Apple is giving users another good reason to test their latest public beta.
Hawk eyes Redditors using iOS 14.5 public beta noted that when asking Siri to play music, the wizard will ask the user to select which music application he would like to use to play the song or artist. Siri typically defaults to the Apple Music app when an app is not specified. But, as confirmed by Gizmodo, asking Siri to, for example, “play Phoebe Bridgers” on iOS 14.5 will open a menu with options for Apple Music, Spotify, Podcasts and, for some reason, Books.
Reddit User matejamm1, who shared a screenshot of the feature and had other music apps installed, saw those apps on this screen as well.
If Spotify is selected from this menu, Siri will appear to use that app as a default the next time it is asked to play music – but the feature has many bugs. When I was testing the option to set my default music app as Spotify on iOS 14.5, Siri sometimes used Spotify as the default, sometimes opened Apple Music and sometimes brought up the same menu to select which app I wanted to play from music or music. However, colleagues who aren’t running the public beta didn’t have that option when asking Siri to play music, so it’s something.
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It’s just one more reason to explore Apple’s latest public beta, especially for those of us who aren’t especially interested in Apple’s own services. Recently, the company has been slowly decreasing in forcing us to use them. Last year, iOS 14 introduced the ability to change your email and browser applications for non-Apple services like Chrome and Gmail. The ability to change other default options would be welcome.
Another standout feature of the iOS 14.5 public beta is the ability to use an Apple Watch for unlock your iPhone while wearing a mask. Of course, you can save just a few seconds to manually enter your password, but listen, this makes the process of unlocking your phone using a mask a little less hassle. I have tested it in the last few days and found it works well.
In 2021, we are already saving time and transmitting better. A small victory, but I will accept it.