Attention, Siri users: you can finally abandon Apple Music and make Spotify, or another third-party music service, your default.
First discovered by Reddit users (through MacRumors), the new feature is part of the developer betas and audiences for iOS 14.5. So, it’s not available for all right now.
If you have one of the betas downloaded to your iPhone, you will have a chance to change the default music service the first time you ask Siri to play a song.
Having downloaded the iOS 14.5 public beta, I immediately tested the feature. Instead of saying “Hey, Siri, play Mumford & Sons on Spotify,” I said “Hey, Siri, play Mumford & Sons.”
From there, Siri listed three streaming services that are currently on my phone: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Near the bottom of the screen, I asked, “What app would you like to use?”
You will see options for all streaming services downloaded to your phone.
Image: screen capture / apple
After choosing your favorite, it will start playing automatically.
Image: screen capture / apple
As soon as I selected Spotify, he asked for permission to access my Spotify data. After touching “Yes”, he started playing a song through the app. Siri now plays music automatically on Spotify without me having to specify it.
You must also give permission to access your data in the application.
Image: screen capture / apple
But the setup process has been somewhat problematic for some – which comes with the territory of downloading any beta software. For example, Reddit user mvbalan said:
“Wow, well, find OP! It seems to be a bit overcooked like when I try to play a specific artist, song, playlist or album, the default is what I chose in the selection menu, but when I say” play some music ” default is Apple Music “
The topic creator, matejamm1, also found that the feature is not working very well:
“Yes, it’s a little inconsistent, as with all Siri stuff. Right now I asked to” Play blue hotel “, after which he offered me to choose, so I discarded it and ordered it again and played it right on Apple Music and , the third time I asked, he asked me for access to my Pocket Casts data, which is a podcast application and obviously has no music.
The second screenshot was a different occasion 30 minutes later. I just posted to demonstrate that Deezer has temporarily become Siri’s standard music service. It may be an indication that changing the standard will reach all services soon. “
From the screenshots above, you can see that the feature had bugs for me too, as it listed Apple Podcasts as an option (which is, of course, a podcast app).
However, I noticed that when I requested “ArmChair Expert with Dax Shepard,” started playing the most recent episode in the Apple Podcasts app (although it’s Besides that available on Spotify). Therefore, as it is still in beta, it is possible that you are having difficulty identifying the difference between songs and podcasts at the moment.
Clearly, Apple still has some work to do before the feature is officially released in the final version of iOS 14.5. Regardless, at least you can expect to save some time on these Siri commands whenever you want to play music.