HomePod Complete Guide … From Set Up To Playing Music And Personal Use

HomePod can do much more than responding to the voice command: “Hey Siri, play rock music”. The new strong competitor in the smart speakers market, which has become controversial in the last few days, is capable of doing many things that most of us do not know.

Facebook Smart Speaker Coming Soon With Large Screen And Unknown Features

Today, we have brought together some of the best tips and tricks for the tasks that can be done by the new Apple’s smart speaker, HomePod, which is powered by the digital assistance, Siri. Whether you have already booked your unit or still considering buying it, this article will be a good guide to explore HomePod.

First things first, let us know how you can set up your HomePod for the First time.

Apple’s HomePod first time setup

  1. Turn on your HomePod and wait for the light on the top
  2. Put your iPhone/iPad close to the speaker
  3. Open Home App and tap Set Up
  4. Set your preferred room that the speaker is going to be
  5. Enable Personal Requests option if you to use HomePod for personal use (will be described later)
  6. Agree to transfer iCloud account to the speaker
  7. Start your journey with HomePod by saying “Hey Siri, what can you do?”

Playing music on HomePod Guide

There are many ways to play your favorite music on HomePod, such as using voice commands with Siri, using the buttons on the top of the speaker or by using Apple Music apps from your iPhone/iPad.

Playing music by buttons on the top of the speaker

  • For Play/Pause, tap once
  • For skipping to the nest track, tap twice
  • For skipping to the previous track, tap three times
  • To access Siri without saying the launching word, touch and hold
  • For Volume Up, tap or hold the plus icon
  • For Volume Down, tap or hold the minus icon

Playing music by voice commands

  • “Hey Siri” should precede all voice commands.
  • Some of the voice commands compatible with HomePod:
  • Turn the volume up
  • Turn the volume down
  • Turn the volume to 50 percent
  • Stop/Play
  • Next/Previous Song/Track
  • Skip forward/backward

Smart Speakers In 2018 … Intelligence With Superior Sound

You can also use voice commands to do complicated tasks related to playing and controlling music, such as playing songs appropriate to your activity, genre or current mood. Activities include bedtime, cardio, cooking, dancing, dinner part, meditating, studying and much more.

You can also search for songs by name, artist, album and more. Siri also have the ability to grab information related to the current song, such as its name, singer, and release date and so on.

Playing music by iPhone/iPad

You can play and control your music by iPhone/iPad using Control Center or Apple Music app, but both cases needs HomePod to share the same Wi-Fi network.

Playing and controlling music by Control Center

  1. Open Control Center
  2. Tap on the wireless icon at the top of the music panel
  3. Scroll until you find your HomePod, which will show the last track information
  4. Tap on song title to reveal playback commands, tapping once more will open up the Apple Music app

Playing and controlling music by Apple Music app

  1. Open the Apple Music app
  2. Tap on the current or previous song
  3. Tap on the AirPlay logo at the bottom center of the screen
  4. Scroll until you find your HomePod name
  5. Tape on the song title beside your HomePod name to reveal control commands

HomePod’s personal use guide

Besides playing music, HomePod could be your virtual assistant that can send your messages, creating various lists, set reminders and taking voice notes, but to do that you should first enable Personal Requests option.

Enabling Personal Requests option on HomePod

  1. Open the Home app on your iPhone/iPad
  2. Tap on the arrow at the top lift of the screen
  3. Under “People” tap on your face
  4. At the bottom under “Siri on HomePod” toggle Personal Requests

Creating messages by HomePod

To send a message by HomePod, you can simply say “Hey Siri, Text…” or “Hey Siri, Whatsapp…”, this option is compatible with many services such as: Skype, Viber, Whatsapp, iMessage, LinkedIn, WeChat, textPlus and SMS.

A closer look at Allure Portable – Harman Kardon’s newest portable smart speaker

Adding reminders and creating lists

HomePod supports many reminders apps such as its own app, Things 3, Remember The Milk, Picniic, Streaks, OmniFocus and the well knows app Evernote. You can simply use the voice command “Remember” before adding a reminder or date. Creating lists is also as simple as saying Complete or List preceded by Hey Siri.

HomePod could also be used as a speakerphone for you iPhone during or before accepting a new call. To do so, simply select HomePod from the audio option in Phone app.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *