Pandora launches in-app voice assistant for iOS and Android

Currently the largest streaming provider in the US, Pandora has just received an in-app voice assistant. The Voice Mode feature works on both iOS and Android variants of the Pandora mobile app and can be fully enjoyed by both free and paid users.

For now, the problem is that only a limited number of listeners get to use Voice Mode, but general availability for all mobile users will roll out soon. Pandora Voice Mode is powered by the Music Genome Project — currently the richest dataset of music-listening information worldwide — and SoundHound's Houndify voice and conversational AI platform. 

The list of actions that Pandora can perform after receiving a voice command includes control requests (change stations, control volume, skip/pause music), thematic requests like "play music for my workout" and open-ended requests like "play something different" or "play more like this," basic requests for a specific station/song/podcast/artist, as well as interactive requests like "what song/artist is this?" and, finally, directional requests ("add this song to my workout playlist" or "I like this" to give a thumbs-up).

We will get back to this topic once Pandora makes Voice Mode available for all its users, so stay tuned. Adding support for more markets would also be great, but we have no information about this, either.