As Jeff Benjamin noted in 9to5Mac’s video coverage, iOS 14.5 will use Siri’s intelligence to select music services based on listening behaviors. Although the feature does not actually allow you to define a standard music service, it will open Siri to make it easier to control music for more services, without the need to specify which service to use. Apple has now described in more detail how it wants the new behavior to work.
TechCrunch received a statement from Apple that intends to take the focus off describing the feature change as standard music service support and instead be part of Siri intelligence:
For example, if you tell Siri to play a song, album or artist, he may ask you what service you want to use to listen to that type of content. However, your response to Siri is not making that specific service your “standard,” says Apple. In fact, Siri may ask you again at some point – a request that can confuse users if they think their preferences have already been set.
Apple also points out that there is no specific configuration on iOS where users can set up a “standard” music service, as with email and browser applications.
As we noted in the previous coverage, Apple’s approach to Siri is less clear to users than Amazon’s approach to Alexa. Echo smart speakers allow users to define standard audio services for music catalogs and music radio stations, including Apple Music, via the Alexa mobile app.
Apple allows users to define standard web browsers and email clients on iOS 14, but Apple is choosing not to offer that same level of control over audio clients just yet.
Seriously, don’t call it standard music app support on iOS 14, according to Apple, because it’s based on Siri, which means it’s much more nebulous than a simple setup. In fact, we can call it that from now on: Siri’s fuzzy audio feature.
iOS 14.5 is currently in its third beta. We should have a clearer description through the release notes when the next software update is sent later this month. In the meantime, you can keep standard music, audiobook and podcast apps on your iOS 15 wish list.
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