Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Benz63amg

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 17, 2010
4,528
1,028
I just want to use my iPhone X the traditional way to turn on/pause music from Apple Music without talking to Siri to turn on the music for me on the HomePod, Is AirPlay the only way i can do this?
 
A quick google found this:
How to play music on HomePod without subscribing to Apple Music

It includes steps to stream music from your iPhone to the HomePod, I haven't tried it, so I cannot say it works or not

Thats not what i asked though, I want to know how to play music from Apple Music on the HomePod without physically TALKING to SIRI, i just want to play music from Apple Music on the Homepod, is there a way to do it without talking to SIRI?
 
Thats not what i asked though, I want to know how to play music from Apple Music on the HomePod without physically TALKING to SIRI, i just want to play music from Apple Music on the Homepod, is there a way to do it without talking to SIRI?
And did you even read the article?

How to stream music to your HomePod using AirPlay.
It should be simple to stream music to your HomePod from any app, not just iTunes.

  1. Swipe up to access Control Centre on your iOS device.
  2. Press and hold on the audio card icon.
  3. Tap the icon that looks like a triangle with loops.
  4. You should see the HomePod appear in the list below (if your HomePod isn’t appearing follow these steps How to troubleshoot HomePod).
 
That's what the steps above do :)

I am aware of the fact that I can use AirPlay from my iPhone X to stream apple music to my HomePod but I wanted to know if there was a way to do it without airplay. And that is something the article you linked me to does not explain.
 
It is possible to use the music app as a control. When selecting the airplay icon, choose the bottom HomePod tile, rather than selecting the HomePod from within the top iPhone tile. This is acts as a direct control with full music app navigation possible.
 

Attachments

  • 7AD3ED55-E868-4DF1-AF84-D51A58CA3F70.jpeg
    7AD3ED55-E868-4DF1-AF84-D51A58CA3F70.jpeg
    229.9 KB · Views: 224
I am aware of the fact that I can use AirPlay from my iPhone X to stream apple music to my HomePod but I wanted to know if there was a way to do it without airplay. And that is something the article you linked me to does not explain.
You asked how to play music from your phone without using Siri. I did that, and the only way to do that is Airplay. Airplay is a networking protocol that allwos you to stream content. You're other option is to use BlueTooth connectivity, however that is not provided in the HomePod. In short if you want to stream music from your phone to your HomePod you must use AirPlay. Doing so means you lose the ability to use Siri on the homePod but since you asked how to play music without Siri, that issue is moot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MDePew24
Have no Homepod, but I believe you can just tap on the top of the Homepod and it will start playing music shuffled. I could be wrong though!
 
Have no Homepod, but I believe you can just tap on the top of the Homepod and it will start playing music shuffled. I could be wrong though!
Tapping the top of the homepod initiates Siri, just as you would have said "Hey Siri". From there you still need to tell Siri what to do
 
You asked how to play music from your phone without using Siri. I did that, and the only way to do that is Airplay. Airplay is a networking protocol that allwos you to stream content. You're other option is to use BlueTooth connectivity, however that is not provided in the HomePod. In short if you want to stream music from your phone to your HomePod you must use AirPlay. Doing so means you lose the ability to use Siri on the homePod but since you asked how to play music without Siri, that issue is moot.

You know how on the Sonos you can select a music service on your iPhone (using the Sonos App) to select a streaming service and then the Sonos speaker simply connects to the music service selected on its OWN without having any connectivity to your iPhone to pull the music from the selected service. (the sonos app on the iPhone is only used a controller)

i'm aware that in order to use Apple Music on my HomePod i can tell siri verbally to play any given song or artist and it will pull music from apple music by itself without needing my iPhone, But is there no way to use my iPhone as a controller to play music from Apple Music WITHOUT Airplay? When using Airplay i'm basically streaming music from the iphone to the homepod and i dont want to do that. The HomePod is capable of connecting to apple music by itself and pulling music from apple music by itself (just the way it does when you the the homepod "Hey Siri play X artist".
 
You know how on the Sonos you can select a music service on your iPhone
I don't have a Sonos, so no I don't know about that.

