Make Spotify your default music app with iOS 14.5
On February 11, Apple seeded the first betas of the new iOS 14.5 and iPad OS 12.5 updates. Apple made the necessary changes to adhere to newly implemented privacy rules, but they have also added a slew of other features. One of them is that users will be able to make Spotify their default music app for their device.
With the new update, users can ask Siri to play a song, and they will be offered a selection of third-party music streaming services to play the song—including Spotify. Users may also be shown a prompt requesting access to their Spotify data. Once they approve it, Spotify will be used as the default music listening app. Users testing out the iOS14.5 update have reported differences in how they experience the feature, so Apple may still have some things to straighten out. Because it’s still in its beta testing stage, the feature might still be altered or it might be removed completely.
Spotify and Apple playing nice after a tumultuous year
This feature comes as a surprise because Apple and Spotify were in a heated battle just a little over a year ago. The streaming platform filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming that Apple’s supposedly anti-competitive behavior had left streaming services like Spotify, Tidal, and Deezer with the short end of the stick. However, their feud did not start there. (Read: Epic Games is going to war with Apple over Fortnite)
Back in 2015, Spotify had emailed all of the iPhone customers who had signed up for Spotify subscriptions using the Apple App Store and told them that they were paying more than what Spotify was actually charging because of a tax that Apple imposed. This is what the email read:
“In case you didn’t know, the normal Premium price is only $9.99, but Apple charges 30pc on all payments made through iTunes. You can get the exact same Spotify for only $9.99/month, and it’s super simple.”
Apple, in turn, responded by saying Spotify’s claims were exaggerated. This new feature may very well be Apple’s way of extending an olive branch, but we won’t know for sure until the iOS 14.5 is fully rolled out. Hopefully, Apple will allow users to set more of their own default options for future iOS updates.
As mentioned, Apple has developed more features for iOS 14.5. The tech giant is reportedly making it easier for users to unlock their iPhones while wearing a mask with the “Unlock with Apple Watch” feature. They will also introduce global support for 5G in dual-SIM mode for iPhone 12 models, and they will enable crowdsourcing through Apple Maps for navigation purposes. On top of these, the new update will also allow users to command Siri to call emergency services. The developer beta came out on the first day of February, so we can expect to see the update rolled out very soon.
We expect to learn more about iOS 14.5 in the weeks to come. Stay tuned!
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