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Spotify has a brand new voice helper in its Android and iOS apps. Shouting “Hey Spotify” on your device gives you hands-free control of every aspect of the Spotify app – useful when you’re driving or cleaning the house. The first set of users in the US should now have access to the feature, and the company says it will roll out to more devices in the coming weeks.
While you can control Spotify with your voice via Android Audio and Google Assistant on Android and to a limited extent via Siri and CarPlay on Apple devices, “Hey Spotify” interacts directly with the Spotify app. That means you can use voice control without having to train your device’s digital assistant to recognize Spotify-specific commands.
Once “Hey Spotify” is available on your device, you need to activate voice control in the app in order to use it:
How to activate the “Hey Spotify” voice control
Screenshot: Brendan Hesse
- Open the Spotify app.
- Go to “Search” Tab.
- Tap the microphone icon next to the search bar.
- Choose “Turn on ‘Hey Spotify’.”
- Give Spotify permission to record audio.
You can now use Spotify’s built-in voice control. Just say “Hey Spotify” followed by a command. Ask them to play a specific artist or playlist you created, pause or skip tracks, or download the latest episode of a podcast. You can also do voice searches without having to switch to a special voice mode first.
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If you want to turn the feature off, go to Go Settings> Voice Interactions and deactivate “Hey Spotify.” This prevents accidental activations and is smart for privacy if you find that once activated you will never use the feature again.
As with other voice-activated apps, Spotify listens in the background for you to say “Hey Spotify”. According to Spotify, the app only hears in short bursts that are deleted immediately. When a command is detected, it will play in-app notifications and audio tones to let you know that the app is recording you. Recording is required for the app to process your commands, but you can read Spotify Voice Data Privacy Policy If you want to learn more about how your speech audio is treated.