Apple finally offered the ability to set Spotify as its default music player for Siri commands. Previously, this was only available on HomePods and was a feature we requested in 2019.
The new behavior appears in the beta version of iOS 14.5. The first time you ask Siri to play something, it lists all the streaming services you have installed on your device and asks which one you want to use. After doing this, Siri then standardizes this service for subsequent requests …
The feature was first discovered by Reddit users (via MacRumors) and also includes podcast apps. Users without the Apple Music app installed report that the default is simply the music player they use.
“I just told Siri to play a song and it started on Spotify without any further questions. I uninstalled Apple Music. “
“I don’t have the music app installed and it just asked for permission to access YouTube Music. After that, all requests were sent directly to YTM. “
“I asked Siri to play an artist without specifying Spotify and he told me he would need to access my Spotify account and asked if I would allow access. I said yes and the song played. Each command now controls Spotify, even if not mentioned. Big move. “
“It works even when I ask to play my favorite songs and go straight to Spotify to play that playlist, really cool.”
Users, however, notice that it appears to be buggy at the moment.
“It really looks pretty buggy. I tried this and it didn’t give me a pop up. Goes straight to Apple Music. “
“Yes, it’s a little inconsistent, as with all Siri things. Right now I asked for ‘Play blue hotel’, after which he offered me to choose, so I discarded and asked again and he played right on Apple Music, and then the third time I asked, he asked me for access to my data Pocket Casts, which is a podcast app and obviously has no music. “
Apple has taken a series of measures recently aimed at keeping antitrust lawsuits under control. IOS 14 last year allowed users to change their default browser and email application as part of five changes made in response to antitrust concerns. The changes were made after it was suggested that the company was abusing its dominant position to put competing applications at a disadvantage.
So far, Apple has kept it a secret. It is important to note that there is still no UI for this in Settings, so it is possible that the company did not intend to launch this feature on iOS 14.5. Either way, it will make many people happy when it is fully available.
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