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along with other posters, I believe the app needs offline and cellular functionality(ability to connect to internet without phone) to be worth anything. Holding off on getting a apple watch until these specific features are part of the spotify apple watch app.
 
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Either way if the feature still not available to a third party app until now then Apple had a headstart which creates an unfair advantage over the competition. Just imagine if I have Spotify then bought a non-cellular iWatch and I do outdoor running and want to listen to the music then I only have one option. Since I wanted the feature so bad, that will force me to jump into Apple Music. After months of use I already started liking Apple Music and created more running playlist.

With all due respect please research Antitrust Laws/violations, I don’t believe you have enough information to hold that opinion. Apple is not violating any antitrust laws by creating the Background Music API. Now the onus is on Spotify to create an offline music option which they have already said will be part of a future update.

Apple is a hardware company first and if having Spotify on the Apple Watch gets someone to finally go buy one (many online comments I have read today) that’s a win for Apple.
 
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As a watch user I’m very happy about this. I used to think the watch was just for notifications, but after getting the series 4 with bigger screen and much faster, I finally see the advantage of watch apps. I hope this leads to some momentum with more apps getting released on the watch (I’m looking at you WhatsApp).

/Apple Music user
 
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It’s a good first start, but without offline syncing the app is next to useless.

Strange considering the app they bought out several years ago had that functionality it seems they’ve stripped features during this extended time they’ve taken to release it.
 
From how I'm reading it, this sounds like it's just an extension of your iPhone. You still have to have your phone near you for this to work, i.e no wifi Spotify through your watch and only your watch. It's a glorified remote control. Unless I'm missing something?
 
It's just a playback remote for the phone app at this point. Wake me up when I can connect my bluetooth headphones to my watch and leave my phone in the gym locker.
 
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Honestly amazed nobody has jumped in this now in over a year of having cellular capabilities on Apple Watch. I'm still waiting on google music. For a long while I assumed it was some sort of Apple restriction. Now I'm not so sure.

Edit: I guess it's not a standalone streaming app? Can't be used without the iPhone?
 
Why does the main screen not have a button to thumbs up or thumbs down songs? Same thing with the Spotify controls on the lock screen.
 
And in a year on MacRumors:

Apple Watch support was mysteriously pulled from the Spotify app today. When asked for comment, Spotify PR Head Dustee Jenkins said "Apple Watch app? What Apple Watch app?" This is the latest in a line of popular apps pulling support for Apple Watch and then never talking about it again.
 
Don't put the cart before the horse. Cellular and offline mode don't mean **** if there's still no headphone support via the Watch. Let's get that issue resolved first with even a small cache of offline music synched from our iPhone, we then request that streaming and offline modes be available.

[It seems that Apple's new API for watchOS 5 doesn't allow for cellular or WiFI streaming. ]

I hadn't even thought of that yet! Yes, that's kinda important.
 
At first tempted, but then I remembered my general lesson from buying the first Apple Watch: it is easier just to pick up the phone and do tasks in general. However, for running it will be great if offline mode will be available.
 
well so far I can't connect the spotify watch app to anything but my phone. Shows my amazon spot speaker, but just sticks on ''connecting" and my Homepod speaker does not even show up. If I use my phone to connect Spotify to my Home Pod, I can then control it from my watch with the spot app, but volume does not work. Too early too many bugs I guess. But at least it's a start...
 
my car doesnt have bluetooth so I bought a bluetooth -> aux adapter. It works perfectly with my S4AW. I can easily stream music from the watch to the car without my phone being anywhere nearby. Seems it depends on the bluetooth chip in the car. My friends Odyssey can not connect to his watch...
But what I don’t understand is why using Siri to play music is different from manually using the music app? Since when you use Siri, it then takes you to “Now Playing” with your music controls. It appears AW only knows to relay through phone when using Siri.
 
wait, third party apple watch apps cant stream over LTE? So no matter what as of now Spotify can't allow streaming music over LTE?

There is an app on the store that does this today for Spotify, both streaming and offline payback is supported.

Search for Apollo ...
 
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I've been waiting for that for a long time. You buy an Apple Watch and can not use Spotify on it :( I always listen to my music through Spotify. Now I can only go with the Apple Watch for jogging and do not have to carry about losing the iPhone.
 
Your son is correct. The equalizer that’s built in to Spotify is excellent. I’ve used Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal Hi-Fi (the expensive higher quality version)— and I like Spotify the best.

The EQ has 5 settings which keeps it both easy and useful. I have pairs of headphones that either have a little too much bass, or too much treble, and a little tweak of the EQ fixes that. (It’s not as nerdy or difficult as it may sound.)

Some of my favorite albums were also mixed a little strangely, and if I’m feeling particularly anal, I might adjust the EQ to better fit an album.

Apple Music, like many current Apple interfaces is stripped down and “minimal” to the point that it feels kind of stupid. I understand wanting to keep the UI clean and uncluttered, but Apple keeping sound modification so simple that in place of an EQ (that you could screw up! /s) you get presets like “Rock” or “Classical”— and like all EQ presents I found them worthless.

I agree with everything you said. On top of that it has a webplayer, gapless playback, great UI, awesome algorithms, Spotify connect...

But all this goes to waste for me with how they handle local music. I listen to a lot of soundtracks and a lot of them are missing. Half of the Transformers soundtracks but also videogame music like they recently released Destiny 2 Forsaken. Like 40 percent of my collection is nowhere to be found.

Thanks to iCloud music library I can manage only 1 library and it uploads my own music and make it looks and feel like it is part of Apple Music.

Also it is possible to edit tags on Apple Music so I can fix these tags like ‘Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship of the ring Original Soundtrack From The Motion Pucture (The complete recordings) - Digital deluxe edition’

:)
 
I can easily imagine a scenario where Apple worked with the major carriers - particularly in the US - as part of the effort to get the limited price coverage. That would likely have included some agreement that the majority of traffic would be over the primary device (phone) with the watch as a secondary. Carriers would want to know that adding n Watch would not substantively increase overall traffic. Allowing all 3rd party apps to use the cellular connection could create a scenario where both the watch and the phone were using significant traffic. Might be totally wrong, but this makes sense to me.


Traffic is traffic. Carriers have zero reason to care which device data is going too.
 
I think we’ll have to be patient. Today’s release is just the beginning.

Haha. Well, whether I'm patient or not, I gotta wait.

I almost switched to Apple Music because of the family plan when it first launched. Then Spotify matched it and I stuck around. I like Spotify a lot and really haven't switched primarily due to inertia. That and most people talk about Apple Music like a necessary evil as opposed to something they really like. (I've never touched it myself just because... inertia.)
 
There is an app on the store that does this today for Spotify, both streaming and offline payback is supported.

Search for Apollo ...

I just found it. HOW?? Marco Arment, developer of Overcast, stated at the time of watchOS 5’s release that he couldn’t add streaming because of Apple’s API restrictions. How is this app doing it? I don’t have Spotify Premium so I can’t test it out.
 
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