Spotify, Deezer, Tidal & Co. subscribers who want to control their preferred service on iPhone and iPad with voice commands must always explicitly instruct Siri to use it. Otherwise, Apple’s voice assistant always tries to tap into the in-house streaming service Apple Music, which of course has no result if no subscription has been taken out.
Setting the streaming service in iOS 14.5
This behavior, which is annoying in the eyes of many music lovers, should come to an end with iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5. The beta version of Apple’s operating system for iPhone and iPad already allows the setting of a streaming service preferred by the user, so the feature should also be part of the final version. The new function was discovered by a Reddit user named matejamm1, he posted a screenshot on the platform.
Source: matejamm1 / Reddit
Selection pop-up appears automatically
Apple implemented the feature in a very easy and convenient way. When the user asks Siri for the first time to play a certain piece of music or album, a pop-up automatically appears listing all streaming apps installed on the iPhone or iPad. The preferred service can then be set with a fingertip. Once this has happened, Siri will always use this service in the future when a piece of music is to be played. It is then no longer necessary to expressly state the name in the voice command.
Feature is not yet fully developed
A test of The 8-bit shows that Siri also automatically changes the music service used by default when it is specifically mentioned for the first time, for example with the command “Hey Siri, play Emmenez-moi by Charles Aznavour on Spotify”. However, the new feature does not seem to be fully developed overall. For example, users report that it only works with special voice commands. In particular, the name of a playlist, an album or a track should be mentioned. It also seems to be more common for Apple Music to revert to the default streaming service when the command “Hey Siri, play music” is given. However, Apple could still make changes before the release of the final version of iOS 14.5 in order to improve the new feature.