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Apple clarifies upcoming Siri third-party audio app defaults for iOS 14.5

If you’re not crazy about Apple Music, it looks like iOS 14.5 will allow you to specify a third-party music player to use with Siri.

Per TechCrunch, this option may become available, albeit it’s a bit more complicated than a simple default music toggle switch within the operating system.

There is no option to choose a music service that will be selected every time, with Apple instead using ‌Siri‌ intelligence. ‌Siri‌ will learn from your listening habits and the music selection process will improve over time. If you always ask ‌Siri‌ to select Spotify, for example, Spotify will be the default, but you can also change it in the future.

With the option, asking Siri to play a song in iOS via a third-party application like Spotify won’t set Spotify as the “default,” and Apple has clarified that it does not want users to be confused if ‌Siri‌ asks again for your preferences in the future.

Apple has stated that instead, Siri will learn your preferences for all types of audio content rather than just music. This is also applicable to other content, such as being able to choose a favorite third-party podcast app or third-party audiobook app.

In this case, Siri can offer a list of audio apps from what you’ve installed, and your choice will help dictate Siri’s behavior, but ‌Siri‌ may ask again in the future and even when a preferred audio option has been selected, it can be changed by asking for a different app. If you’ve selected Spotify, for example, but want to swap to ‌Apple Music‌, you can say “Hey ‌Siri‌, play [song] in ‌Apple Music‌.”

Apple has been steadily working on the Siri audio request feature throughout the iOS 14.5 betas, and the third beta refines the dialogs for app selection. App developers are able to choose participate in the ‌Siri‌ app selection feature by making their apps available as an option.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via MacRumors and TechCrunch