Apple Music just shut down its cheapest option — the Voice Plan. The subscription, which launched in 2021 and cost $5 per month, featured a Siri-only experience; the only way to access Apple Music’s catalog is to request a song, genre, album or artist by using voice commands.
While Apple didn’t formally announce that it was discontinuing the plan, it writes the following on its support page:
“Beginning in November, Apple will discontinue the Apple Music Voice plan. We are focused on delivering the best, most robust music experience possible for our customers, with features like immersive Spatial Audio, Apple Music Sing with real-time lyrics, intuitive browse and discovery features, and so much more.”
According to 9to5Mac, when Apple released iOS 17.1 beta, the publication found code references that indicated Apple would soon be killing the plan.
The company didn’t provide a reason as to why the plan was discontinued, but it’s our guess that it didn’t gain enough traction. It’s possible that not many users were a fan of the plan’s restricted nature; no real-time lyrics or options to add songs to your library or create custom playlists. Also, the Voice Plan was only available in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Austria, Canada, Mexico, China, France, Germany, Spain, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Taiwan.
For anyone who misses the Siri-only experience, the company reminded users that all Apple Music plans — Individual ($11/month), Student ($6/month), Family($17/month) and Apple One — allow subscribers to use Siri, including Type to Siri, to play any song, album, playlist or radio station.
As of today, the Voice Plan has been officially removed from Apple’s website. Existing Voice subscribers can continue using the plan for the duration of their final billing cycle, but auto-renew has been turned off.
Source @TechCrunch
