Spotify users are about to suffer from a major drawback in the iPhone app. The company announced that Spotify Connect, which lets you control your songs when playing them on a speaker, will lose a simple yet very important feature: the ability to control volume with the iPhone’s physical volume buttons.
According to an update Spotify support page, Apple has “discontinued the technology that enables Spotify to control volume for connected devices using the volume buttons on the device.” Users have taken to social media to rage about the change.
With that, the easiest way to control volume is to open the Spotify app and adjust the volume there or on your connected device. The music streaming service says it is working with Apple to resolve this issue. However, this is not only about Spotify, as Sonos users also need to use its app to control volume.
At the moment, it’s unclear why Apple discontinued this technology. However, it’s definitely an issue for everyone who uses an app other than Apple Music. While one could argue that this might be the best time to switch streaming services, it could also fuel accusations from governments that Apple is maintaining a monopoly and making competition unfair.
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In the EU, Spotify will finally be able to display pricing on its app while directing customers to manage and subscribe on its website. However, globally, there’s an unspoken understanding that users know they need to manage their music streaming service subscriptions online.
Spotify says that changing volume with Connect will stop working by September 3. However, some users say it’s already stopped working. With that, the physical iPhone toggle has become unstable for connected devices, which could cause volume to spike during playback or other bugs.
One workaround could have been controlling Spotify from HomePod. Unfortunately, the company never adopted the necessary API, so it doesn’t work.