It’s rare to see Apple add options to iOS that allow you to set the app you want to use as the default, rather than forcing you to use the official Apple app. And while I doubt you’ll ever be able to use anything other than the App Store to get new software on your iPhone (without jailbreak), at least you’ll soon be able to choose which app you want to use to play your music in by default.
This often discussed feature is expected to be part of iOS 14.5, but there have been a few rocky patches in its development: the option appeared in the beta version, remained in a later update and is now back again. It’s normal, though – and now that it’s back, I’m confident it will appear in the final version of iOS 14.5 whenever it arrives.
If you want to check this setting right now, you’ll need to go through the usual iOS 14.5 beta developer installation process (version 3, as of this writing). It is not hard to do, but as always, I remind you that installing a beta operating system carries the risk of slowing down your phone, making some applications difficult to operate, or causing any other strange issues that won’t be resolved until later in beta (or with the final version).
There are no settings to touch to change your default music player, which is a curious omission, I hope Apple will add it to the version delivered by iOS 14.5. Instead, you’ll need to ask Siri to play music so you can request a song by your favorite band. When you do this – and if you have multiple music apps installed on your device – you’ll be asked to choose one by default.
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From now, you only have one hit on that. Whatever you choose gets default for your future Command “Hey Siri” and it’s needed some were stirring around to give prompt for loading again if you change your mind. (Again, it would be much easier to they have this like. an option somewhere in Settings> Music, but what do I know?)
That being said, if you will you want to play music from various services or applications installed on your device, all you have to do is add the name of that service to your application, and Siri will listen. For example, you could say “Play Nine Inch Nails“la listen through the default service you selected earlier. Or you can say “Play Nine Inch Nails on Spotify” to launch the music in that app.
This is Oh, of course difficult way to set one default music player on iOS, but that’s the way it is (for now). We will update this article if or when the steps change to a later beta.