Australia to get low-cost Siri-designed Apple Music Voice Plan

Australia is one of 17 countries to get Apple Music’s latest offering – a low-cost Voice Plan designed exclusively for Siri costing $4.99 per month in the US.

Announced during the California-based tech giant’s virtual ‘Unleashed’ event, subscribers can request music be played across all of their Siri-enabled devices.

These include HomePod mini, AirPods, iPhone, or any other Apple device, and when using CarPlay.

Set to launch here in the next few weeks, Voice Plan offers access to its catalogue of 90 million songs; tens of thousands of playlists including New Music Daily, Today’s Hits, Today’s Country and A-List Pop; personalised mixes, and genre stations; as well as Apple Music Radio.

Hundreds of new mood and activity playlists fully optimised just for voice have been introduced.

These include music for hiking, cooking, relaxing or for a dinner party.

“Apple Music and Siri are natural partners and already work seamlessly together,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats.

“With Siri actively used on hundreds of millions of devices worldwide, we are thrilled to add this new plan that delivers an effortless music experience just by using your voice and makes Apple Music accessible to even more people around the world.”

There’ll be suggestions based on the listener’s music preferences and a queue of recently played music through Siri.

Within the app there will also be a dedicated section called “Just Ask Siri” where subscribers can learn tips to optimise it for the platform.

But Apple Music’s premium offerings, including Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio, Lyrics, and Music Video are not included in this plan.

Australian subscribers access these by switching to the individual plan for $11.99 per month or family plan with up to six accounts for $17.99 per month.

Users subscribe to the Voice Plan by saying “Hey Siri, start my Apple Music Voice trial,” or by signing up through the Apple Music app.

A one-off, seven-day free preview with no auto-renewal will be offered to non-subscribers who request music through Siri.

The other 16 countries in the roll-out are Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.