Apple iOS 14.5 will be packed with features, including the ability to use your Apple Watch to unlock an iPhone with Face ID while you’re wearing a mask and support next-gen console controllers.
You can finally be able to ditch Apple Music and make Spotify, or another third-party music application, your default. The good news is the new feature of the developer and public betas for iOS 14.5.
It’s not available for everyone just yet. But thanks to Reddit users who were the first to discover this feature.
Get to know iOS 14.5 beta
The new Apple operating system is said to have many features people didn’t expect. Including the ability to use your Apple Watch to unlock an iPhone with Face ID. This new feature will still work even if you are wearing a face mask.
Aside from that, users who have already installed the beta have also discovered another great feature: you’ll be able to select any default music service when you ask to play a song using Siri — including Spotify.
Make Spotify your default Music App
For a tutorial on getting the free public iOS 14.5 beta, you can check 9to5Mac. For now, here is the complete step-by-step guide for you to set up Spotify and other Music Apps, as your default.
- Make sure you’re running the iOS 14.5 beta on your iPhone or iPad
- Ask Siri to play an artist/song/album
- Look for a new pop-up to choose which service you’d like to use
- Tap Yes to allow Siri to access data on Spotify (or other music apps)
- Your music should start playing
- When working, future requests to play music via Siri should use Spotify or the service you picked, but it’s still buggy and inconsistent for some, so your mileage may vary
For first-time users, when you ask Siri to play a song on iPhone, you will be prompted to select which app you want to use to play it. From there, you may choose Spotify or other music applications as the default.
Just take note that there are no other options for you to do this. When you go to Settings > Music or Settings > Spotify and set it as the iOS default music app, it will not work. We’ll have to see if Apple adds a toggle like that for the default music app in future beta or public releases.
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.
Image courtesy of Brandon Butch/YouTube Screenshot