were the voice. I have written about that in detail in why no vocal remover gives you a perfect instrumental. The short version:
- Start from the best file you have. WAV or FLAC rather than a small MP3; detail the encoder threw away cannot be recovered.
- Ask for two stems if two is all you need. Each extra stem is another place for the model to make a mistake.
- Judge it by what you are doing with it. A faint trace of the singer in the chorus does not matter when you are singing over it at home.
- Expect dense, live, reverb-heavy songs to leave more behind. Dry, modern recordings with one lead voice come out cleanest.
A note on the app I build
Disclosed interest: Vocly is mine, and it is now on the App Store for iPhone as well as Google Play.
It is built for the file and video cases above. Pick audio opens the file picker; Pick video opens Photos. Choose Standard for vocals and instrumental, or High quality for vocals, drums, bass and other, then tap Separate. The model runs on the iPhone — nothing is uploaded and it works offline.
Once it has split the song you can mute and solo stems, loop a section, change the tempo and pitch, and sing to it in karaoke mode with lyrics you paste in. Export the vocals, the instrumental, both, or a custom mix at your current mixer levels, and Save or share hands it to the share sheet.
It is free, and a free export plays one ad first. Vocly Pro removes the ads and unlocks the High quality model, 320 kbps and lossless export and video export without the Vocly mark. It needs iOS 17 or later.
For a song in Apple Music, use Apple Music Sing — that is what it is for.
Frequently asked questions
How do I remove vocals from a song on iPhone?
It depends where the song is. For a song in the Apple Music catalogue, use Apple Music Sing in the Music app, which lowers the vocals while the song plays. For a song you have as a file, or a song inside a video, use a vocal separation app: it splits the track into vocals and instrumental, and you export the instrumental as your karaoke version.
Which iPhones support Apple Music Sing?
Apple lists iPhone 11 or later, or iPhone SE (3rd generation), updated to the latest version of iOS. You also need an Apple Music subscription, and Apple says Sing might not be available for every song.
Can I save the instrumental from Apple Music Sing?
Apple's instructions describe a vocal slider in the Music app's player — a way of changing what you hear while the song plays. They do not describe saving the result as a file. If you need a backing track you can take into another app, you need a song you have as a file and a separation app.
Do I have to upload a song to remove the vocals?
No. Web tools and some apps send the file to a server and separate it there, but on-device apps run the separation on the iPhone itself. If you would rather the recording never left your phone — an unreleased demo, a recording of yourself — check which kind a tool is before you use it.
Can I remove the vocals from a video on iPhone?
Yes, with an app that accepts video. Pick the video from Photos, separate its audio, and export either the audio on its own or the same video with only the music or only the vocals.