Although the assistant lacks the level of convenience of other assistants, “Hey Spotify” is a preparation for official upcoming Spotify hardware.
“Hey Spotify”: An Assistant Just For Playlists
If the user wants to access their favorite playlist or track on Spotify without having to press anything, there are already quite a few voice assistants to perform the deed. These include Bixby, Cortana, Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa.
However, Spotify has released the app’s exclusive wake-up voice call: “Hey Spotify”. The feature is going to be rolled out on iOS and Android.
Preliminary tests by prominent technology sites have claimed that Hey Spotify is not as convenient as the other default voice assistants that phones have. The main reason is that the wake word does not work unless the app is running. If the phone is asleep or even if the application is running behind the main screen, Hey Spotify will not work.
However, if Spotify is open, just saying “Hey Spotify” and asking it to put on any song, or display a playlist, or launch the radio, or even playing, skipping, and pausing can be done. There is a unique “Play something I like” voice line that would play a random title from one of the Daily Mix selections.
The mobile version of the assistant has been in development for nearly a year now, as discovered by Jane Manchun Wong, an app researcher. Spotify itself should have a prompt on start-up regarding the feature if the update has been received. The manual option can be found under Microphone permissions in Settings.
Of course, the reasoning behind the release is being questioned by reviews. The only plausible cause is that Spotify is building its own hardware that will use “Hey Spotify” by default. The upcoming “Car Thing” might be such hardware that will use the feature.
