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| © Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Spotify for Apple Watch |
Spotify is currently testing an Apple Watch app that’s expected to debut soon. We’ve been able to get access to Spotify’s Apple Watch app ahead of its release to try it out and find out what’s in store. The app itself appears to be an initial release with very basic features. There’s no offline support for playing Spotify songs on the Apple Watch away from your iPhone, and you can’t stream songs to an Apple Watch over LTE.
Instead, this Spotify Apple Watch app is mainly used as a Spotify Connect controller to let you change music on an iPhone or any other device that’s playing Spotify content and linked to your account. Spotify’s app replaces the “Now Playing” screen on the Apple Watch if you’re listening to Spotify songs on an iPhone, and you can use it to control music playback or pick a playlist.
It’s a very basic app right now
It’s the first time you’ve been able to directly access Spotify playlist / song control on the Apple Watch without using an iPhone, but you can only select playlists individually and set them to shuffle. Spotify is also including a complication for the Apple Watch, but the beta doesn’t currently allow you to display what’s currently being played or set shortcuts to workout playlists.
There are some nice additions over Apple’s traditional “Now Playing” screen, though. You can favorite songs so they’re added to your library, and there’s haptic and audio feedback (on the Apple Watch Series 4) when you use the digital crown to adjust volume.
It’s not clear exactly when Spotify plans to introduce this Apple Watch app, and the company is staying rather quiet about its plans. “We’re always testing new products and experiences, but have no further news to share at this time,” said a Spotify spokesperson last week. Either way, this initial version that’s being tested is very basic. Hopefully this is just an initial release, with more features planned for the future.
Spotify on Apple Watch hands-on. Here’s all the features this app does and doesn’t have: https://t.co/gcAlbXlgE2 pic.twitter.com/q4SYlB21GS— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) November 6, 2018
