An Update to Spotify’s App
Spotify, a premium music app has been recently updated. This updated app will enable Apple watch users to ask Siri to play music through Spotify. The users can now ask Siri to play music through spotify by ending a music request with ‘on spotify’. The example is something as simple as, “Hey Siri, play music on spotify.” Any command ending with on spotify can be used to control playback without opening the app directly. Spotify mentioned in the app description, that “We are making changes and improvements in spotify to make sure the customers don’t miss a thing. They should just keep the updates turned on.”
A Long Awaited Feature
Though it is a small update, but it is an overdue one for the Apple watch. Last year, with the launch of iOS13 and watchOS6, Apple started allowing third party music apps to integrate with Siri. Spotify immediately began supporting the feature on iPhones, but its taken this long to expand to the Apple watch. Siri serves music requests Apple music by default, but this integration has offered an advantage to Apple music since it’s the easiest service to reach by voice.
The spotify Android app lets users set their preferred streaming service and automatically uses that for future voice requests. So, for spotify, this is a meaningful step forward. This is very essential for an Apple watch also, where you may need to stay hands-free while changing what you’re listening to. Spotify has criticized Apple in the past for its anti-competitive behavior. However, this update shows how Apple is starting to ease up, though still not quite as much as it could.
