The feud between Apple and Spotify continues.
Spotify users on iPhone who listen to music and podcasts via Spotify Connect will have to take a few extra steps to control the volume on their audio devices. Spotify doesn’t seem happy about that.
According to Spotify, Apple has “discontinued” the technology that allowed Spotify users to control their volume via physical buttons on the iPhone when streaming to speakers, smart TVs, game consoles and other devices via Spotify Connect.
Users who try to use the iPhone’s physical buttons to increase or decrease the volume will receive a notification from Spotify informing them that they will need to use the volume slider in the Spotify app. By clicking on this “Want to change the volume?” notification, Spotify users will be redirected to the slider in the app.
This change will officially roll out on September 3, but some users are reporting that they are already receiving the notification when trying to change their volume.
Spotify and Apple continue their feud
In its update, Spotify makes it clear that Apple is responsible for making things a little more difficult for its iPhone users.
“Apple has deprecated the technology that allows Spotify to control the volume of connected devices using the device’s volume buttons,” Spotify says on its Spotify Connect support page. “Until we work with them on a solution, you can use the Spotify app to easily adjust the volume of your connected device.”
As The Verge points out, Apple’s changes have resulted in random volume spikes and other bugs for Spotify users, leading Spotify to change how users can control volume. The Sonos app made a similar change earlier this year after its users experienced similar issues.
“We asked Apple to introduce a solution similar to what they offer HomePod and Apple TV users for app developers that control non-Apple media devices,” Spotify reports in The Verge. “Apple told us they needed apps to integrate with HomePod to access the technology that controls volume on iPhones.”
While this specific volume control issue between these two industry giants may seem minor in the grand scheme of things, it’s actually just another issue between Spotify and Apple in a larger, ongoing feud.
Earlier this year, Apple was fined $2 billion in the EU after Spotify filed a lawsuit against the iPhone maker over its policies that prohibit app makers from sending users outside Apple’s official App Store to sign up for subscription services.
In response, Apple issued a public statement criticizing Spotify for using all of Apple’s tools to run the iPhone app without paying the company.
In the statement, Apple noted that it was working with Spotify to ensure its app works with “Siri, CarPlay, Apple Watch, AirPlay, Widgets, and more.” But it now appears that Spotify’s volume controls via the iPhone’s physical buttons are no longer on that list.
