Spotify Backtracks, Says AirPlay 2 Support Is Coming After All
Good news, Spotify users — AirPlay 2 support is eventually coming to the iOS app. If this sounds confusing, that's because Spotify said the exact opposite just a few days ago. On the company's support forums, a representative recently said that development for AirPlay 2 on Spotify had been ended due to "audio driver compatibility issues." This came as quite the gut-punch for iPhone and iPad owners who subscribe to Spotify, as the old version of AirPlay it currently uses often results in a delay when issuing commands.
If it often feels difficult to keep up with everything happening at Spotify, that's because it is. Spotify is regularly tweaking its app and testing new things, meaning there's a lot to regularly take in. The company is working on the new Spotify HiFi service for launch later this year, it recently released Spotify Greenroom to compete with Clubhouse, and it's trialing a 'Spotify Plus' subscription for just 99-cents per month. With so much happening at any given time, smaller updates can often go unnoticed.
When it comes to the AirPlay 2 situation, the good news is that the feature is officially heading to the iOS app. In a new post on its community forums, Spotify said the following: "We apologize for any confusion we have caused. To clarify, Spotify will support Airplay 2. Please continue to use this thread to add your votes and comments." There's no explanation for Spotify's previous comment saying AirPlay 2 functionality was dead, but this is still a step in the right direction. As for AirPlay 2's ETA, Spotify says it'll "post updates when they become available."
For folks confused why any of this matters in the first place, the TL;DR is that AirPlay 2 offers substantial improvements over the old version Spotify currently uses. The main benefit of AirPlay 2 is that it supports multi-room playback, allowing audio to be sent from an Apple gadget to multiple speakers simultaneously. AirPlay 2 also has better integration with the Apple Home app, along with improved connectivity compared to AirPlay 1.
The kicker to this whole thing is that AirPlay 2 was first announced back in 2017. It's far from new technology, but for whatever reason, Spotify is still working to integrate it into its app. Spotify didn't offer a deep explanation of the "audio driver compatibility issues" it's causing, but that seems like something that should have been resolved in less than four years. Here's to hoping AirPlay 2 comes soon — ideally before Spotify backtracks on its backtrack.
Source: Spotify