Spotify Downplays HomePod Support, But Promises to Add AirPlay 2 Yet Again
Spotify has yet to implement native support for the HomePod and HomePod mini, despite Apple opening up the speakers to third-party streaming music services in 2020. As a result, Spotify cannot be controlled with Siri on the HomePod.
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman touched on the matter in his newsletter this weekend, noting that Spotify told him there hasn’t been a “significant volume” of complaints about the lack of HomePod support. A post on Spotify’s community website advocating for native HomePod support has over 5,800 votes in favor of the idea since it was submitted in 2020, but Spotify has refused to budge despite Apple making the necessary APIs available.
In 2019, Spotify accused Apple of anticompetitive behavior in a complaint filed in the EU. Alongside the complaint, Spotify launched a “Time to Play Fair” website that lists alleged examples of Apple’s unfair practices, including preventing Spotify from natively supporting the HomePod. Yet nearly three years after Spotify has been able to support the HomePod without any further action from Apple, it has yet to follow through.
Spotify has also repeatedly promised to update its iPhone and iPad app with AirPlay 2 support, but it has failed to deliver so far. The app does support the original version of AirPlay, but has yet to adopt AirPlay 2, which launched in 2018 with enhancements such as less buffering and support for stereo-paired HomePods.
Spotify told Gurman that it “remains committed to supporting AirPlay 2 at some point in the future” and is “on a path towards making it happen eventually,” but the company was unable to provide a definitive timeframe. Spotify has been promising to support AirPlay 2 since at least 2021, so subscribers have waited a long time.
Popular Stories
iOS 16.4 Now Available for Your iPhone With These 8 New Features
Following six weeks of beta testing, iOS 16.4 was released to the public this week. The software update includes a handful of new features and changes for the iPhone 8 and newer. To install an iOS update, open the Settings app on the iPhone, tap General โ Software Update, and follow the on-screen instructions.
Below, we have recapped eight new features and changes added with iOS 16.4,…
General Motors to Phase Out Apple CarPlay Starting This Year in EV Transition
General Motors (GM) will phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its vehicles starting this year, shifting to a built-in infotainment system co-developed with Google (via Reuters).
GM owns Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC in the United States. It will stop offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto starting with the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer, which goes on sale this summer. The company plans …
Three Products We Might See at WWDC 2023
Apple this week announced the official dates for the 34th annual Worldwide Developers Conference, with the annual WWDC keynote event set to take place on Monday, June 5. The keynote is where Apple unveils new versions of iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, and sometimes, we get hardware announcements.
Rumors this year suggest there are at least three new devices that are set to be unveiled in the …
iPhone 15 Pro Solid-State Button Sensitivity Can Be Customized to Cater for Cases and Gloves
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max users will be able to customize the sensitivity of the solid-state buttons on their device, thanks to a new sensitivity toggle in Settings. That’s according to details provided by a hitherto reliable source that shared additional details on the MacRumors forums. Earlier this week, the same anonymous tipster revealed that the iPhone 15 Pro models will use…
Engineer Brings Wires and USB-C Connector to AirPods
Hardware prototyping consultant Ken Pillonel has added wires and a USB-C connector to a set of AirPods, bypassing the need for its charging case.
Repair site iFixit has given all versions of the AirPods and AirPods Pro a score of zero out of 10 for repairability. They are not designed to be serviced or repaired because no internal components can be accessed without damage to the device,…
Gurman: watchOS 10 to Have Notable Changes, macOS 13.4 to Support New Macs
watchOS 10 should be a “fairly extensive upgrade” for the Apple Watch this year, with “notable changes” to the user interface, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. However, he did not provide any details about specific changes planned.
In his weekly newsletter, Gurman added that only modest hardware changes are expected for new Apple Watch models coming later this year.
Apple is expected …
Apple Releases First Public Betas of iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5 updates to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to test out the software head of its official launch. The public betas come two days after Apple provided the betas to developers.
Those who have signed up their accounts for Apple’s free beta testing program can enable the beta by opening up the Settings app, going …
Comments are closed.