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HomePod No BBC Radio natively through HomePod - ridiculous.
- Thread starter idrewuk
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Im in the uk . Actually mosty i now just go to radio feeds co uk and grab whatever feed here, seems better than pfaffing with apps etc. Appreciate it doesnt solve everything
Saw thread had been bumped, came in full of excitement.
Left disappointed.
Left disappointed.
Its time to go back to hifi separates and electronic timers me thinks. All this smart tech is anything but
Honestly I’m starting to think the same thing! It’s a shame.
I asked BBC Sounds on Twitter when we will be able to use BBC Radio Stations with the Apple HomePod Smart Speaker but despite replying to others they haven’t replied to me.
Will update here if by any chance they happen to come back to me with anything meaningful. If not I’ll avoid any meaningless updates as don’t wanna offer false hope 😆
I asked BBC Sounds on Twitter when we will be able to use BBC Radio Stations with the Apple HomePod Smart Speaker but despite replying to others they haven’t replied to me.
Will update here if by any chance they happen to come back to me with anything meaningful. If not I’ll avoid any meaningless updates as don’t wanna offer false hope 😆
P.s. Macrumors Newbie? I started posting in 2015, 6 years ago. They must really want you here for life if I’m still classed as a newbie 😛
I got my HomePod mini delivered today, and the first thing I tried to do after updating it was play BBC Radio 4. No dice. I've created a shortcut on my iPhone, but seeing as both the HomePod and my iPhone are listening out for 'Hey Siri', if I happen to be closer to the HomePod it ends up playing a random American radio station instead of R4.
yeah this is ridiculous. I want it added natively so I don’t have to have the app running on my phone. All other smart speakers do it and even the BBC promote ‘ask your smart speaker’ in their radio jingles. So why not HomePod?!
It used to work when TuneIn supported it, but that went away & BBC haven’t bothered to do anything themselves!
Ok, so this is interesting: all the BBC Radio stations show as available in Apple Music, (my iCloud account is based in Germany), and they are provided by..TuneIn. So the question is, if I can see BBC radio 1,2 etc. on Music.app on my iPhone, and they play without any issue, why on earth would they not be playable directly on my HomePod Mini via a Siri command?
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That is interesting - If I go to the Tunein site on my MBA and search for the BBC stations in the UK, they're not listed but if I fire up a VPN with a German IP, they're listed and will play.
So it's limited by country. That just makes it even more frustrating and still doesn't explain why you can't play them by voice from your HomePod.
Having said that, I've been listening to Boom Radio for the last six weeks or so and it's really good!
So it's limited by country. That just makes it even more frustrating and still doesn't explain why you can't play them by voice from your HomePod.
Having said that, I've been listening to Boom Radio for the last six weeks or so and it's really good!
Starting to think this is just never coming now. I know its not hard really, but at the same time it’s such a pita using bbc sounds and AirPlay. Like others I end up listening to other stuff instead.
So, I wrote to the BBC iPlayer and Sounds team, and this is the answer they gave me:
I’m sorry that you can’t get BBC radio on your Apple HomePod and understand your frustration. The BBC’s Distribution & Business Development team are looking at how we distribute BBC content in the way that is best value for licence fee payers. Doing that is a growing challenge as ‘Big Tech’ increasingly dominate the devices and platforms where users watch and listen.
The situation with HomePod is that - unlike Amazon Alexa and Google – Apple have not made it possible to integrate BBC Sounds into their voice devices, so we have not given them access to BBC’s live radio streams. We have a UK Distribution Policy which sets out the conditions under which we can distribute our content and services to external platforms. It includes several conditions on platforms such as providing clear attribution and appropriate prominence for the BBC and allowing us to maintain editorial control. When a platform can’t (or won’t) meet those conditions, we can’t come to a distribution agreement.
I realise this isn’t the perfect solution, but you can listen to all our live and on-demand audio content on HomePod by using AirPlay from the BBC Sounds app on your iPad or iPhone. Here’s a page about getting BBC Sounds on smart speakers - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/supported-devices/smart-speaker
Our goal is to ensure audiences can easily access and discover all BBC content and services and we are committed to working with Apple to find a solution. At the moment, access to non-Apple services on HomePod is very limited and we hope to see that change soon so we can make progress. You may wish to raise your frustrations direct with Apple too.
From this it looks to me like the BBC are laying the blame pretty much entirely at Apple's feet, and this does align with the fact that the BBC Radio stations are available as streams provided by TuneIn in Apple Music outside the UK, but not on the HomePod. It also looks like they are implying that Apple is trying to influence the content the BBC provides somehow, but I'm not an expert on 'media' per se, so if anyone else has a clue please share your thoughts here.
