Siri play requests not working with Spotify

[Elbeedabarge]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

iPhone 16 plus

Operating System

iOS 18.6

My Question or Issue

When I want to search for a song or prompt Siri with a specific command (“hey siri, play Michael Jackson”) she repeatedly says some version of “there was a problem, try again.” I have rebooted my vehicle console, restarted Spotify, uninstalled and reinstalled Spotify, turned my phone off and on, checked to make sure I have the latest software on both the app and my device…just about everything short of a factory reset which I don’t want to do. Nothing has worked, still no luck with CarPlay commands. However it be worth noting if I only say “hey Siri, open Spotify” that works. It’s just having issues with music search.

[MihailY]

Hey @Elbeedabarge,

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the Community.

We haven't seen any similar reports so as a next step, can you make sure that Spotify is selected as the default music service under Settings - Search & Siri - Ask Siri - Default Music App?

Also, do you get the same error when you're not connected to CarPlay?

Keep us posted.

[Elbeedabarge]

Thank you for the suggestion but “Siri & Search” is not an option in my iPhone settings. I have “Apple Intelligence & Siri” and “Search,” neither of which seem to offer any solution. I have trouble shorted more and found that all the settings for Siri and Spotify seem to be in place, and locations services are enabled in the correct way of that makes any difference. I have noticed a suggestion to turn off my VPN and will try that next time I am in the vehicle, although that hasn’t presented an interference in the past. But maybe with the new iOS update something is wrong there. I will keep you posted.

[MihailY]

Hey @Elbeedabarge,

Thanks for your reply and kudos for the additional troubleshooting you've tried.

Using a VPN often causes issues with Spotify and is generally not supported, so it's very possible that this is what's causing the error.

Let us know what happens when your disable it and if the issue persists, we'll continue the investigation.

Cheers,

[Elbeedabarge]

Unfortunately disabling my VPN did not work. I’m kind of at a loss now. Anything else you can suggest? 

[AlejaR]

Hey there @Elbeedabarge,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

We've located this Apple Community thread in which other users mentioned Siri voice commands started to work again by activating the Bluetooth of your iPhone, would you mind giving it a try?

On another note, and just to confirm, does this happen only when using Spotify or do you notice this is an issue while trying to use other apps? If this is just an issue only with Spotify, we'd like to gather some additional info. Please send us:

• The exact Spotify version you're running.
• Does this happen if you open a different account on the affected device? You can ask for the account of a relative or a friend to open it on your iPhone and check.
• As mentioned by @MihailY Mihail before, does the same happen when not using Carplay?

If perhaps this is happening while trying to use other apps via Siri commands, we'd recommend reaching out to Apple. According to the Community thread we linked above, this seems to be a generalized issue while using Siri and CarPlay at the same time. 

We'll be around!

[Elbeedabarge]

Hello, to answer your questions:

1. I just tried using Siri voice command without being connected to CarPlay and it’s the same issue. Siri will open the Spotify app no problem, but says something went wrong when asked to play something specific.

2. I tried turning Bluetooth off and on just now and it did not help.

3. The Spotify version I am using is 9.0.66.708

4. A family member also on my shared premium account (different user name) tried the request prompt using his iPhone 16 Plus and everything works as expected. Additionally right now I logged out of Spotify on my phone and logged back in with that family member’s user name and the prompt also worked as expected. Then I logged out of that account and logged back in using my user name again and the problem still happened 😞 so it seems perhaps there might be something going on with my account specifically?

[Spotted745]

I have the same issue! It started two days ago after years of using Siri in the car with CarPlay to find and play tracks on Spotify. I have changed literally nothing on my phone or car. Siri can perform every other command but cannot do anything with Spotify. It’s super frustrating. 

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

@Elbeedabarge, thanks for the additional info. @Spotted745, thank you for joining the thread.

@Spotted745, would it possible to try the same test (different device/account) to narrow down the possible cause? Also, please let us know the models, OS versions and Spotify versions of the devices this occurs on.

@Elbeedabarge, if this error only happens with your account, it's worth removing access for all apps on this page (you can re-add them later, no worries) as a last troubleshooting step before we forward this to our tech team for further review.

Let us know how it goes.

[Spotted745]

Thanks. I’m running iOS 18.6 and Spotify 9.0.66.708. I don’t have another account/device I can switch to. 

[Elbeedabarge]

Okay, I removed all the app access from my account. Still no luck 😞

[Ivelina]

Hey again folks and thank you for the details so far! We really appreciate it.

We looked into this behavior and tried to reproduce it, but so far Spotify and Siri work as expected on our end.

@Elbeedabarge you already mentioned reinstalling the app, but could you give it another go just in case and make sure that you've followed the steps in this help article.

@Spotted745 we also recommend that you try with the same step if you've not already done so to test if you're able to play something on Spotify via Siri afterwards (without Car Play).

The reason for the suggested above troubleshooting is because there's another thread here where other users reported something similar and reinstalling the app seems to have done the trick for them.

Lastly, it would be great if you could send us a screenshot or two of your iPhone Settings that you've set up both for Siri and Spotify (Settings > Siri and Settings > Apps > Spotify). You can attach them to your next responses via the Insert Image option in the post editor, just make sure that no sensitive info is visible.

Thanks and don't hesitate to let us know if anything else comes up in the meantime. 

[Elbeedabarge]

Hi there, I have uninstalled and reinstalled Spotify again as requested. Here are the screenshots from settings. If you need any more clarification please let me know. 

[Elbeedabarge]

Another screenshot that didn’t fit on last reply 

[ElHaMcG]

This is also happening me. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling most things, bar a full factory reset of my phone. Only seems to have occurred since updating to ios18.6. Likewise I don’t have the “Siri and search”

options on my phone. At a loss…

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

@Elbeedabarge, thanks for the screenshot. @ElHaMcG, thank you for joining the thread.

I've forwarded your reports to the relevant team at Spotify for further review. We'll keep you posted on any updates in this thread.

@Elbeedabarge, in the meantime, can you check if this happens when you use your account on your family member's iPhone that tested this previously?

It would also be helpful if you all can check different commands (specific songs/playlists from Your Library) so the team has a better overview of the issue.

Appreciate your cooperation!

[DKNJ1]

im in the same boat, ask siri no longer working on spotify both the app or directly.  i did notice spotify is not listed on microphone in settings so i cant even toggle that on and off.

[OscarDC]

Hey @DKNJ1,

Welcome to the Community and thank you for your report.

In order to look into this further with the relevant team, let us know the following info:

- Your device info (make/model) and OS version

- Exact Spotify version

Also, if you've tried any troubleshooting so far, would you mind including it on your next response as well?

We'll be on the lookout for your response. 

[Jackwack7]

I’m having the same problem on my end and when using car play I can use hey siri play this song on Spotify but when I click the ask Siri in the search tab it says something went wrong try again later, I have tried logging out and back in uninstalling and installing again, clearing cache, tried my partners phone in the car and hers works perfectly, I am on Spotify version 9.0.68.684 and iOS version 18.6.1 

started happening 3 days ago and still hasn’t sorted itself even with the new Spotify update at a bit of a loss as I liked to use this feature

[RBWII]

Yes it fails whether connected or not