It’ll soon be possible to request Spotify music from Apple’s Siri voice assistant. Spotify is currently beta testing the feature within the new iOS 13 operating system, it has emerged.
The functionality, first spotted by The Verge, enables Spotify users to request songs, albums and playlists from Apple’s stuffy AI, who’d previously refused requests to do so.
Check it out in the brief video below:
Spotify is finally getting Siri support with iOS 13. You can ask Siri to play songs, albums, and playlists. Here’s how it works: https://t.co/Oc7LegT5yr pic.twitter.com/6F97fbjLtX
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) September 27, 2019
It’s a little bit clunky, but as it’s a beta test, we’re hoping the edges are smoothed over before the functionality is rolled out to all users. Right now on our iPhone X running iOS 13.1 still tells us “Spotify hasn’t added support for that with Siri,” and invites us to manually open Spotify.
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Spotify told Engadget that it routinely tests new features, so perhaps we shouldn’t expect the full roll out any time soon. We’ve reached out to the company for a statement. However, the test could be a sign of thawing relations between the two music streaming giants. Spotify has complained over Apple’s alleged anticompetitive practices.
In a blog post published in March Spotify CEO, Daniel Ek called the 30% cut Apple takes from Spotify subscriptions made through the App Store a “tax” on Spotify that enables Apple is using to damage competition. Ek says that if it continues to fork over almost a third of its App Store earnings, it will be forced to raise prices of Premium membership to well above the price of Apple Music.
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Spotify had also alleged Apple had tried to hinder its presence on Siri, as well as compatibility with AirPlay 2. For its part Apple says it has been proactive in trying to get Spotify on board with Siri and AirPlay 2. Apple also says only a tiny number of Spotify subscriptions are skimmed off the top via the App Store.
“Even now, only a tiny fraction of their subscriptions fall under Apple’s revenue-sharing model. Spotify is asking for that number to be zero,” Apple’s publicly-posted blog post reply said.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