Please, if you own a HomePod and BBC Radio matters to you, write to Apple to demand that they make BBC Radio available directly on the device, https://www.apple.com/feedback/homepod.html
I’m sorry that you can’t get BBC radio on your Apple HomePod and understand your frustration. The BBC’s Distribution & Business Development team are looking at how we distribute BBC content in the way that is best value for licence fee payers. Doing that is a growing challenge as ‘Big Tech’ increasingly dominate the devices and platforms where users watch and listen.
The situation with HomePod is that - unlike Amazon Alexa and Google – Apple have not made it possible to integrate BBC Sounds into their voice devices, so we have not given them access to BBC’s live radio streams. We have a UK Distribution Policy which sets out the conditions under which we can distribute our content and services to external platforms. It includes several conditions on platforms such as providing clear attribution and appropriate prominence for the BBC and allowing us to maintain editorial control. When a platform can’t (or won’t) meet those conditions, we can’t come to a distribution agreement.
I realise this isn’t the perfect solution, but you can listen to all our live and on-demand audio content on HomePod by using AirPlay from the BBC Sounds app on your iPad or iPhone. Here’s a page about getting BBC Sounds on smart speakers - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/supported-devices/smart-speaker
Our goal is to ensure audiences can easily access and discover all BBC content and services and we are committed to working with Apple to find a solution. At the moment, access to non-Apple services on HomePod is very limited and we hope to see that change soon so we can make progress. You may wish to raise your frustrations direct with Apple too.
From this it looks to me like the BBC are laying the blame pretty much entirely at Apple's feet, and this does align with the fact that the BBC Radio stations are available as streams provided by TuneIn in Apple Music outside the UK, but not on the HomePod. It also looks like they are implying that Apple is trying to influence the content the BBC provides somehow, but I'm not an expert on 'media' per se, so if anyone else has a clue please share your thoughts here.
Please, if you own a HomePod and BBC Radio matters to you, write to Apple to demand that they make BBC Radio available directly on the device, https://www.apple.com/feedback/homepod.html
Not a bad suggestion. If they get enough requests (not demands) then they might consider it.
This was known and arguably one of the many reasons for why the HomePod wasn’t as successful as it could have been. If only Apple was more embracing of 3rd parties on the HomePod and across all their devices
This is an ongoing standoff. My understanding is that the BBC wanting information on people listening via HomePod and Apple refuse to make that available. I don’t think Apple are trying to dictate what the BBC plays, more that they won’t provide some user info.
Anyhow, you can use Shortcuts to launch a radio steam in the Sounds app, and trigger this from the HomePod directly. It will launch the Sounds app on your iPhone (assuming they are on the same WiFi network) and stream the content to that HomePod.
I created a shortcut that both myself and my wife use and it works reliably for both of us. Here’s a link.
Anyhow, you can use Shortcuts to launch a radio steam in the Sounds app, and trigger this from the HomePod directly. It will launch the Sounds app on your iPhone (assuming they are on the same WiFi network) and stream the content to that HomePod.
I created a shortcut that both myself and my wife use and it works reliably for both of us. Here’s a link.
Thing is, Apple opened up to third party providers for the HomePod.
it’s more that BBC want access to data that’s privacy related, so they’re throwing a strop.
weirdness, since I got my HomePod mini ive been able to play bbc radio here in Portugal. until this week. now all of a sudden 'hey Siri play bbc radio 1' gets 'I am sorry I cannot find this in your Apple Music.
it played fine until the other day, and still plays fine on my google home mini.
it played fine until the other day, and still plays fine on my google home mini.
I'm probably not the best person to take the p*ss out of in this context.
It's like laughing at your neighbour driving to work in a 30 year old car while your modern is broken down on your drive.
EDIT: I listen to records too - or vinyls as the young folk call them - on this:
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alas im a wee bit too far from the Uk radio transmitters.
i guess my version would be - happy that my google home has literally none of this nonsense.
Roger that, but what seems to be the issue these days is they can't roll the tech out consistently. I mean there's places I know where I can barely receive 3G while all the big cities and getting 5G.
Ah didn't realise in the UK the homepod was fine with BBC (my only smart speaker is an Alexa).
If I ask Siri to play BBC Radio 2, I get BBC Radio Stoke. It seems to be the only station available through Apple Music and I can’t figure out why.
Still we don't have this :/
My shortcut fails quite a lot - does anyone know if there's a better way of setting up the shortcut than this? (I only have 1 HomePod mini called Oficina).
Thanks : ]
My shortcut fails quite a lot - does anyone know if there's a better way of setting up the shortcut than this? (I only have 1 HomePod mini called Oficina).
Thanks : ]