I’ve owned a HomePod since the original $349 speaker arrived in Apple Stores four years ago. However, a lot has changed since 2018, including the demise of that smart speaker in favor of the more affordable HomePod mini.
No matter which HomePod you have, it’s easy to forget what all it can do since it’s primarily controlled by voice. You’re likely to learn something new by periodically checking what HomePod can do with voice control.
Ambient sounds
Something I regularly do is use my bedroom HomePod mini to play ambient sounds while falling asleep at night. These first two choices are my go-to requests, but that’s partly because I haven’t committed the others to memory yet:
- Ocean
- Rain
- Night
- Forest
- Fireplace
- Stream
- White noise
If you’ve never tried ambient sounds on HomePod or you’re like me and have only used a couple, give each of these a shot to learn what you like most when you need to focus or fall asleep.
Speaker combinations
Using voice commands to control what’s playing where and how is also something that’s more capable than what I’ve been using over the years. I use the first request all the time, but moving audio around is a useful command I’m not sure I knew:
- Play everywhere
- Move this to [another room]
- Play this in [first room] and [second room]
- Add [additional room] or play music from [first room] here
- Stop playing in [first room] and [second room]
- Lower the volume in [another room]
And more
Finally, there are many more supported commands that Siri can understand on HomePod. These are some that I’ll try to remember now:
- Stop playing [music, podcasts, etc.] in one hour
- Play the other version (for songs recorded by different artists)
- Play [genre] from [decade]
- Give me the news
- Subscribe to this podcast
- Play this podcast faster, slower, or normal speed
Have your own frequently used Siri commands on HomePod that aren’t as common as general music commands? Share your favorites in the comments, and learn more here.
Follow my work
You can check out more of my work on 9to5Mac, hear me on the 9to5Mac Happy Hour Podcast, and follow me on Twitter and Instagram!
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments