For years you have been able to ask Siri to play music, but Siri was limited to playing that music through the Apple Music streaming service unless you specifically told it to play it through a different streaming service. With iOS 14.5 however, Siri can now learn your preferred music streamer of choice by asking you, giving iPhone owners deeper integration to their preferred services.

Ever wonder how to set a preferred music streaming service with Siri? Apple’s Siri was one of the first digital assistant and it’s only gotten better with time. One of people’s favorite uses for Siri is instructing it to play their favorite song, album, or artist just by using their voice. 

But previously, Siri relied on Apple Music to stream the requested song unless you specifically told it otherwise. But now with iOS 14.5 Apple introduced a TON of cool new features. One of them lets Siri ask YOU which streaming service you want to use when you request it to play music, podcasts, or audiobooks. This means you no longer have to explicitly instruct Siri to do so for the outset.

Setting A Default Music Service On iPhone

Before we examine how the new Siri feature works, it’s important to note that you still can’t set a default music player app on iOS. For whatever reason, Apple allows you to set default email clients and browsers, but not music.

We’re mentioning this so you understand that, for now, telling Siri your preferred music service when asked will not make that music services app the default music app on your iPhone. Just something to keep in mind.

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What Preferred Music Services Does Siri Support?

Apple hasn’t revealed a full list a preferred music services Siri  supports, but from user reports we do have a pretty good list. These include:

• Apple Music
• Apple Podcasts
• Apple Books
• Pandora
• Spotify
• Google Play Books
• Pocket Casts

It’s important to note that in order for you to tell Siri you want to use any supported app as the default audio service play, you must have the app already installed on your iPhone. Also, you’ll obviously need a subscription to the service (like Pandora or Spotify) if you want to stream podcasts or tunes from it.

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How To Set a Preferred Music Streaming Service With Siri

Telling Siri your preferred music streaming service (or audiobook or podcast app) in iOS 14.5 is easy! Just follow these instructions:

1. Ask ‌Siri‌ to play an artist, song, or album by saying (for example) “Hey ‌Siri‌, play Billy Idol.”
2. ‌Siri‌ will display a list of all music apps you have installed on your iPhone. At the bottom of the screen, Siri will ask “Which app do you want to listen to this on?”
3. Tap your preferred app for the list of available apps.
4. In some cases, Siri may then ask for your permission to access data from the app you selected. Allow Siri to do so.

And that’s it! Pretty simple, huh?

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iOS 14.5 is also packed with other great features like App tracking Transparency and the ability to use Face ID with a face mask on.

And check out What Is Primephonic? Apple Music Is About To Get Much Better At Classical Music.