Attention, Siri users: You’ll finally be able to ditch Apple Music and make Spotify, or another third-party music service, your default.
First discovered by Reddit users (by way of MacRumors), the new feature is part of the developer and public betas for iOS 14.5. So, it’s not available for everyone just yet.
If you have either of the betas downloaded to your iPhone, you’ll be given the chance to change your 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. Rather than 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. Toward the bottom of the screen, it asked: “Which app would you like to use?”
You’ll see options for all the streaming services downloaded to your phone.
Image: screenshot / apple
Once you choose your preferred one, it’ll automatically begin playing.
Image: screenshot / apple
Once I selected Spotify, it asked for permission to access my Spotify data. After tapping “Yes,” it began playing a song via the app. Now, Siri automatically plays music on Spotify without me having to specify.
You’ll also be asked to give permission to access your data on the app.
Image: screenshot / apple
But the setup process has been a bit buggy for some — which comes with the territory of downloading any beta software. For example, Reddit user mvbalan said:
“Wow good find OP! It appears to be half baked as when I try to play a specific artist, song, playlist, or album, it defaults to what I’ve chosen in the selection menu but when I say like “play some music” it defaults to Apple Music”
The creator of the thread, matejamm1, also found the feature isn’t working very smoothly:
“Yeah, it is a bit inconsistent, as with all things Siri. Just now i asked it to “Play blue hotel”, after which it offered me to choose, then I dismissed it and asked it again and it played straight on Apple Music, and then the third time I asked it, it asked me for access to my Pocket Casts data, which is a podcast app and obviously doesn’t have music at all.
The second screenshot was a different occasion 30 minutes later. I only posted it to demonstrate that Deezer temporarily became the default music service for Siri. Could be indication that changing the default is coming to all services soon.”
From the screenshots above, you can see the feature was buggy for me as well, since it listed Apple Podcasts as an option (which is, obviously, a podcast app).
I did, however, notice that when I requested “ArmChair Expert with Dax Shepard,” it started playing the latest episode on the Apple Podcasts app (even though it’s also available on Spotify). So, given that it’s still in beta, it’s possible that it might be struggling to identify 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 look forward to shaving some time off those Siri commands every time you want to play music.