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Siri stops rating Apple Music tunes; is it a bug or planned by Apple?

By Alan Friedman

Published: Jan 03, 2022, 5:14 PM

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So how do AirPods users out for a run rate a song they are listening to on Apple Music so that they can create a playlist based on their rankings? For that matter, what about CarPlay users who want to rate a song while driving their car? Ever since iOS 8 was released in 2014, members of the Apple ecosystem have been able to ask Siri to rate a specific song a certain number of stars as determined by the user.

For now, Siri won't keep track of your Apple Music ratings

However, it appears that this is a task that Siri no longer will do. Here's a post from the Apple Communities forum from a subscriber named Matt Tuley: "I've been using my iPhone and Siri to rate the songs in my music library. For months I've been playing the songs with the Music app on my iPhone (started on a 6S, currently on a 13) and rating them with "Hey Siri, rate this song [###] stars".

Siri has temporarily stopped keeping track of your Apple Music song rankings

He adds that "It's been working great, including the start of today, with Siri responding "Okay, I've rated it a [###] out of 5" or "Okay, I've rated it [###] stars." Some time today that stopped working. The only responses I get now are "Sorry, I can't do that" or "Sorry, I can't help you with that". All other Music related commands still seem to work. I can rate the songs manually via the ••• menu."

He can still turn data and Wi-Fi on and off and restart the phone, which was running iOS 15.1. He sums up his experience by saying, "It was working, then it wasn't. No indication of what changed or what the problem is. This is incredibly frustrating."

A Reddit user named King_Crown wrote: "No no no, trust me, everyone is pissed. We just think it’s a temporary problem. If it doesn’t get fixed soon you’ll hear more about it. Driving and listening to music whilst using Siri to help rate them was my go to. Now, there’s nothing." In iOS 15, Apple made some improvements to Siri to allow more tasks to be handled on-device without an internet connection.

The tasks that Siri can do without having to be online include setting alarms and timers, and opening apps. In iOS 15.2, Apple introduced a new Apple Music Voice Plan that relies on Siri to navigate Apple Music and register song selection. What's unknown is whether this is some type of bug or was planned by Apple. And if so, did it have anything to do with the new Music Voice Plan?

Apple Community Specialist acts like Siri's actions are due to a bug

A response from a Community Specialist makes it sound as though this is a bug. The specialist wrote in response to Mr. Turley's comment that "We see that you're having an issue with using Siri to rate your music. We'd be happy to help. You've already done some great troubleshooting steps to help with this issue. Next, let's have you go to Settings > Siri & Search > Listen for "Hey Siri", and toggle this off, restart your iPhone and go back in and toggle that setting back on. Once you've toggle it back on, test to see if the issue remains."

If the issue remains, the Community Specialist says to sign out and back in. Go to Settings > Tap on Your Name > Media & Purchases > Sign out. Once you're signed out, restart your device and go back to Settings > Tap on Your Name > Media & Purchases > and sign in." Unfortunately, this will temporarily remove any music you’ve saved for offline listening forcing you to once again download all the music you saved to listen to offline.

The final comment from the Community Specialist says that if the issue persists, then you will need to contact Apple Support for further assistance.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.