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How to Use Your HomePod as a Speaker for Your Apple TV

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The HomePod offers great sound, and with AirPlay connectivity, you can set the HomePod up to function as a speaker for your Apple TV, routing Apple TV sound through the HomePod.

You can use Apple TV and HomePod together as long as you have a third, fourth, or fifth-generation Apple TV

homepodappletv-800x560.jpg

Pairing Apple TV and HomePod
  1. Open the Settings app on the Apple TV.
  2. Scroll down to the Video and Audio section and select it.
    appletvaudiovideo-800x450.jpg
  3. Choose "Audio Output."
    audiooutputappletv-800x450.jpg
  4. Select the HomePod icon from the list of available devices.
    homepodappletvaudiooutput-800x450.jpg
Once the Apple TV is paired with the HomePod, TV sound will be routed through your HomePod instead of through your TV. Using the HomePod's physical controls, you can change the volume of the Apple TV, or you can ask Siri to do so. You can also play/pause content through the top of the HomePod or through Siri.

Unpairing Apple TV and HomePod

You'll presumably want to use your HomePod for purposes beyond playing audio from the Apple TV, and unpairing is done through the same settings you used to pair the HomePod and Apple TV in the first place.
  1. Open the Settings app on the Apple TV.
  2. Scroll down to the Video and Audio section and select it.
  3. Choose "Audio Output."
  4. Click on the HomePod icon from the list of available devices to deselect it.
Choosing Audio Output Device with the Apple TV Remote

You can also choose your HomePod as your audio output device using your Apple TV Remote, which is a quicker way to swap between devices.

  1. Go to the Home screen of the Apple TV.
  2. Hold down the Play/Pause button on the Apple TV Remote.
  3. In the menu that comes up, select the HomePod option.
    homebuttonaudioinput-800x450.jpg
To go back to using the Apple TV audio, you can repeat the same steps above, but this time select your Apple TV instead of the HomePod.

Article Link: How to Use Your HomePod as a Speaker for Your Apple TV
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/homepod-as-apple-tv-speaker/
Last edited:
scrapesleon

scrapesleon

macrumors 65816
Mar 30, 2017
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Why is it you have to keep the HomePod plugged in for it to work I just don’t get it couldn’t it have been rechargeable or something I don’t like leaving things plugged in when I’m off to work
 
Cankoda

Cankoda

macrumors regular
Feb 21, 2011
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Canada
scrapesleon said:
Why is it you have to keep the HomePod plugged in for it to work I just don’t get it couldn’t it have been rechargeable or something I don’t like leaving things plugged in when I’m off to work
Click to expand...

So when you leave the house you unplug your tv, stove, microwave, lights, furnace, etc, etc. It’s a good quality speaker with bass and a lot of output, speakers like that almost never have battery’s because they need more power than a battery can give, and leaving it plugged in or anything doesn’t really matter, power draw from anything is very minimal if its off, it’s actually more likley for a battery to combusted than an electrical fire
 
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Frankied22

Frankied22

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Nov 24, 2010
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They need to put out an update for the Apple TV so the output isn’t so low when using the HomePod. I’ve noticed having it cranked all the way up is still significantly lower volume than when I’m using the speaker on it’s own.
 
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CosmicRichy

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Jul 14, 2015
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Australia
Can someone please confirm something. I want to know if you can control the volume output on the HomePod with the Siri remote the same way you can control the volume when using AirPods on the Apple TV?
 
ike1707

ike1707

macrumors 6502
Jan 20, 2009
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My only ultimate disappointment with this product thus far is 2 home pods are explicitly not designed to work as stereo TV speakers together. If I could replace a set of traditional tower speakers with these puppies, it would be an instant sale.
 
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profets

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Mar 18, 2009
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DocMultimedia said:
The audio volume is so low using when using apps in Apple TV. I crank the volume up to max, and it's not really very loud. This is my one disappointment with homepod. Not sure why this is the case. Grrr. :(
Click to expand...

