Spotify is apparently tired of letting its fate be controlled by voice assistants it can't actually impact on from the likes of Apple, Google and Amazon. It's reportedly looking into building its own voice control functionality right into its app.

The news comes from Jane Manchun Wong, a renowned app investigator, and comes bundled with a screenshot from what is presumably a test version of Spotify's app.

Wong hsa gleaned that the application (provided you've given it microphone access) will be able to listen for the words "Hey Spotify" when it's open and running on your phone, with the screen on. 

That immediately makes it a potentially pretty niche service, given that we can't say we know many people who'd queue up a few songs or albums on Spotify then just leave their phone unlocked on a surface with the screen on. Still, if you were to do that, it would seem you might be able to control the player with your voice. 

That said, it's still possible that it will be quicker to do so than to go via an assistant, especially if we're talking about Siri, which can still have issues knowing when to apply your commands to Spotify rather than its preference, Apple Music. 

Don't bank on it arriving soon

Of course, this is also still entirely rumoured, and far from a confirmed feature in official terms. It's possible that it'll never make its way to people's actual apps, or indeed that when it does it will have a different set of requirements and features. 

Still, based on Wong's screenshots we can speculate that Spotify is testing it at the moment, so it'll be interesting to watch for any further news on this front.