Learn how to use Siri to play music throughout your home. Check out the new feature.
iPhone and HomePod users can finally take advantage of a new iOS 17 feature that lets you play Spotify on Apple's smart speakers using Siri voice commands.
This clever innovation bypasses previous limitations and automatically plays your Spotify session on your iPhone when you use Siri on your HomePod.
Main changes
You can now use Siri to start playing Spotify music on HomePod using voice commands. Both your iPhone and HomePod must be updated to iOS 17 to take advantage of this feature.
To take advantage of this innovation, we recommend installing the latest version of the Spotify app. Prior to this innovation, Spotify could only be played on HomePod via manual AirPlay. With the introduction of the third-party Siri API, you can now control other audio services on HomePod with your voice.
Until now, HomePod owners faced a frustrating limitation. They couldn't use Siri to directly log into Spotify. However, the latest update to iOS 17 has finally fixed this issue, allowing users to easily choose their favorite songs on Spotify hands-free.
The ability to use Siri to start an AirPlay session on your iPhone was first discovered by 9to5Mac. With this new feature, you can simply tell your HomePod, “Hey Siri, play Bruno Mars on Spotify,” and Siri will pass the command to your phone and start streaming Spotify to your smart speaker. While this is a temporary workaround, it has proven to be effective.
New feature
The Verge's Dan Seifert noted that when testing the feature, the Siri assistant HomePod responded to the prompt “To use Spotify, you must use AirPlay from your iPhone,” but took no further action and reported that it continued without issue. To use this feature, both your iPhone and HomePod must be running iOS 17 or later. Additionally, you’ll need to update your Spotify app to the latest version (currently 8.8.72).
Connecting to Third-Party Apps Previously, the only way to play Spotify on HomePod was to manually use AirPlay from an app on your iOS device or Mac. This was because Spotify hadn’t adopted the Siri Music API for HomePod. The same restrictions also apply to services like Amazon Music and YouTube Music, which can’t stream directly to Apple’s smart speakers. Previously, only Apple Music, Deezer, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn supported direct Siri control on HomePod.
Apple announced the new API at WWDC 2023 earlier this year. It allows third-party apps to sync with the Siri API and control them through the assistant, whether you ask Siri questions on your phone or on the HomePod. As mentioned earlier, Siri forwards commands to your phone, so both need to be on the same Wi-Fi network. This workaround also applies to all audio apps that use the new API, including music services, podcast apps, radio, and audiobook services. Now we just have to wait and see if other services follow suit.
What is HomePod?
For those who don't know, HomePod is a smart speaker developed by Apple. It is a high-quality audio device that also integrates the Siri virtual assistant, allowing users to control the device with voice commands. Unfortunately, HomePod and HomePod Mini are not available in Brazil and there is no forecast for them to arrive here.
