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.

[Elbeedabarge]

Hey folks, 

Some of you mentioned in this thread that changing the wording from “hey Siri, play song/artist” to “hey Siri, play song/artist on Spotify” does the trick. Those who haven't tried this yet, would you mind checking if it works for you as well? 

We'll be on the lookout for your replies.

[jameslreynolds79]

Hello all, my phone updated itself overnight yesterday and I am now having this exact same issue, opening spotify is fine but when I ask it to play something specific it just says some variation of ‘there seems to be a problem’ I have tried everything. Hard reset, deleting and reinstalling spotify, logged in and out, checked my siri settings.

[Jaysbiddle]

Having the same issue, and as above saying “on Spotify” works but without it I just get an error message. First started a couple weeks ago. 

[Connorqdaigle2000]

Have been having this problem for since the new update, hoping Spotify would fix it but it seems like nothing is being done 

[Fisibee]

I’m having the same issue

[nmacklin]

Same issue here! Only for the last few weeks, used fine for years before this.

[GLF7]

Same here! Phone hasn’t updated yet so I thought that might’ve been why, updated my phone and still doesn’t work. I’ve even tried using the actual search bar within Spotify on my car play screen to ask it to play a specific song and that doesn’t work. 

[linksvu]

Same thing happened to me. Siri would play Spotify for anything music related when told - “play artist” or “play song”. But then about a week ago that stopped working. I have tried lots of setting changes but nothing brought that back. The only thing that works is to now add “on Spotify” to each command.

[Emilymay06]

I’m having the same issue. Tried all the things suggested above. All apps and phone up to date

[Novy]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for the reports. 

If this hasn't been fixed for you yet, we'd suggest reaching out directly to Apple for further info on any changes from their end that might be causing this issue.

The Community will be here if anything else comes up.

[Piergiulio]

Same issue here on iPhone 13 mini, iOS 16.4.2, latest version of Spotify. Not working in both languages: Italian and English. 

[Gsolo]

Hello. This is happening to me as well and it started about 3 weeks ago. I’m able to use Siri to control Spotify perfectly fine when I’m on Bluetooth to my phone. However, the problem happens when connected to my Apple Watch cellular plan. I took my phone and watch into Apple and nothing came up wrong with my watch after a diagnostic. Importantly, the lead Genius Bar person tried controlling Spotify through Siri when connected to his watch’s cellular plan and the exact same issue as well. 

[xoko]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States, but currently staying in South Korea for a trip.

Device

iPhone 15 Pro

Operating System

iOS 18

My Question or Issue

Whenever I ask Siri to play some tracks like "Hey Siri, play a (track name) by (artist name) on Spotify" and Siri would sometimes reply "Looks like Spotify doesn't have a clean version of that." or "I don't see an app for that. You'll need to download one" and won't play the track at all.

This is a very weird issue which also happens when I use Carplay.

What do you think is the cause of this issue? Can I solve this? 

Thanks.

[Tcriss66]

I am experiencing this exact issue and it is so frustrating.  Every time I am running (leave phone at home), whatever I’m listening to at the start is just fine, running on LTE from my Apple Watch Ultra 2 just fine… then like I used to I say “hey siri play x on Spotify” every time it now says an error occurred.   Please fix

[sunnydj]

Just ask Siri to play Music.

Might have to agree something.

then ask it to play something on Spotify 

Mines all working again now…..

[normanbates]

Yes! "hey Siri, play song/artist on Spotify” does the trick .  Thank you.  Been workin on this for days.

[BradPAC · Accepted solution]

I found out, and tested, that if you say "on spotify" at the end of the request it will work.  So instead of just saying "hey siri, play Michael Jackson," you say "hey siri, play Michael Jackson on Spotify" and it will work.

[TheoryGuy]

It does work if I say on Spotify, but I never had to say that before, and I don’t want to have to say on Spotify every time. Please fix issue