HomePod So does HomePod drain your phone?

[chfilm]

Just a quick question from a non HomePod user: what I love with my sonos is how I can control it from the phone, but it doesn’t use up my battery because it accesses Apple Music or radio stations or SoundCloud directly.
While the HomePod, given that it’s probably not possible to really talk to Siri in a meaningful way in order to navigate a vast music library if i don’t know the exact title of a given song or remix etc, is best access via the music app on my phone and then using airplay- correct? There’s no “remote” app for the HomePod like for sonos right? So it’ll drain the phone all day.. ?

(Sure, I understand that if I was able to te Siri what I want her to play, it wouldn’t use up the phone, but I just assume that sori works as bad as on any other iDevice that I own and it’s not possible to properly select music with it)

 

[DMVillain]

I have a massive library of iTunes Match music that is nowhere to be found in Apple Music. So far, I’ve used airplay from an iOS device a few times out of necessity because Siri doesn’t understand well enough. For anything in Apple Music, Siri has found the song I want. Even for some of my own music, Siri has been decent, even if I have to be very prescriptive as to what version of said song.

But you’re right, Siri isn’t typically good at this sort of thing. At first, I considered having an old iPhone as a home device I use to airplay from. It doesn’t seem to be that necessary, but using airplay will be for this sort of thing.

 

[casperes1996]

If it's using Apple Music or music stored on Apple's servers through iTunes Match, if you "AirPlay" it from the Music app on your phone, the HomePod should still autonomously get the music. It's only if it comes from other sources the phone will be the middle man, as I understand it.

 

[chfilm]

If it's using Apple Music or music stored on Apple's servers through iTunes Match, if you "AirPlay" it from the Music app on your phone, the HomePod should still autonomously get the music. It's only if it comes from other sources the phone will be the middle man, as I understand it.

Hmmmm if that was true it would be great.. but I highly doubt it, if they didn’t fundamentally change how airplay 2.0 works opposed to airplay.

 

[casperes1996]

Hmmmm if that was true it would be great.. but I highly doubt it, if they didn’t fundamentally change how airplay 2.0 works opposed to airplay.

It's not about AirPlay though - it's the fact that when used within the Music app with the HomePod, the user facing AirPlay action just acts as a remote instead of an AirPlay action - as far as I understand it

 

[JohnnyQuest]

It's not about AirPlay though - it's the fact that when used within the Music app with the HomePod, the user facing AirPlay action just acts as a remote instead of an AirPlay action - as far as I understand it

This is my understanding as well. It's similar to a Sonos, where the speakers themselves are connected to the service and play the music directly. It's not streamed from your iPhone to your HomePod, the HomePod is streaming directly from Apple Music/iTunes Match.

 

[chfilm]

This is my understanding as well. It's similar to a Sonos, where the speakers themselves are connected to the service and play the music directly. It's not streamed from your iPhone to your HomePod, the HomePod is streaming directly from Apple Music/iTunes Match.

Where do you guys take this information from? Can you confirm it by actually starting to play a song from your phone and then put the phone in flight mode for example, to see if the next songs will still play after the buffer has run out? Or does it say so in some support document? Because in Sonos for example, if you use Apple Music through Sonos app, sure it will do this. But if you chose AirPlay Inside the Sonos app and then go to your music app and send something to AirPlay, It will drain your battery and stream directly from the phone.

 

[AustinIllini]

This is my understanding as well. It's similar to a Sonos, where the speakers themselves are connected to the service and play the music directly. It's not streamed from your iPhone to your HomePod, the HomePod is streaming directly from Apple Music/iTunes Match.

incorrect. AirPlay 1 is streaming from your phone to your HomePod. Sonos and Google Cast are the opposite. Your phone is just a remote.

 

[casperes1996]

incorrect. AirPlay 1 is streaming from your phone to your HomePod. Sonos and Google Cast are the opposite. Your phone is just a remote.

But this information relies on AirPlay being used. What I'm saying is that as far as I've gathered, using the "AirPlay" function in the Music app, doesn't actually AirPlay to the HomePod, but rather acts like a remote for it. Now I will add that I don't have a HomePod and have no intention of getting one. This is based on YouTube videos mostly

 

[JohnnyQuest]

incorrect. AirPlay 1 is streaming from your phone to your HomePod. Sonos and Google Cast are the opposite. Your phone is just a remote.

But this information relies on AirPlay being used. What I'm saying is that as far as I've gathered, using the "AirPlay" function in the Music app, doesn't actually AirPlay to the HomePod, but rather acts like a remote for it. Now I will add that I don't have a HomePod and have no intention of getting one. This is based on YouTube videos mostly

^This. I can tell my HomePod to play a song, and when I go into the Airplay view on my iPhone in the Music app, it shows the HomePod playing this song. And so does my Mac. Meaning that all my connected devices are able to show what my HomePod is playing. Therefore, battery life isn't being consumed by Airplay, as the HomePod itself is streaming. Not the iPhone, the Mac, or both to the HomePod.

 

[TrueBlou]

Easy way to test this for yourself. Select a song on your iPhone from Apple Music or iTunes Match library and Airplay it to the HomePod.
Then put your iPhone into airplane mode. If the music continues without a hitch it’s not using your phone to stream.