Frankied22 said:
They need to put out an update for the Apple TV so the output isn’t so low when using the HomePod. I’ve noticed having it cranked all the way up is still significantly lower volume than when I’m using the speaker on it’s own.
Click to expand...

FWIW, now that I think about it, when I use my AirPods with the Apple TV I do the same thing - have the sound nearly at 100%
 
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S

Soccertess

macrumors 65816
Oct 19, 2005
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cool. From a hardware perspective, I think Apple nailed it. Just from a software perspective, they just F the bucket

My dream would be that someone would hack it and upload the google home plateform onto homepod. If you say "hey siri", you get it's useless function but at least access to the apple ecosystem. But if you say "hey google", then you would get all of google's now functionality.

OR, just wait till Google engineers rip it a part and make a speaker that's just as good and forget the Apple Ecosystem which is just hurting anyways. Hopefully only one more year till Tim leaves!
 
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bnekic

bnekic

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whola said:
Volume through Homepod/AppleTV pairing is literally HALF of what you can otherwise get through HomePod. Very limiting. Not good enough for movies.
Click to expand...

That’s really disappointing, I wanted to possibly get two HomePods and put them on each end of the tv. If they fix the volume issue and enable volume control through the Apple TV remote do you think two HomePods would be sufficient for a sound bar replacement?
 
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Cankoda

Cankoda

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Feb 21, 2011
152
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bnekic said:
That’s really disappointing, I wanted to possibly get two HomePods and put them on each end of the tv. If they fix the volume issue and enable volume control through the Apple TV remote do you think two HomePods would be sufficient for a sound bar replacement?
Click to expand...

Also remember a homepod can only be used with Apple TV stuff, if you have a cable box, blue ray player or game console you won’t have sound from it, in that aspect it will never be a suitable sound bar replacement, and even if you wanted it to be you’d need 2 of them and now you’re in high end sound bar territory, which you can buy like a Yamaha Musiccast sound bar for about that money which does almost the same things
 
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bnekic

bnekic

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Cankoda said:
Also remember a homepod can’t only be used with Apple TV stuff, if you have a cable box, blue ray player or game console your won’t have sound from it, in that aspect it will never be a suitable skid at replacement, and even if you wanted it to be your need 2 if them and now you in high end sound bar territory, which you can buy like a Yamaha Musiccast soundest for about that money which doesn’t almost the same things
Click to expand...

Good to know thanks. I was just really excited today after I heard it today at the Apple store and thought I could use two for stereo sound on my TV.
 
B

Braderunner

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scrapesleon said:
Why is it you have to keep the HomePod plugged in for it to work I just don’t get it couldn’t it have been rechargeable or something I don’t like leaving things plugged in when I’m off to work
Click to expand...
What? You unplug your tv? All the components connected to it? Your refrigerator? Microwave? Stove?
....ahhhhh, you get where I’m goin.
[doublepost=1518312687][/doublepost]I see several people saying the HomePod’s volume isn’t very loud when airplaying from Apple TV. It doesn’t sound like it is that loud when playing music directly, either.
Homepod sounds like a joke.
 
djeeyore25

djeeyore25

macrumors 6502
Dec 23, 2014
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profets said:
FWIW, now that I think about it, when I use my AirPods with the Apple TV I do the same thing - have the sound nearly at 100%
Click to expand...
My AirPods do the same thing with my iPod Nano. I can barely hear the music, even on full volume. None of my other bluetooth headphones have that problem.
 
B

Braderunner

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Cankoda said:
Also remember a homepod can’t only be used with Apple TV stuff, if you have a cable box, blue ray player or game console your won’t have sound from it, in that aspect it will never be a suitable skid at replacement, and even if you wanted it to be your need 2 if them and now you in high end sound bar territory, which you can buy like a Yamaha Musiccast soundest for about that money which doesn’t almost the same things
Click to expand...
I think you mean can, every time you say can’t.
 
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