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I have an old iPad 2 and an iPhone 4s. It's about time for me to upgrade from iOS 7, so I started with the iPad. I saw that the Music app has changed, and the Radio section doesn't show my stations like it used to, it just has them in a big "Recents" list. I currently use Siri on my iPhone 4s to play from my stations. Would I still have this ability with iOS 9?

Note: This was originally asked prior to Apple ending iTunes Radio for non-subscribers.

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It looks like you still can play your iTunes Radio stations from Siri. From what I understand, you're correct in your observation that you no longer can view all of your stations outside of the "Recently Played" section, but Siri can both create new stations and play existing ones on command.

I tried playing/creating stations through Siri a few times on my iPhone 6+ running iOS 9, with these results:

When I tried to play an Owl City radio station I had previously created, and told it, "Play my Owl City station on iTunes Radio," it played Beats 1. But this worked (and created a new Owl City station instead):

Creating an Owl City radio station on iTunes Radio. Successful creation of Owl City station.

To make sure that things were working the way I thought they were, I also tried playing a Taylor Swift station I had recently created. This time, it played the station without creating a new one.

Playing an existing Taylor Swift station.

Unfortunately, you can't just say, "Play my most recent radio station," and expect it to play your most recent station. Instead, in my experience, it jumps to Beats 1, what Siri calls its "favorite radio station." You can see the Music app cueing it up in the background thanks to Siri's translucent new appearance.

Siri almost always chooses to play Beats 1 when you're not specific enough.

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  • Thank you. I do hope that they make changes in the future as I've no interest in Beats 1. Would you be able to confirm if saying "Play iTunes Radio" will play Beats 1 as well rather than your most recent, and if saying "Play Owl City Radio" will play Owl City rather than Beats 1? Those are the commands I usually use in iOS 7.
    – kal-al
    Commented Dec 22, 2015 at 20:34
  • @kal-al I'll give that a shot, one sec.
    – jmindel
    Commented Dec 22, 2015 at 20:36
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    @kal-al Unfortunately, it does. Though sometimes, it just opens the Music app. I haven't yet figured out the pattern as to when it'll do what. I'll update my answer in a moment with some pictures.
    – jmindel
    Commented Dec 22, 2015 at 20:40

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