Music and Podcast Playback Controls on HomePod

Music and Podcast Playback Controls on HomePod

Both the HomePod and the HomePod mini are two devices that have fully introduced music into the homes of their users since they are two products that, due to the way they are used, incite and invite the reproduction of music and podcasts. Therefore, in this post we want to tell you how you can control all the content that the HomePod plays, either through Siri or any other Apple device.

These are the HomePod and HomePod mini touch controls

Calling Siri is very easy

In the HomePod and in the HomePod mini you can call Siri in two very different ways, first we will focus on how, through the touch controls that the HomePod allows, you can interact with the Apple assistant. When configuring both devices, you can select the way in which by touching the top of both HomePods, you activate Siri to ask for what you want. On the one hand you can make it activate, by making a light touch, on the other hand, you can also configure it so that you have to press and hold for a few moments at the top to activate Siri. You can choose all of this in the HomePod settings through the Home app on any of the devices connected to it.

Siri en HomePod

Turn the volume up and down

Another action that you can perform by touch on both HomePods is to raise and lower the volume by tapping on both sides of the device. However, Apple has implemented it in the two models in a slightly different way. On the HomePod, the volume up and down areas are represented by lights that form the symbols “+” and “-” indicating in which zone you have to touch depending on whether you want to raise or lower the volume. However, if you look at the HomePod mini, both symbols are not made of light, but directly Apple has silk-screened them on the top of the HomePod mini.

HomePod mini

Siri is the protagonist, use it

Without a doubt, in the HomePod concept there are two very different protagonists. On the one hand, music is the main value for which Apple has been able to introduce this product into the homes of its users, although really, the goal of the Cupertino company has always been to be able to introduce its assistant, Siri, the day-to-day life of its users. It is at the union of these two points that the concept of HomePod was born, a smart speaker capable of offering excellent sound quality, but which at the same time is enhanced by having Siri to be controlled with total ease and above all, without need to have to use another external device to play music.

Ask him to play the music or podcast you want

One of the reasons why the HomePod and HomePod mini are two devices that invite you to listen to music is because of how easy it is to play content through them. Siri has a lot to blame for this, if not all, since you only have to do more than play a series of words so that the music you want starts playing in your room, kitchen, bathroom, living room or wherever you want to place your Apple smart speaker. With commands like “Hey Siri put music that I like”, “Hey Siri, put some Leiva”, “Hey Siri, play the list of hits in Spain” you can make the sound start coming out of the HomePod. In this way you forget about having to take a speaker, turn it on, put the music on the iPhone, for example, and wait those seconds for your device and the speaker to connect. Apple wants music to easily and conveniently enter people’s homes, and with the HomePod it has certainly succeeded.

HomePod negro

Set the alarms while you’re in bed

Surely on many occasions it has happened to you that once you have left everything and are already in a predisposition to sleep, you remember that you have to set the alarm to wake up the next day. With the HomePod you can do it right away without having to get up or pick up any other device, you just have to ask Siri and you will have the alarm activated at the time you have told it.

You don’t need to pick up the iPhone to call

In the same way that to listen to music, a podcast or set an alarm you do not have to do anything more than ask Siri, if you want to call one of your contacts, you do not have to do more than ask the HomePod. To carry out this action, your iPhone must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the HomePod, otherwise the call will not be able to be carried out.

So you can control your HomePod with your iPhone and iPad

Although perhaps one of the plus points in favor of using the HomePod as a speaker is the fact that you do not have to use another external device to control the music, obviously you can also use your iPhone or iPad to control the HomePod. Next, we are going to tell you about some of the most outstanding and important actions that you can carry out with both your iPhone and your iPad, which can become the best allies of both the HomePod and the HomePod mini.

Send music directly to HomePod

The most basic and perhaps most useful use that a user who has both an iPhone or iPad and a HomePod can find is the possibility of sending the music that is being played on their device directly to the HomePod. This can be interesting at the time when you come home listening to music on your AirPods and want to keep playing the same list or album on HomePod. To do this, you just have to use AirPlay, by clicking on the AirPlay icon that you have available at the bottom of the screen and then clicking on the HomePod to which you want to send the music.

For this this use, the iPhone has a small advantage and extra functionality with respect to the iPad, and that is that, if you bring the iPhone close to the HomePod, the music is automatically transferred from one device to another and vice versa, since you can also do that the song that is playing on the HomePod, go directly to playing on the iPhone just by bringing the device closer to the Apple smart speaker.

Create automations for the HomePod to ring automatically

At La Manzana Mordida we have talked on successive occasions about automations and the value that they can have in the daily lives of users if they are able to integrate them correctly. Both the HomePod and the HomePod mini are also two very useful devices in the field of automation since you can carry out many actions.

To configure an automation in the HomePod, you just have to follow the steps indicated below.

  1. Open the Home App on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Select a HomePod and scroll down to tap Settings.
  3. In Automations, click on Add automation.
  4. Configure the automation you want to carry out.

Automatizaciones en HomePod

Use your alarm clock Apple speaker

As we have already mentioned before, the HomePod can be an ideal alarm clock every morning, but not only can you activate or create alarms through Siri, you can also do it both through your iPhone and through your iPad. You just have to follow the steps below to make your HomePod or HomePod mini your alarm clock every morning.

  1. Open the Home app.
  2. Select HomePod and swipe down.
  3. Activate the alarm you want to activate or on the contrary, create a new one by clicking New.

Poner alarma en HomePod

Do you have two HomePods? Make them ring at the same time

Another function that you can perform through the iPhone or iPad is to make the music you want to play play together on your two HomePods. In case you have two identical models, that is, two HomePods, or two HomePod mini, you can configure the wonderful stereo sound that Apple is able to offer through these devices. However, if you have two different models, that is, a HomePod and a HomePod mini, stereo sound is not available, but it does not mean that you cannot make music play through both devices at the same time.

The way to carry out this action is practically the same as if you wanted to make the music sound only through a HomePod, only now, instead of selecting one, you have to select both. To do this, you just have to click on the AirPlay icon, and select the two HomePods so that the music starts playing in both at the same time.

Make the music stop playing automatically

When putting the music from the iPhone or the iPad there is a way to be able to make the music pause automatically without having to stop it manually and that is through the use of the timer. When setting a timer through the Clock application on the iPhone or iPad, you can select that at the end of that countdown the playback will stop. To do this, you just have to follow the steps that we indicate below.

  1. Open the Clock app and go to Timer.
  2. Sets the duration of the timer.
  3. Click When done.
  4. Swipe down, select Stop playback, and tap Save.
  5. Hit Start.

Temporizador música HomePod

Take control of your Apple speaker with your Mac

AirPlay, the protagonist of this relationship

In the same way that you can use the iPhone and iPad to make the music that is played on them, do it through the HomePod, on the Mac you can do exactly the same, and in two different ways. If you use the Apple Music app, again what you have to do is click on the AirPlay icon and select the speaker or speakers through which you want the music to play, in fact, you can make the music play at the same time on the external speakers and also through the Mac speakers.

However, this only serves to listen to music through the Music app on the Mac, if you want to listen to other types of content such as a movie, series or a YouTube video, what you have to do is go to the sound control panel and Choosing HomePod as your audio output device, it’s that easy. For this, what we recommend is that you have the sound panel accessible in the toolbar so that the steps to follow are much easier and faster to carry out.

HomePod blanco

Use the Home app to customize settings

To control and modify all the settings of the HomePod through the Mac, as in the iPhone and iPad you use the Home app, on the Mac it does not change. You just have to go to the Home app that comes pre-installed as standard, click on the HomePod whose settings you want to modify and that’s it.