How to use Podcasts stations to play episode playlists like ‘daily news shows’ on HomePod

HomePod is a great sounding speaker, but lacks the smarts of a typical smart speaker. However, on the iPhone, Siri can do so much more and we’ve got a workaround for HomePod to allow custom podcasts commands for Siri.

In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through how to get HomePod to play a specific set of podcasts when you say “Hey Siri, play morning news podcast playlist” or something similar. While it’s not ideal, it’ll work for the time being.

1. Create a station

Unfortunately, this won’t work with third-party podcasts apps as Siri doesn’t support audio/music intents yet. For this to work, you’ll need to jump into Apple’s Podcasts app, head over to Library, tap edit on the top right, and tap New Station.

You’ll need to name your station, and this name should be something easy to say as you’ll be asking for it on your HomePod later.

2. Add podcasts to the station

From here, you’ll need to add your desired podcasts to the station you’ve just created. It’s probably best if you add podcasts that have a new show every day, such as 9to5Mac Daily. That way, you’ll always hear a new show every day.

To add podcasts to your station, head back over to the Library tab, tap on your newly created station, tap Edit on the top right, and Settings.

From there, you’ll want to scroll down and under the choose podcasts section, select the podcasts you’d like to add. You can optionally add all of your podcasts at the top if you’d like. Once done, swipe back and tap the Done button in the top right corner.

3. Ask Siri to play the playlist on HomePod

While you can ask Siri on any of your devices to do this, it is particularly helpful on HomePod as there’s no display or interface for the device.

Now that you’ve created the station and added your podcast, simply say “Hey Siri, play morning news podcast playlist” and she’ll begin playing your list of podcasts.

And that’s how you get Siri on HomePod to play a playlist of podcasts. If you have any questions, leave a comment below or chat with me on Twitter.

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