Apple Music Voice hasn’t reached two years of life. Announced in October 2021 alongside the HomePod mini, its effective debut came two months later in December 2021 with iOS 15.2, although it was aimed at all Apple devices with Siri and capable of playing audio. It was undoubtedly a revolutionary design, both in terms of price (well below the most economical plans of its competitors) and in terms of its peculiar way of operation.

Its price, as I say, was much lower than other streaming music services, It offered access to the entire Apple Music catalog for just 4.99 euros per month, without a single exception. However, it did so at the cost of imposing severe restrictions in other aspects. The main thing is that the only way to control it was through Siri, or in the case of the iPhone and iPad, through the Apple Music app, but with limited features. So it was evident that they were targeting smart speaker users rather than people with other devices.

Still, it was a very interesting proposition for people who wanted a music streaming service but were on a tight budget and willing to accept the limitations of Apple Music Voice. Now it’s over because, as we can read on the company’s support website (in English), Apple has decided to end Apple Music Voice effective immediately.

At the top of the image, a screenshot of the Apple Music page from October 31. Captures below from today, November 2nd.

So obviously It is no longer possible to contract the service and unlike other similar cases where existing subscribers are granted a grace period, in this case Apple Music Voice subscriptions will automatically terminate, without the option of renewal, at the end of the current billing cycle. Apple’s goal is very clear that this is the most economical voice plan for its streaming service I missed December.

This move is not yet reflected in the Spanish support page, but Apple Music Voice has been removed from the service’s main pageand it’s also not available as a subscription modality through iOS, so we can assume that its removal has a global or virtually global impact. The cheapest subscription option thus becomes individual, with a monthly amount of 10.99 euros, with the exception of students who, if they prove such a condition, can subscribe for 5.99 euros.

The year 2023 is disastrous for users of subscription services. We have seen increases in virtually all subscriptions (some of which occurred in 2022), which in the vast majority of cases did not translate into improvements in the services associated with them. Worse, there are voices suggesting that it has only just begun, that “streamflation” is yet to bring us more bad news.