HomePod I don't understand Transfer to HomePod & the controls

[jozero]

Recently got a HomePod mini. I used to have a UE Boom bluetooth speaker that I would connect to, and whatever I was playing on my iPhone would play on the speaker, pretty straight forward

With the HomePod I bring my phone close to it, and it transfers over what is playing, lets pick Podcasts. A slide over then appears to apparently control the podcast that is playing. This slide over is then dismissed so I can do other stuff.

Three unexplainable things happen:

1) I can't now use the Podcast app to control the podcast. I have to either go near the HomePod mini to get the slide over again, or go into the Home app and long press the HomePod mini icon. Why? What use case is this satisfying? Why doesn't the podcast app just control the HomePod? Why would I want to start another podcast playing on my phone while one is playing on the HomePod?

2) If I stop the Podcast using the slide over or tap on the HomePod, and then later decide to listen to the Podcast, it starts playing where I originally passed off to the HomePod. This is truly baffling, why isn't the position synced?

3) If I decide to listen to something else, like say Spotify, its starts playing locally on my phone while the podcast plays on the HomePod. Again, who is this feature for? I obviously wanted to use the HomePod, that's why I transferred the source to it.

These behaviours are so baffling I feel like I must be missing something obvious

 

[dsaponaro]

You can just use the podcast/music apps and Airplay to the Homepods without using the handoff controls. Audio playback then behaves as you describe.

i do agree with you about the handoff feature Though. Seems to me to be a neat tech demo but not all that pactical with the exception of possibly being out and about listening to audio on the iPhone then coming home and handing off to a HomePod. Then again I’d probably just open the app and switch from the headphones to one or more of my Homepods as previously described.

Would love to hear anyones real world use with this feature. Why do you prefer using the handoff controls over the apps themselves?

 

[waw74]

apple has tired to simplify life by combining things, sometimes it makes it easier sometimes it doesn't.
handoff is one of these things, it can work in 2 different ways, and if you're not paying attention it's not really obvious.
--if what you're playing can be played directly on the HomePod (Apple Music, podcasts, and soon third party apps), your phone will transfer the media to the player on your HomePod, and your phone is no longer involved.
--BUT, if what you're playing can't be played directly on the HomePod (like Spotify currently). It works differently, your phone will continue to play the media, but it sends it via airplay to the HomePod.

the big distinction is where the media is playing, which is not always the same as where the sound is coming from.



to get control of something playing on the HomePod. (you just need to be on the same network, not in "handoff range")

• Go to the airplay menu on your phone
  • You can get there a few ways, the easiest is via control center, then hit the airplay icon (circles with a triangle at the bottom) in the top right in the music tile
• at the bottom of the screen that comes up, hit the control other speakers button.
• You should now see a list of the apple "players" on your network. Basically it's your phone, and any HomePods or appleTVs
  • select your HomePod
• The "now playing" screens on your phone will now be remote controlling the hompod. it should also show up on your Lock Screen.
  • also when you've done this, the Apple Music app on your phone will playback directly on the HomePod instead of on your phone.

Sometimes you won't have to go through those steps, as the remote player will be selected automatically when you start playing something on it, but in my experience it normally doesn't.

 

[s2mike]

I don’t understand the new handoff thing either.

I currently have an Music Foo Fighters interview paused on my iPhone, and my HomePod is playing an album by The Strokes:

Alright…90% of the time, when moving my iPhone close to the HomePod, I get the prompt asking if I’d like to transfer the playing music *from* my HomePod *to* my iPhone:

However…10% of the time, with the exact same gesture and proximity, I get a prompt asking if I want to send the paused content *from* my iPhone *to* my HomePod:

Also, when transferring music that’s playing on the HomePod to the iPhone…is the music supposed to start playing automatically, or do you have to physically tap the “Transfer to iPhone” prompt?

Prior to iOS 14.4, when I’d move the iPhone close to the HomePod, the music would jump from the HomePod and immediately start playing on the iPhone. Now, with iOS 14.4, I receive the prompt, but the music won’t start playing until I tap the “Transfer to iPhone” button.

 

[jozero]

@s2mike >> "Prior to iOS 14.4, when I’d move the iPhone close to the HomePod, the music would jump from the HomePod and immediately start playing on the iPhone."

Experienced this as well, and it was great. basically the handoff feature worked like Airplay handoff, which I think is what most people would expect. So 14.4 introduced a fancier questionable UI, but then also completely changed the functionality to something bizarre and made it completely unreliable

@dsaponaro Yah I think I'll just stop using the "feature"

@waw74 appreciate the write up but you just wrote 5 steps for what used to require 0 steps, because the app that used to send the audio to whatever source used to also control it. And its not that smooth, if you do select the HomePod mini in control center, it asks if you want to use the iPhone as a source, and then skips the podcast back to the position where you first handed it off. its useless.

