Apple Will Finally Allow Siri To Start Playing Music, Videos In Third-Party Apps in iOS 12

Jun. 7, 2018

One of the most remarkable elements of the upcomingiOS 12update is ‘Shortcuts’, an app that will allow users to carry out a sequence of actions or tasks with one phrase. It’s not unlike Google Assistant’s custome routines.

While Shortcuts would play well with Apple’s own apps, deeper integration with third-party apps is something that would make it a real big deal, and Apple is doing just that.

At the moment, Siri can only open an app such as Spotify via voice commands, but is unable to play media directly in those apps. The ‘Play Media’ intent solves this. If developers add support, you can see many more use-cases besides just playing media of course.

Of course, developers such as Spotify will need to make some changes to allow this functionality – and we suspect they are already busy doing so with the iOS 12 developer preview.

By the time iOS 12 is ready for primetime, you may already have a slew of apps, ready to make use of Siri for easy media playback.