LG’s New Wi-Fi Speakers Automatically Play Music When Your Phone Is Near

It’s CES time already. Yes, the Consumer Electronics Show isn’t here yet, but the first product launch is. LG has unveiled its newest Music Flow products, including three speakers and three sound bars with some twists.

The new products have many of the usual features, including Bluetooth connectivity and a Sonos-like option to connect to devices using your home Wi-Fi network. LG is also introducing its first battery-powered speaker, and the new range includes an interesting feature that can automatically play music from your smartphone when it is near.

That requires the device to be running LG’s Music Flow app, which integrates Spotify and a range of other music services. But here’s how it could work:

So you could be listening to music on your headphones on the subway ride home but the music will begin playing automatically from your living room Wi-Fi Sound Bar when you enter your living room.

That’s not quite all. Music Flow can also be controlled using messaging app Line. Once added as a contact, you can tell it to “play songs for party”, “turn off music after an hour” and more. The Music Flow-Line integration is part of LG’s HomeChat service which also links the chat app up with other ‘smart’ home appliances.

We’ll be at CES in Las Vegas next month, so watch out for more details about Home Flow and the many other weird and wonderful gadgets from the event that we’ll be writing about.