Alphabet says Apple Music isn't coming to Google Home, it was just a bug (Updated)

Update, February 27, 05:30 AM ET: Google parent company Alphabet says Google Home devices aren’t about to get Apple Music support, following speculation that emerged yesterday (h/t Bloomberg).

Apple Music support was hinted at in the Google Home app, prompting rumors that Google’s smart speaker products would be next in line to get Apple Music streaming capabilities. Amazon Echo devices starting supporting Apple Music in December.

However, an Alphabet spokesperson put the misinformation in the Home app down to a bug, and said the company had “nothing to announce” regarding Google Home updates.

Despite the revelations, I wouldn’t give up all hope for Apple Music coming to the speakers in the future. Smart speakers are primed for music streaming services and both Google and Apple stand to gain from the integration. I suspect they’ll reach an agreement about it somewhere down the line.

Previous coverage, February 26, 05:28 AM ET: Google Home devices may soon get the ability to stream Apple Music, according to speculation from MacRumors yesterday. The move would follow Apple Music’s rollout to Amazon Echo devices late last year.

The website received an image showing Apple Music as a streaming option within the Google Home app (below). The image came from a reader tip, but MacRumors said it was also able to find the listing in the Google Home iOS app, and that it no longer says “only available on iOS devices.” The service couldn’t be linked to a Google Home device at the time, but it looks like that may well change

Despite Apple Music being one of the world’s biggest music streaming services, and Google Home supporting others like Spotify and Pandora, Apple’s platform hasn’t been available on the Google Home since it launched in November 2016.

Major technology companies tend to be wary of supporting competing products on their platforms, and Google has its own music streaming service — Google Play Music — which competes with Apple Music. It seems like Google and Apple may have now struck a deal, though.

We can only speculate as to when this would roll out but with the infrastructure said to already be there in the app, it’s probably close to launch.