How to Turn on the New “Hey Spotify” feature
Spotify is rolling out a new feature that will allow users to use voice commands to interact with the app hands-free. While voice commands were available on Spotify before using the voice search feature, now users can use a wake word “Hey Spotify” to make it easier for users to play music while driving, or busy doing something else.
According to GSMArena, users can use the new “Hey Spotify” feature instead of the microphone button in the search bar to activate the voice search functionality and search for songs, artists, albums, playlists, or radios. The Spotify app needs to be open in order for the voice commands to work as apps like Spotify can’t (and shouldn’t) have access to the device’s microphone at all times. However, users should grant Spotify access to their microphones while the app is in use in order to use the feature.
The Hey Spotify feature seems to be rolling only for Android. To activate it on your Android device, you need to access Spotify’s settings from the button on the top right corner of the home page. Then find Voice Interactions and toggle the “Hey Spotify” option on. If this doesn’t work then try and update the app on your device. While Spotify didn’t comment on the new feature yet, we expect support for iOS to start soon.
While all other voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant can communicate with Spotify, we can ask how useful this new feature is as users are already using their voice assistants to perform other tasks. And there’s also the privacy question.
2021 seems to be a big year for Spotify as the streaming service already announced that a new HiFi subscription tier that offers CD-quality music will be available later this year. We can see that Spotify is trying to keep up with competition from Apple Music, Deezer, and other streaming services out there.
