Spotify Launches Its Own In-App Voice Assistant

Spotify seems to have found a new way to enhance the user experience. Both Android and iOS versions of the official app will soon understand voice commands that start with “Hey Spotify”. It enables users to control the playback with their headsets on, or via their smart home speakers.

The abilities of the assistant are centered around the music. If you name an artist or an album after the command, it will play it. But it supports more complicated commands: for example, if you say “hey Spotify, play something I like”, it will launch a random song from your recent playlist. There is still a lot to do, though. The main issue is that the voice assistant is only active when the phone is not asleep and the Spotify app is launched. This makes the assistant less usable than integrated Siri or Google Assistant commands.

So far there is little reason to wonder why Spotify needs such a tool at all. As for April 2021, this feature is only available to beta testers. Probably their response will help make the feature better and indeed usable. Another version suggests that Spotify is preparing its own hardware (home speakers, headsets, maybe even branded smartphones co-produced with some manufacturers), and this is but a big test for voice control to be introduced in these.