 

[bucksaddle]

If you select the HomePod from the new device selection list in iOS 11.2.5 then browse your Music library its as if you are browsing the music library on the HomePod. Start a song and it will stream direct from Apples services. You can even switch of your iPhone / iPad after this and the HomePod will still be playing. No need to AirPlay from your iOS device.

 

[subjonas]

I recently watched a review that said you can use your iOS device as a remote for your HomePod without having to airplay from it. In the newer version of control center, when you long press on the music button, it will show you the screen below. Your HomePod should be one of the devices listed. Press the HomePod window to enlarge it, and you can control playback there. If you press on the album art it will take you to the music app and you can browse music for the HomePod there. I assume this is all without airplaying. I don’t have a HomePod so I can’t verify.

 

[zakarhino]

I recently watched a review that said you can use your iOS device as a remote for your HomePod without having to airplay from it. In the newer version of control center, when you long press on the music button, it will show you the screen below. Your HomePod should be one of the devices listed. Press the HomePod window to enlarge it, and you can control playback there. If you press on the album art it will take you to the music app and you can browse music for the HomePod there. I assume this is all without airplaying. I don’t have a HomePod so I can’t verify.


View attachment 751289

This is indeed the case, you can control the HomePod directly like this in the music app. And yes to @OP, doing this drains my X battery life.

 

[subjonas]

This is indeed the case, you can control the HomePod directly like this in the music app. And yes to @OP, doing this drains my X battery life.

Do you mean the iPhone X controlling the HomePod, not airplaying to the HomePod, drains the iPhone battery? It should only use your iPhone battery while you’re using the phone to control the HomePod (obviously), but once you exit out of the app and let the HomePod play, it should stop draining your iPhone battery.

 

[DMVillain]

Easy way to test this for yourself. Select a song on your iPhone from Apple Music or iTunes Match library and Airplay it to the HomePod.
Then put your iPhone into airplane mode. If the music continues without a hitch it’s not using your phone to stream.

I did this, and the song played for maybe another minute then cut off. HomePod Siri couldn’t answer anything about the song, and couldn’t go to the next song on the album. AirPlay (1) does not stream from Apple Music... and how could it? We use AirPlay for EarPods and regular Bluetooth speakers.

 

[zakarhino]

Do you mean the iPhone X controlling the HomePod, not airplaying to the HomePod, drains the iPhone battery? It should only use your iPhone battery while you’re using the phone to control the HomePod (obviously), but once you exit out of the app and let the HomePod play, it should stop draining your iPhone battery.

Yes, it's only whilst I'm controlling the AirPod (for what it's worth, AirPlay drains as much battery life). As soon as I exit out of music (to stop controlling the AirPod) the battery is fine.

 

[TrueBlou]

I did this, and the song played for maybe another minute then cut off. HomePod Siri couldn’t answer anything about the song, and couldn’t go to the next song on the album. AirPlay (1) does not stream from Apple Music... and how could it? We use AirPlay for EarPods and regular Bluetooth speakers.

None of which have a permanent connection to the internet. But I’m not getting into that debate because I have no problem with how it works.
I simply offered up a suggestion for people to see it in action for themselves, nothing more, nothing less.

You can tell people things all you like on the internet, but there’s nothing like seeing it, or in this case hearing it for yourself to know for absolute certainty what’s happening.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Using @subjonas's method does not appear to place significant drain on my 7 Plus' battery, as it is only acting as a remote for the HomePod.

 

[Philljp]

Came here to answer this as I've just worked it out. Initially I was suprised that it seemed like I couldnt control music like Sonos without having to go through Airplay.

However, you absolutely can just use your iphone as a remote via the Apple Music app. You can even play a different song on your iPhone and your HomePod at the same time to prove it!

If you press the normal airplay button from the player, you get the option to click on HomePod or iPhone to play the music from just like in subjonas screenshots. The Airplay icon will now show that its playing only on HomePod rather than iPhone > HomePod.

You can then use the same way to switch between controlling music playing on the iPhone or HomePod via the same way, even at the same time.

As an additional test i placed my iphone in Airplane mode for a few minutes letting HomePod to play by itself. Then disabled Airplay mode and was able to easily go back to controlling HomePod via the music apps.

Hope this helps confirm that what OP wants to do can definately be done.

 

[boltjames]

This is really simple.

1. Initiate HomePod to access Apple Music by using a “Hey Siri, play...” command directly to the HomePod. Have it start playing a song.

2. Swipe down to access Control Center on your iPhone and long-press the tile for Music. Scroll to the HomePod tile. Then tap the name of the song that’s playing on the HomePod to launch the Music app.

From that point forward, you are on Apple Music streaming direct to the HomePod using your iPhone only as a remote, not as a source. You can either use Siri (speaking to the HomePod) or the iPhone (as a remote) to navigate your playlists, stations, etc.

 

[pup]

You can actually start with step 2, and just a tap - no long press needed. Works the same with AppleTVs.

 

[boltjames]

You can actually start with step 2, and just a tap - no long press needed. Works the same with AppleTVs.

The long press is needed on the Music tile on Control Center. Clarified above.