Spotify makes its official debut on the Apple Watch

Spotify has been testing a beta version of its music streaming app for the Apple Watch for a few months now, but today a public version makes its official debut. However, like the beta, the first version of the Spotify app is rather bare bones.

In its present form, it’s essentially a remote on your wrist to control playback on iPhones or on Spotify Connect devices from the Apple Watch screen. Users will be able to select playlists, shuffle and skip songs or podcast episodes, access recently played items and favorite tracks.

When using the app on the Watch, the traditional 'Now Playing' screen will be replaced by Spotify's own interface, giving easy access to controls, including the ability to move forward or back by 15 seconds on podcasts.

Unfortunately, the app does not have the ability to stream music or podcasts directly to the Apple Watch either via an iPhone or an LTE connection. The ability to download tracks for offline listening is also currently unavailable.

Coming soon

The lack of offline listening will disappoint many, as it’s what allows Apple Watch users to pop on a set of wireless headphones and head out for a run or walk without their iPhones.

That said, Spotify has promised that “many exciting things” are coming to the app, including offline playback, although no timeline has been indicated, nor is there a list of other features that we could look forward to.

While the Spotify app for iOS has been updated with Apple Watch support in the App Store, the music streaming company says it will be rolling out the “new experience” this week. So if you find you can’t access the app on the Watch just yet, hold tight and you should be able to soon.