HomePod Hope you can explain what is going on with HomePod music for me!

[donawalt]

HI all, I am grateful for an explanation of this, plus if there is any good documentation I can read about how this works, thanks!

My setup:
2 Homepods
Apple Music subscription
Various devices in the house like my iPhone

1) Here is what happened and I don't know why. I am away from the house. My wife starts playing a playlist on one of the HomePods while I am away. I get home, and in the same room, as a test (as I knew something funny was going on), I pull out my iPhone and with Apple Music start playing a different playlist (did NOT use Siri). It starts playing that playlist on my phone, but the HomePod music stops!

2) I was in the car yesterday, playing music via Bluetooth in my car from my Apple Music/iPhone. I am pretty sure my wife, or my son-in-law, were playing music on one of the HomePods at home. All of a sudden the music stops in my car, I check my iPhone and there is a message that says something like "You need a family sharing plan for this. I saw a Family Sharing plan upgrade was like $15 a month so I sure didn't want to jump into doing that without knowing why!

I could guess what's happening (an probably be wrong), but I really don't know what's going on in these 2 situations or how to manage playing songs between the HomePod and my iPhone. I set it up with my AppleID/account btw, and the songs playing on the HomePod in both situations probably were my Apple Music subscription.

Can anyone explain all this, and/or let me know where I can read and learn about what I can do with it? Thank you!

 

[StumpyBloke]

As it says, you need family sharing or one of the premier plans. You are on a personal music account which only lets one device play music at a time

 

[donawalt]

OK thanks. I just wanted to be sure. I did find an article about "parallel streaming".

 

[Itinj24]

When the music on the HomePod stops and starts playing on your iPhone, are you getting close to the HomePod with your iPhone? They have a audio transfer feature which lets you move music from HomePod to iPhone and back if you get close enough.

 

[donawalt]

Thanks @Itinj24 , I think I read about that - you can hold your iPhone over the HomePod and the music will move to the HomePod. I think it just started on the iPhone when I tapped on a song to play it, and immediately stopped on the HomePod.

 

[Itinj24]

Thanks @Itinj24 , I think I read about that - you can hold your iPhone over the HomePod and the music will move to the HomePod. I think it just started on the iPhone when I tapped on a song to play it, and immediately stopped on the HomePod.

Check the AirPlay platter in control center when you play music. It may be selected on on your phone or any HomePod. It’s weird that it stops playing in the HomePod but AirPlay has a bit of a learning curve with regards to multiple devices.

Pull down for control center. AirPlay is at the top right. Press and hold to expand. You’ll see which device is selected and by hitting the little AirPlay icon, you can add more devices to the current device that’s playing. At the bottom you’ll see control other speakers. This will allow you to control other devices separately.

 

[donawalt]

Thanks, I see it. That is a helpful explanation!