How do I make Siri use Apple Music by default?

Question

How do I make Siri use Apple Music by default?

I have had real problems with Siri playing music:

Me: Play the theme to Silverado.

Siri: Here is music like what you've asked. <Siri then plays something I've never heard of, often unrelated to what I want.>

Me: Use Apple Music.

Me: Play the theme to Silverado.

Siri: Okay. Playing Silverado. <Siri then plays some song with "Silverado" in the name, but it's not the them to the movie.>

Me: Siri, play the theme to the movie Silverado on Apple Music.

Siri: Okay, here is... <and whatever it is, it is NOT the theme to Silverado, or it is, but it's by some crappy, nameless, group I've never heard of.

This happens with a lot of selections. Even after I say, "Use Apple Music," Siri won't play or can't find songs in my library or uses Pandora, which won't print-and-play. It took me 5 minutes, once, in the car, with my wife laughing her rear off all the time at how stupid Siri was and could not play the soundtrack to Star Wars: A New Hope. (I finally had to specify, "Play the sound track to Star Wars Episode 3 A New Hope On Apple Music."

So even when I think I'm using Apple Music, Siri will go to Pandora, and, many times, when it doesn't, Siri has become dumb over the years and can't play albums (including soundtracks and other albums) I have in my library unless I ask for them with the exactly specific wording.

I think some of this would be a lot easier if I could just make Siri use Apple Music by default.

I have seen older posts about this, with answer being that I have to remember to add "on Apple Music" on the end of each request. (Note: I have NEVER asked Siri to play ANYTHING on Pandora. While I use it for some channels, I have never asked Siri to play on Pandora.)

(I am hoping the new version of Siri isn't so stupid. I like my iPhone, but it is a nightmare, sometimes, while driving or working in my shop, to get Siri to play the music I want unless I pull over or stop what I'm doing to select, by hand, on the screen, what I want. I use this one feature so often, and see it screw up for about 80% of my requests that even though I haven't thought about going back to Android for over a decade, I'm beginning to wonder about it again.)

iPhone 14 Pro, iOS 26

Posted on Jul 20, 2026 12:34 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 20, 2026 10:08 AM in response to Community User

That does help a lot.

However, there seems to be inconsistencies with this. I'm using a Subaru Crosstrek (from 2020), if that matters. Their own system does have Pandora built in, but when I play music on CarPlay, it always behaves as if it's through CarPlay - I can see it on the CarPlay display and interact with it like I'd interact with other apps. Is there a way to set a preference in CarPlay to use Apple by default?

Also, even if I'm not using CarPlay and haven't for a day, and have been listening to Apple Music, this still happens. The session I quoted above was when I had not been using CarPlay for at least a day. When I last used CarPlay, I was using Apple Music, but I had not been in the car for a day and, during that time, was using Apple Music on my phone. Yet Siri STILL defaulted to Pandora. It seems Pandora has become the default music player for Siri on my phone. I do like to use Pandora, since Apple Music's Infinite Play feature is so weak. (it tends to just replay the same songs - and if I start it with almost any song from the 60s or 70s, it plays a lot of Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, and Eagles, plus the song I started with will be repeated every 90-120 minutes. There seem to be 2 70s mixes it plays, one if I start with a song by something like Led Zep and another if I start with pretty much any song from that era.)

I feel like I have a choice: Either ditch Pandora, or accept Siri using it as my default - even after I say, "Use Apple Music."

I'm a former programmer - based my business that let me retire early on my own software. I know how to troubleshoot, how to watch for patterns, how to spot logical behavior. I can state for sure that Siri will default to Pandora when I have only used Apple Music and been listening for hours (either in one session or multiple sessions), whether or not I have used CarPlay recently, or even if I've told Siri to use Apple Music.

While it may have happened, I do not remember Siri ever asking me what my preferred service is. If it did, I would have said, "Apple Music."

Oh - and I am using a wireless dongle for CarPlay. After about 18 months, my iPhone cable connector no longer worked reliably, either for charging or CarPlay. I use MagSafe to charge it and the wireless dongle for CarPlay. Even if the dongle is doing something, again, even after using Apple Music for hours and mulitple sessions, Siri defaults to Pandora over Apple Music.

I'm on OS 26.5.

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