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Can Your Apple Watch Do This?

blairh

blairh

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 11, 2007
6,119
4,832
Look closely at the gold Apple Watch in this ad. It shows it being asked to play 'Let It Happen' by Tame Impala.

Well not only does my Apple Watch not play individual songs when I ask it to (I am not subscribed to Apple Music) but it cannot understand when I ask it the very same prompt in this ad. (Yes I have this album on my iPhone.) It will always come out as 'Tame Paula' or something along those lines.

So, can you get it to work (if you own this album that is). Also will 2.0 allow us non-Apple Music subscribers to ask our Watch to play a song?

EDIT: It now works with the 2.0 update.

EvM0n6n.jpg
 
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I don't have that album, but I tried it with another song that is not synced to my Apple Watch and it worked.
 
I do subscribe to Apple Music, but I can use Siri to play a single song, both in my collection, and not in my collection, through Apple Music. I am using 2.0
 
I am subscribed to apple music, and it worked for me.

"Play let it happen by tame impala."

Song plays on iPhone.
 
I'm not subscribed to apple music, but I ask siri on my watch to play a specific song and it finds the song in my music library (this includes my iCloud library not on my phone) no problem. I just say, "Hey Siri, play "XYZ" and the song starts shortly after. I use this feature all the time when I'm at home.

I can either say an artists name, album name or song. It is very accurate.

I'm running watchOS 1.0.1 with iOS 9.1 PB.
 
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kupkakez said:
I had no idea you could do this!
Click to expand...

I feel like the watch version of Siri is smarter than the phone version, even thought thats probably not the case. Many times when I ask siri on my phone to play something, I get questions back or it plays something else. The watch Siri is always correct when working with music selection. You can even switch songs in the middle of a song thats playing if you change your mind.

I hope a future update of Siri allows you to control the volume without switching to the music controls on the watch.
 
i have a similar problem (although less so because I am subscribed to apple music) in that, when I ask it to play certain songs that I have downloaded to my iphone and are available offline... it will try to play a different version of the same song and stream it straight from apple music. annoying.
 
Böhme417 said:
I am subscribed to apple music, and it worked for me.

"Play let it happen by tame impala."

Song plays on iPhone.
Click to expand...

Via your Apple Watch?

The issue is that if you are not subscribed to Apple Music, you can't pull up individual songs via the Apple Watch.
 
prezasti said:
I'm not subscribed to apple music, but I ask siri on my watch to play a specific song and it finds the song in my music library (this includes my iCloud library not on my phone) no problem. I just say, "Hey Siri, play "XYZ" and the song starts shortly after. I use this feature all the time when I'm at home.

I can either say an artists name, album name or song. It is very accurate.

I'm running watchOS 1.0.1 with iOS 9.1 PB.
Click to expand...
This has never worked for me since owning the Apple Watch. It will never pull up a song stored on my iPhone.
 
blairh said:
This has never worked for me since owning the Apple Watch. It will never pull up a song stored on my iPhone.
Click to expand...

I looked online (Google) and people are reporting in the apple.com forums about a bug that changed this option on their watch to only work again when signing up for the Apple Music Trial and some claim it never worked to begin with.

This is the quote from iosguides.net on the easiest way to play music with Siri on the apple watch:

"Ask Siri to play a song
The easiest way to play a song on Apple Watch is to ask Siri to start playing it. Just lift your Apple Watch and say “Hey Siri, play Hold Back The River,” or “Hey Siri, play music by James Bay,” and Siri will automatically start playing music that’s either on your iPhone or stored locally on Apple Watch."

They put this appleOS guide out on April 22, 2015, so it was an option from the beginning. My guess is you have been plagued with the bug since day one?
 
prezasti said:
I looked online (Google) and people are reporting in the apple.com forums about a bug that changed this option on their watch to only work again when signing up for the Apple Music Trial and some claim it never worked to begin with.

This is the quote from iosguides.net on the easiest way to play music with Siri on the apple watch:

"Ask Siri to play a song
The easiest way to play a song on Apple Watch is to ask Siri to start playing it. Just lift your Apple Watch and say “Hey Siri, play Hold Back The River,” or “Hey Siri, play music by James Bay,” and Siri will automatically start playing music that’s either on your iPhone or stored locally on Apple Watch."

They put this appleOS guide out on April 22, 2015, so it was an option from the beginning. My guess is you have been plagued with the bug since day one?
Click to expand...

Correct on all fronts.
 
I had never done this in the past and am not subscribed to Apple Music. Nevertheless, I just asked Siri to play music by Linkin Park and it worked. It took a few seconds for the music to start, but it worked. However, when I asked Siri to play a specific song by Linkin Park, it failed.
 
ifarlow said:
I had never done this in the past and am not subscribed to Apple Music. Nevertheless, I just asked Siri to play music by Linkin Park and it worked. It took a few seconds for the music to start, but it worked. However, when I asked Siri to play a specific song by Linkin Park, it failed.
Click to expand...
Exactly. My Watch will play an album if I ask it to or music by and artist. But it will not fire up a specific song and it should be able to.
 
blairh said:
Exactly. My Watch will play an album if I ask it to or music by and artist. But it will not fire up a specific song and it should be able to.
Click to expand...

Try it again when you get watchOS 2.0 installed. My friends that were getting the same results as you can now play any song just by saying "Hey Siri play XYZ" They aren't signed up for Apple Music.
 
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