Spotify to Add Novel AirPlay 2 Feature to iOS App

Spotify has plans to allow the iOS app to support AirPlay 2 streaming. The digital music giant did not reveal dates for the launch. Music and podcast giant has clarified that the iOS app will add support for AirPlay 2. The company is also testing a subscription option for $0.99 a month.

This confirmation provides much-needed clarity on the earlier statement, which made it look like Spotify had put the feature on indefinite hold.AirPlay 2 is the latest iteration of Apple’s proprietary wireless protocol. AirPlay 2 was unveiled alongside iOS 11 at Apple’s WWDC event in 2017. The new version is a big step up over the original protocol, offering lower latency, multi-room support, streaming to stereo speakers, and Siri integration.

Microsoft is planning to integrate Spotify into a new Windows 11 feature. Panos Panay, Microsoft’s head of Windows and devices, teased the Focus Sessions Windows 11 feature on Twitter this week, and it appears to be a new way to focus on tasks and work. Focus Sessions includes Spotify integration, allowing you to create a focus timer to work through tasks while listening to a playlist of music from Spotify. Microsoft hasn’t started testing Focus Sessions in its public builds of Windows 11 yet, but from the video, Panay teased it appears to be built into the operating system’s Clock app.

Spotify Plus is a new low-cost subscription tier being piloted by the streaming service which combines elements of its existing free and premium tiers. The plan still features ads like Spotify free tier, but it doesn’t impose any limits on the number of tracks you can skip per hour. Users are also free to pick which specific songs they want to listen to, rather than mostly being limited to shuffling within albums and playlists.