Apple Music’s Siri-only “Voice Plan” is now available for $5 a month

Briefly: In the event you actually love voice assistants, and have a tendency to make use of them for all the things you probably can in your life — together with enjoying your music — you is perhaps happy to listen to that Apple Music’s Siri-only plan is on the market now as a part of iOS 15.2. Dubbed the “Voice Plan,” it comes at a considerably decreased price in comparison with the service’s different non-Scholar plans, however it has some drawbacks because of this.

We coated the Voice Plan in higher element a pair months in the past, however we’ll briefly summarize its performance once more right here. In the event you join the plan, you will solely be paying $5 a month for a similar, limitless entry too all of Apple Music’s 90 million songs, “tens of 1000’s of playlists,” or its numerous Radio stations.

Then there’s the catch: you possibly can solely entry that content material by asking Siri to play it for you. Relying on what system you are utilizing to play music, it’s possible you’ll or might not be capable of management it utilizing on-screen controls. The iPhone is one system the place this characteristic works — it’s a must to use Siri to begin a music, however you possibly can pause, play, and regulate the progress bar by an on-screen panel (not the total Music app, nonetheless).

It is fairly easy, to be sincere; there aren’t actually any hidden complexities to concentrate on. It is simply honest-to-goodness discounted music streaming with stripped-back options. It isn’t ultimate for individuals who need extra granular management over their music-playing expertise, however it may very well be seen as a major step-up over the ad-supported mannequin of Spotify’s free plan (to call one instance).

In the event you’re new to Apple Music, you possibly can attempt any of the service’s plans out for gratis for 3 months. After the trial is up, you will be auto-billed $5, $10, or $15 per thirty days relying on the plan you chose at sign-up.

Different notable options arriving with iOS 15.2 right now embody extra protections for minors utilizing the Messages app and the “Digital Legacy” software, which helps you to successfully designate an inheritor to your iCloud account and different private knowledge within the occasion of your demise (assuming Apple remains to be round when that day comes).