Poll: Would you change your iPhone’s default Music app if possible?

Apple had long resisted letting users change default apps on their iPhone. With iOS 14, however, you can choose your preferred Mail app and browser, and the beta of iOS 14.5 suggested that you could do the same with the Music app…but maybe not. 

As it turned out today, Apple explained that Siri can learn that you want to use a certain app to listen to music, but you can’t set it as a default option.

TechCrunch received a statement from Apple that intends to take the focus off describing the feature change as “default” music service support and instead on it being a part of Siri intelligence:

For example, if you tell Siri to play a song, album, or artist, it may ask you which service you want to use to listen to this sort of content. However, your response to Siri is not making that particular service your “default,” Apple says. In fact, Siri may ask you again at some point — a request that could confuse users if they thought their preferences had already been set.

Apple also points out there’s no specific setting in iOS where users can configure a “default” music service, the way there is with email and browser apps. 

Apple Music launched almost six years ago, but even before that, the Music/iPod app was the only choice. With so many audio streaming services, such as Spotify, Deezer, TIDAL, wouldn’t it be great to be able to set your main Music app? Doing so would make it easier to jump to specific songs in your preferred music app of choice.

With HomePod, you can ask Siri to play a song or a playlist from Spotify. You can do the same with the Apple Watch, and it’s now easier because there’s an app for that.

It’s also strange, because Apple is fine with the fact that it can be the main Music app on Echo devices, but doesn’t let other companies do the same with their own ecosystem outside of the HomePod.

As Apple faces antitrust lawsuits and investigations over its alleged App Store monopoly and different treatment for its own apps, this would be a simple gesture that could make a difference for the company in court and for its users.

How do you feel about it? Would you change your iPhone’s default Music app if possible? Let us know in the poll below and elaborate down in the comments!