Spotify Connect drops iPhone volume control support & blames Apple

Anurag Singh
Spotify logo on phone

Spotify users on iPhones won’t be able to control the volume on connected devices with their physical volume buttons anymore. And the music streaming giant says this is Apple’s fault.

Spotify has been Apple’s most vocal critic (after Epic, of course), and the latest issue between the tech giants involves volume buttons. Spotify says Apple “discontinued the technology” that allowed users to use the volume buttons on iOS devices to adjust levels when using Spotify Connect.

Spotify Connect is a feature that allows you to remotely control Spotify on other devices using the Spotify app on your phone, tablet, or computer.

“Apple has discontinued the technology that enables Spotify to control volume for connected devices using the volume buttons on the device,” the company says in a support article. “While we work with them on a solution, you can use the Spotify app to easily adjust the volume on your connected device.”

Apple Products

The company said that even before Apple disabled the technology, the experience of using the iPhone’s volume buttons was often unstable, resulting in bugs such as volume spikes during sessions.

Spotify iOS users can still use the volume slider in the Spotify Connect menu within the app to control the volume on connected devices. The company pointed out that this issue doesn’t impact users controlling volume during iOS Bluetooth or AirPlay sessions, nor does it affect Android users.

The music streaming company claims Apple disabling the tech is a violation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires interoperability from big technology companies dubbed “gatekeepers.”

Apple offers similar technology for Apple Music to play on third-party devices, but Spotify says it won’t be given access to it. “Apple has told us that they require apps to integrate with HomePod to access the technology that controls volume on iPhones,” the company said in its update, according to TechCrunch.

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