There’s a HomePod update that’s changed things around a little
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
It will probably come as no surprise to most HomePod users that the default music service Siri plucks your tunes from is Apple Music.
Before iOS 17.4 was released in the middle of last year, there was a way to change the default service to another service – like YouTube Music for example. There were a few steps involved but it was possible for some third party music streaming services.
When it came to using Spotify as the default music service, there were a few hoops to jump through and a slightly different process, and that’s the basis for the process that is now what you can expect from HomePod or HomePod Mini for setting a default media app.
- Your HomePod
- Your iPhone or iPad
- Make sure your iPhone, iPad and HomePod are all updated to the latest version of Apple’s software
- Ask Siri to play music on your HomePod
- Tell Siri your preferred service
Before iOS 17.4 arrived, to choose a default music service on HomePod and HomePod mini, you would head to the Home app, tap on the three dots in the top right corner and select Home Settings. You would then have tapped on your Name and the option for ‘Default Service’ appeared beneath Connected Media and the list of supported third party apps you were signed into.
Tapping on Default Service then allowed you to select the music streaming app you wanted HomePod to pull from when you requested your favourite song.
It’s different now, but it’s not necessarily worse. In fact, it’s probably better as long as it works as intended.
With iOS 17.4, and consequently HomePod Software Version 17.4, Siri will learn what your preferred media service is automatically so when you ask HomePod to play something, once you have told it what media app is your preference, it will then use that choice in the future.
It means that for those that favor Spotify over Apple Music, you will no longer have to say “Play Taylor Swift on Spotify”, which was previously how you had to get HomePod to play from Spotify prior to this update. While you could use Airplay or Spotify Connect, it wasn’t possible to select Spotify as a default music service like you could Deezer or YouTube Music.
Post update to the latest software, the first time you request a song on HomePod, you will need to tell Siri your preferred option, or pick from the list of media apps that may appear on another Apple device but after that, you’re golden. Here are the steps in a little more detail if it’s not making sense.
That’s it. The next time you ask Siri for the same sort of media request – like a song or album for example – Siri will play it on HomePod from the option you select.
