Spotify tests native voice assistant to rival Siri
The music service is seemingly not going to rely on other tech companies to provide voice search.
Spotify is getting experimental with voice.
Streaming service Spotify is testing its own voice assistant, which could give navigating its app a significant speed boost.
The feature, spotted first by Twitter user Hunter Owens, is available to some users through its iOS app and can be found inside the search bar. It appears to allow users to skip tapping and typing in order to find and play music via voice command.
I spy @Spotify laying the foundation for a smart speaker… pic.twitter.com/n1slxIFUNA
— Hunter Owens (@owens) March 14, 2018
Many Spotify users who own Sonos speakers, a Google Home or other voice-activated speakers may already be used to telling Spotify what to play using voice. But Spotify doesn't appear content to rely on third-party assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri.
There's some speculation Spotify is seeking to build its own smart speaker that would rival Amazon's Echo, Google Home and Apple HomePod after a hardware job posting from the company was spotted last month. An own-brand voice assistant would be an integral part of such a project.
With no confirmation from the company that it is indeed building a speaker, it looks like the voice assistant will remain an in-app experience for now. There's no word yet on when it might become available to all users.
"We're always working on improving the Spotify experience for our users, but we don't have any information to share at this time," said a Spotify spokeswoman in a statement.
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