Home control homepod update#
Lastly, today’s HomePod software update has brought the long-awaited ability to let Apple’s smart speaker participate in HomeKit scenes and automations. You can customize the list and names of HomePods (based on your setup) in a menu. Hand off audio playback (for Music and Podcasts) from a HomePod of your choice to the current device.
Home control homepod tv#
As you can see in the screenshot below, I can select my iPad or Apple TV as source devices and hand off playback to one of my three HomePods: The action has been built with iOS 13’s new parameter API in mind: both the source and destination device are parameter fields that can be tapped to choose among the devices currently on the same local network. In addition to not requiring you to bring an iPhone physically closer to a HomePod to hand off audio, Shortcuts’ new action has the added benefit of working with iPad and Apple TV as well. With iOS and iPadOS 13.2, Shortcuts has gained a new ‘Hand Off Playback’ action that, as the name implies, allows you to hand off Music or Podcasts playback from one device to another with a single command.
![home control homepod home control homepod](https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2018/01/homepod-volume.png)
![home control homepod home control homepod](https://homesmart.sg/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Apple-HomePod-Mini-Singapore.jpg)
I was able to hand off audio between the two devices quickly and consistently, and I expect to be taking advantage of this feature on a daily basis going forward. Judging from my early tests with proximity-based Handoff for iPhone and HomePod, it feels like Apple delivered on their promise of enabling a seamless switching experience between devices. The only difference was that Prism and Dark Noise took just a second to transfer audio between the iPhone and HomePod, while Overcast involved a longer delay. In my tests, I was able to successfully hand off audio for Prism and Dark Noise, apps that have implemented AirPlay 2, as well as Overcast, which doesn’t support the second-generation AirPlay system yet. This means that while Apple is only advertising music, podcasts, and phone calls in their release notes, you’ll be able to hand off audio for all AirPlay-enabled apps between your iPhone and HomePod regardless of whether they use AirPlay 2 or the older (and slower) AirPlay protocol. Once an iPhone is recognized, you’ll receive a notification (accompanied by a haptic tap) telling you whether you’re transferring audio from iPhone to HomePod or vice versa.īehind the scenes, it appears the act of bringing an iPhone close to a HomePod simply initiates or resumes an AirPlay streaming session between the iPhone and HomePod for whatever audio is playing on the current device. For those wondering: I have tried, and no, holding an iPad on top of a HomePod doesn’t work as this feature appears to be iPhone-exclusive for now.
![home control homepod home control homepod](https://www.indabaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Best-HomePod-Compatible-Smart-Plugs-718x420.jpg)
You don’t need to tap the iPhone against the HomePod: simply letting it hover over the HomePod’s top surface will suffice.
![home control homepod home control homepod](https://www.macworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/homepod-mini-homepod-100862085-orig-2.jpg)
Specifically, you can transfer music, podcasts, and phone calls back and forth between the iPhone and HomePod. Let’s dive in.Īfter upgrading your iPhone to iOS 13.2, you’ll be able to bring it close to a HomePod to transfer audio to and from it. We’re going to cover HomePod’s other new functionalities such as multi-user support and ambient sounds later this week. In this post, I’m going to go over all the different ways you can control audio playback on Apple’s Siri-integrated speaker, explain new shortcuts that can be built with these features, and share some first impressions based on my initial tests with today’s changes. In fact, by updating to the latest version of Apple’s software, you’ll gain a variety of new audio-related functionalities for HomePod, ranging from the ability to wave an iPhone atop the speaker to hand off audio to brand new integrations with the Shortcuts app as well as HomeKit scenes and automations. Among various features (which we’ve detailed in a separate story here), one of the key improvements in this suite of software updates is extended flexibility of the HomePod’s music playback abilities.
Home control homepod pro#
Following the announcement of AirPods Pro earlier today, Apple also released iOS, iPadOS, audioOS, and tvOS 13.2.