Much like everything under the sun these days, Pandora is also getting a voice-enabled smart assistant. It will enable users to control the app using voice commands. Pandora announced the launch of Voice Mode today. It’s a native smart assistant that can control the app in response to simple voice commands.
“With Voice Mode, we are introducing an even more natural and conversational way for listeners to discover new music and enhance their experience directly in the Pandora mobile app, like getting recommendations from a friend who really knows you,” said Pandora’s Chief Product Officer Chris Phillips.
To offer this in-app voice assistant, Pandora has teamed up with SoundHound. Its Houndify voice and conversational platform is what’s powering this feature. The feature relies on Houndify’s proprietary Speech-to-Meaning and Deep Meaning Understanding technologies for speed and accuracy in voice recognition.
It will thus allow for intuitive, hands-free user experience for many people. Pandora happens to be one of the largest streaming music providers in the country after all. Pandora is rolling out the Voice Mode to select users on iOS and Android initially. General availability for all users is coming soon.
The wake phrase for this assistant is “Hey Pandora.” It can be followed up with a request to change stations, control volume, play or pause music, and more. Users will also be able to give thematic requests to get personalized music based on activities, such as “play something for my workout.”