>> "if what you're playing can be played directly on the HomePod (Apple Music, podcasts, and soon third party apps), your phone will transfer the media to the player on your HomePod, and your phone is no longer involved."

Ok? can you explain this? Usually, not always, Apple does something and it takes a while to appreciate but then it clicks. I straight out don't get the point of this. Can anyone explain it? Why would I take the conscience decision and action to use the mini for the sound from my iPhone, but then at that point want the iPhone sound sources (like Podcasts) to act completely independent of the Homepod? When I use AirPods its not like I can no longer pause or skip using the podcast app.

 

[waw74]

@waw74 the app that used to send the audio to whatever source used to also control it.

it depends what app you use, hand off works in 2 different ways.

if the app doesn't support native playback on the HomePod, then it will use airplay, and the app on the phone will still control it.

if the app does support playback on the HomePod, then it will transfer and play on the hompod. At that point, nothing is playing on your phone anymore, but you can use what I said to use the phone as a remote.

Podcasts don't always equal podcasts. If you're using apple's app it will transfer, but if you're using a third part podcast app, it will airplay.

 

[Fried_Gold]

It's not worked properly for me since I got my HomePod Mini in December, seems totally random if/when it works and what controls are left on my iPhone lock screen. It's frustrating but I don't really use it anyway and it's not why I got the HomePod Mini so I don't really care.

 

[jozero]

Thanks to the hint from @dsaponaro above, I can finally get it working in a way that "makes sense", but it still makes no intuitive sense.

Start a podcast, I use apple's podcast player. Then using the airplay icon select the HomePod mini the first time. Now I can:
- control the podcast from the actual podcast player
- use the touch controls one the HomePod mini to play / pause
- move the phone to the HomePod mini, have UWB player pop up come up, and control the podcast
- have the position be correct as expected on the iphone

I still haven't heard a single reason why I would want to pass off playing to the homepod, and then not have the iPhone be able track the position or control it with the built in apps

 

[Duophonic]

If I passed off the audio playing from Apple Music on my iPhone to the HomePod, why does the audio stop when I power off my phone? I thought it has been passed off to the HomePod?

 

[MisterBigMack]

I have just seen this thread after experiencing similar things myself (I have just posted a thread myself)

You can just use the podcast/music apps and Airplay to the Homepods without using the handoff controls. Audio playback then behaves as you describe.

i do agree with you about the handoff feature Though. Seems to me to be a neat tech demo but not all that pactical with the exception of possibly being out and about listening to audio on the iPhone then coming home and handing off to a HomePod. Then again I’d probably just open the app and switch from the headphones to one or more of my Homepods as previously described.

Would love to hear anyones real world use with this feature. Why do you prefer using the handoff controls over the apps themselves?

i think in theory handoff (should) work best for when you come home from listening to music or a podcast out and about and you handoff it off to the HomePod when you get in,

for every other audio source, wether it is supported by apple or not (YouTube, Spotify, Podcast apps that aren’t apples own) it has just be, just play the audio and airplay it across to the HomePod

 

[waw74]

i think in theory handoff (should) work best for when you come home from listening to music or a podcast out and about and you handoff it off to the HomePod when you get in,

for every other audio source, wether it is supported by apple or not (YouTube, Spotify, Podcast apps that aren’t apples own) it has just be, just play the audio and airplay it across to the HomePod

that's how handoff works. You're just suggesting handoff with extra steps.

if the stream is supported natively on the HomePod (like apple music or podcasts) it transfers to the player on the homepod. Or pulls the stream back to the player on the phone.

if the stream is not supported natively on the hompod, it continues to play on the phone, and sets that HomePod as the airplay target. Or stops airplay and moves the output back to the phone.

 

[JMO1]

it depends what app you use, hand off works in 2 different ways.

if the app doesn't support native playback on the HomePod, then it will use airplay, and the app on the phone will still control it.

if the app does support playback on the HomePod, then it will transfer and play on the hompod. At that point, nothing is playing on your phone anymore, but you can use what I said to use the phone as a remote.

Podcasts don't always equal podcasts. If you're using apple's app it will transfer, but if you're using a third part podcast app, it will airplay.

Is there any way to make apps that do support native playback as if they dont. I would really like my iPhone to be in control and not have HomePod take over. I want it to act like a normal airplay speaker and I have full control of my music via my phone, rather than controlling the homepod independently

 

[jozero]

I gave up trying to make it work properly. HomePod mini now regulated to being a dumb speaker we occasionally use in one room

Podcast App position sync is still a **** show so who knows how much it is the HomePod mini vs podcast app, but I'm tired of wasting time trying to get it to work