After the revolution of touch screens on mobile phones (which have changed so much in our way of communicating and finding information), a new revolution is among us: the possibility of using our smart devices using only the voice, without necessarily having to use the on-screen controls and keyboards. One of the most pleasant scenarios for using voice commands involves using your voice to start our favorite music, so that you can play it with the phone speaker or through dedicated speakers.
In this guide we will show you how to play music via voice commands on devices that support Google Assistant, on devices that support Amazon Alexa and finally on devices that support Apple's Siri.
READ ALSO: Amazon Alexa: How to create routines and new voice commands
Play music through Google Assistant
We will first show you how to best configure an Android smartphone to use Google Assistant in any scenario, so that you can start music even without unlocking the screen, using only our voice.
We open the drawer of the app and search for Google among those available, then click on the lower right on the menu More -> Settings .
If the app is not present or not updated, we recommend using the following link to remedy -> Google Android App and Google App iPhone.
From this menu we click on Voice, then on Voice Match ; from the new screen that will appear, activate the items Log in with Voice Match and Unlock with Voice Match, then set the voice model to allow the assistant to respond to requests made only with our voice.
Now that Google's voice assistant is always active on our smartphone, simply say "Ok, Google" to activate it and, after the appearance of the listening screen (which will also appear if the phone was previously blocked), just say one of the following phrases to be able to listen to your favorite music:
- Play music [Genre]
- Play relaxing music
- Put some music from [Artist or band name]
- Play [Artist or band name]
- Put on some random music
Using these voice commands, the Google assistant will begin the search for the music video and immediately start playing with the speakers of the phone (obviously there must be a correspondence with the name or group indicated).
If we have installed Spotify or any other streaming app on the phone, we can start playback on a specific app, indicating it in the voice commands seen a little while ago:
- Play music [Genre] on Spotify (or other app)
- Play relaxing music on Spotify (or other app)
- Put some [Artist or band name] music on Spotify (or other app)
- Play [Artist or band name] on Spotify (or other app)
- Put random music on Spotify (or other app)
- Play my playlist [Playlist name] on [App name]
To interface correctly with some apps, it may be necessary to have a Premium subscription, otherwise we will be able to play only random content without the possibility of choosing playlists or specific tracks (this is the case with Spotify).
The commands seen a little while ago can also be used without a telephone, using one of the Google Home devices put on the market.
These speakers (available in classic and mini versions) will always be listening and will be able to reproduce our voice commands, including those for playing music; to be able to use them correctly, simply connect them to our Google account and use one of the commands already recommended a little while ago, without having to use an Android phone every time!
To learn more, I refer you to reading our guide -> What Google Home can do: voice assistant, music and home automation
Play music via Amazon Alexa
If instead we wanted to play music using the Alexa voice assistant, made by Amazon, the simplest method involves installing the Alexa app on Android or iPhone .
Once this app is installed on the phone, we access it using the credentials of a valid Amazon account, so that we can start the music search by pressing the Alexa button inside the app.
Unfortunately it is not possible to replace Alexa with the Google assistant or Siri and act without using your hands, but we can remedy it by purchasing one of the Echo devices offered for sale by Amazon.
Once you have purchased one of the Echo devices, simply configure it through the Alexa app on your mobile phone, associate one or more accounts of famous streaming services (Spotify, Amazon Music, Radio 105 etc.) then use one of the following voice commands to be able to play music via Echo:
- Alexa, play romantic music
- Alexa, play the best tracks of [Author or band name]
- Alexa, put some [Artist or band name] music on Spotify (or other app)
- Alexa, play music [Genre] on Spotify (or other app)
- Alexa, play random music on Amazon Music
The voice assistant will reproduce the requests forwarded through the configured audio streaming services (by default it will always use Amazon Music unless otherwise specified).
Even in this case, it may be necessary to subscribe to one or more streaming services in order to access all the music catalogs or the specific reproduction of a song, album or playlist.
To learn more about how Alexa works and how to correctly configure an Amazon Echo, we refer you to our dedicated guide -> Configure a new Amazon Echo and Alexa settings.
READ ALSO: How to play PC music with Alexa and Google Home
Play music through Siri
For those who love to use Apple devices, you can play music on an iPhone or iPad by making a request to Siri, the voice assistant integrated on all modern Apple devices.
To play a piece of music, activate Siri's voice commands by holding down the Home button or the side button (on iPhone X and later) and then we begin to pronounce the desired command; alternatively we can simply say "Hey Siri" with the screen unlocked to listen.
With Siri active we will be able to search for music by saying:
- Search song [Song name]
- Play [Track name]
- Play the best tracks of [Group or artist name]
- Play random music
Siri will search for songs and video clips on the Internet; if we want to get a better music service, we recommend subscribing to an Apple Music subscription, so as to search for songs directly from there without the need to search for the corresponding videos on the Internet.
Once registered, just use one of the following commands on Siri to play music:
- Put some music from [Artist or band name]
- Play [Artist or band name]
- Put on some random music
- Play the best music of [Artist or band name]
- Play album [Album name] of [Artist or band name]
If interested we can get more information here -> Use Siri to listen to music or podcasts.