But is there no way to use my iPhone as a controller to play music from Apple Music WITHOUT Airplay?
To stream any music from your phone to the HomePod you have to use Airplay. Its simple as that.

You can stream Pandora, Spotify or even your iTunes library on your phone, but you have to use Airplay.

Airplay is not Siri, maybe I'm not explaining things, but Siri is the voice assistant, Airplay is the network protocol to transmit data from one device to another, and this case its used to stream music from the phone to the HomePod without needing/using Siri.
 
He is not looking to airplay/stream music from from his iPhone to HomePod! He is looking to use his iPhone as a HomePod remote. You can absolutely do this. The iPhone can used to select music on the HomePod, and the music will be played directly through the HomePod using Apple Music. See article below which does a good job of covering this:

https://www.macworld.com/article/3254645/home-tech/how-to-control-homepod-from-mac-or-ios.html

From the article:
"Now, this isn’t AirPlay—the music is still being streamed by the HomePod—but a remote-control interface. In fact, if you select your iPhone or iPad using this interface, you’ll find that you can play music on your device completely independently from your HomePod."
 
  • Like
Reactions: Benz63amg and OllyW
He is not looking to airplay/stream music from from his iPhone to HomePod! He is looking to use his iPhone as a HomePod remote. You can absolutely do this. The iPhone can used to select music on the HomePod, and the music will be played directly through the HomePod using Apple Music. See article below which does a good job of covering this:

https://www.macworld.com/article/3254645/home-tech/how-to-control-homepod-from-mac-or-ios.html

From the article:
"Now, this isn’t AirPlay—the music is still being streamed by the HomePod—but a remote-control interface. In fact, if you select your iPhone or iPad using this interface, you’ll find that you can play music on your device completely independently from your HomePod."

Thats what i wanted to know, Thank you very much.
 
Those instructions above don't tell the whole story... sure you can pause/play and alter volume of whatever is currently playing, but there is no way to choose what music to play on the HomePod via the Control Centre.
You can FF or FW to a different track in a playlist/album, but there is no way of firing up such a playlist without involving Siri, or using the Apple Music app.
If you tap the currently playing track, it will open the Music App on the phone.

I think that's about as hands-off as you can get, if that's what you're after :)
 
He is not looking to airplay/stream music from from his iPhone to HomePod! He is looking to use his iPhone as a HomePod remote.
Ooooh, my mistake. I took how do you play music as how do I stream, and not how to use a phone as the controller for the HomePod.

Sorry for the confusion.
 
Those instructions above don't tell the whole story... sure you can pause/play and alter volume of whatever is currently playing, but there is no way to choose what music to play on the HomePod via the Control Centre.
You can FF or FW to a different track in a playlist/album, but there is no way of firing up such a playlist without involving Siri, or using AirPlay from the iPhone.
If you tap the currently playing track, it will open the Music App on the phone...

I agree the controls are somewhat limited but Apple might expand the HomePod controller interface via control center in a future software update to have extended controls. It's certainly somewhat limited at the moment but oh well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: groovyf
I agree the controls are somewhat limited but Apple might expand the HomePod controller interface via control center in a future software update to have extended controls. It's certainly somewhat limited at the moment but oh well.

I wouldn't agree that it is limited. By using the Music App on your phone or iPad you can basically use it as a remote for the HomePod. I've used it that way quite a lot over the weekend.
 
If you tap the currently playing track, it will open the Music App on the phone.

I think that's about as hands-off as you can get, if that's what you're after :)

This. Once Apple Music opens on your iPhone you can use it to select new music to play directly from the HomePod. You can also use the "Play Next" function to create playlists, etc. You basically have the same controls you have when your playing music directly from your iPhone.
 
I am aware of the fact that I can use AirPlay from my iPhone X to stream apple music to my HomePod but I wanted to know if there was a way to do it without airplay. And that is something the article you linked me to does not explain.

Stop moving the goalposts.

If you touch the top of HomePod, it will start playing music from the ether.

If you don't use your voice, the HomePod won't be able to do more than that without your phone.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.