Samuel Axon
In the past few weeks, there have been several reports (including one of ours) about a feature found in recent beta versions of iOS 14.5 that seemed to allow users to change the default music app on their iPhones. However, Apple just clarified to TechCrunch that the feature is not what it seemed at first.
In the initial reports, users claimed that they were asked to select a favorite music app, such as Spotify or Apple Music, when they asked Siri to play a song. They then discovered that Siri seemed to honor that choice in future requests.
In addition, they noticed that using the usual “Hey Siri, throw [song name] on Spotify “would make Siri use Spotify again in the future when they speak the same request without the” on Spotify “part. (In the current public version of iOS, users must say” on Spotify “every time to play music in that app instead of Apple Music.)
But Apple told TechCrunch that this behavior is not really defining the default player and that it will not be setting it when iOS 14.5 is released to the public in the coming weeks. Instead, this behavior is a question that Siri can periodically ask to choose apps intelligently on your behalf based on the nature of the content you are requesting.
Among other things, this means that Siri can offer a different app when you order a podcast than when you order a pop song. But in any case, it is not a standard application selection in itself, and Siri may decide to choose an application based on a number of factors in addition. Siri may also ask you which application to use periodically to clarify or refine your choices.
Beta users experimented with Siri by asking a second or third time, but most interpreted it as a bug that caused the software to forget a default configuration instead of intended behavior.
Apple also told TechCrunch that there will be no place in the Settings app to set a default music player, as there has been for email or browser apps since the release of iOS 14 last year.
This change in policy and functionality in relation to email and browser applications came as a surprise from Apple, as the company has long insisted that its own applications be the standards on its mobile operating system, to the frustration of users who want more control . It is unclear whether Apple made the move to provide a better user experience, to undermine current and future accusations and antitrust investigations, or a little bit of both.
But if the goal was to combat antitrust arguments, any continued preferential treatment for Apple Music is thorny. While the company’s antitrust investigations are about more than just music apps, one of the most threatening investigations is that in the EU prompted by Spotify, which claims that Apple unfairly prefers Apple Music in various parts of the user experience iOS.
That said, the new way that Apple says Siri will handle streaming music services may actually be agnostic in terms of how it will choose services to respond to user requests based on the user’s past behavior . But, as is the case with many of these AI assistant features, it is unlikely to be as clear to users exactly how Siri will make its judgments.