Apple is shuttering the Apple Music Voice plan, which let users access songs only through Siri for $4.99 per month.
Apple initially announced the Voice plan in October 2021. Users who found using the app too taxing or too expensive could request music by mood — tunes for a dinner party or for studying — at a reduced price. Apple built a selection of playlists to facilitate those requests.
The experiment lasted roughly two years. “Beginning in November, Apple will discontinue the Apple Music Voice plan,” the company wrote in a post on its website. “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. All Apple Music plans already work seamlessly with Siri, and we will continue to optimize this experience.”
Apple does not regularly report subscriber numbers, so it’s not clear how many people were using the Voice plan. In the summer of 2019, Apple Music said it had passed 60 million subscribers overall. Three years later, J.P. Morgan estimated the service could hit 110 million subscribers by 2025.
Apple’s site notes that users on the Voice plan can “switch to another Apple Music plan: Individual, Student, or Family.” The prices of these have all gone up in the last 18 months. In June 2022, the student plan went from $4.99 a month to $5.99. Then in the fall of 2022, Apple Music individual plans rose from $9.99 to $10.99, family plans climbed from $14.99 to $16.99, and annual plans increased from $99 to $109.
More recently, in March, Apple Music announced a stand-alone app devoted solely to classical music.
