15 HomePod and HomePod mini Tips and Tricks Everyone Needs to Know

Make better use of your HomePod or HomePod mini with these tips and tricks.

The Apple HomePod, touted for its incredible sound and deeply integrated Apple ecosystem, is more than just a smart speaker. It’s an intelligent, all-in-one hub designed to simplify your digital lifestyle while delivering an immersive audio experience. Yet, much of the HomePod’s potential remains untapped due to users not being fully aware of its capabilities. Whether you’re a proud owner of a HomePod or HomePod mini, or considering stepping into the world of Apple’s smart technology, we have something that could transform your user experience.

Apple launched the original HomePod back in 2018 at a premium price above competitors at $349. Just over a year later, Apple cut the price to $299. Then the HomePod mini arrived in the fall of 2020 with a more mass-market-focused $99 price before Apple abruptly discontinued the full-size HomePod in March of 2021.

While many felt the original HomePod was priced too high, it offered features HomePod mini doesn’t match like richer, louder sound, strong bass, Dolby Atmos support, beamforming, and room sensing.

Now the full-size HomePod has sprung back to life with HomePod 2 featuring Thread/Matter support, a temperature/humidity sensor, updated Apple Silicon chips, and a very minor tweak to the design.

In this comprehensive guide, we delve into 15 indispensable HomePod tips and tricks. These range from foundational features to little-known functionalities that can significantly enhance the convenience and enjoyment of your Apple ecosystem. These tips aren’t just about making the most of your music – they encompass a whole realm of settings, and integrations that can help you tailor the HomePod to your unique needs and lifestyle.

Best HomePod and HomePod Mini tips and tricks

Here are some great HomePod or HomePod mini tips and tricks you should know:

1. Use the intercom on Apple HomePod and HomePod Mini

It’s perfectly possible to have conversations (to some degree) and deliver messages to other areas of the home through the speakers. Whether you want to tell the kids food is ready, check if they’re doing their homework, tell everyone to get up in the morning, or whatever other message you have, here’s how to do it through the HomePod.

It’s a good idea to make sure all is set up before you start using intercom. Open the Home app on your iPhone or iPad and follow these steps.

1. Open Home Settings. In iOS 15 this is behind the house-shaped icon. In iOS 16 you’ll find it behind the three dots menu icon.
2. Tap on intercom.
3. Choose your preferred notifications.
4. Select which members of your home you want to be able to send intercom messages.
5. Select which speakers you want to be able to send and receive intercom messages.

Now you’re set up it’s time to start sending intercom messages.

To use your HomePod or HomePod mini to send messages to your other speakers, simply use your voice to invoke the feature by saying:

• "Hey Siri, intercom "

This will automatically broadcast to every enabled HomePod speaker within your home. If you want to target a particular speaker or group, you can do that too:

• "Hey Siri ask <speaker name, location or group>"

This will then target those specific speakers or groups without having to disable others in the Home app.

To send a reply simply say:

• "Hey Siri, reply "

Or you can dictate a location for your reply by saying:

• "Hey Siri, reply <speaker name, location or group>" followed by your message.

If you’re using an iPhone or iPad there are two different methods you can use to send intercom messages.

Assuming you have "Hey Siri" enabled on your device you can do it the same way as on your HomePod. This will also apply when using CarPlay.

• "Hey Siri, intercom "

Alternatively, you can use the Home app to send intercom messages if you spend a lot of time inside it.

1. Tap the **waveform **icon in the top right-hand corner.
2. Speak your message. You can use the same principles described above to dictate specific speakers or groups.
3. Hit the **stop button **when you’re done to send the message.

2. Find Family, Friends, and Items With Your HomePod

If you have a HomePod or HomePod mini that has been updated to the latest software, you can use it to locate any family and friends linked through Find My, as well as any other items you have connected to the Find My network, like AirTags and any other Apple devices you own.

The feature works through Apple’s digital assistant, Siri, and it’s very simple to use. Just say, "Hey Siri, where is [name of family member, friend, or item]?" If everything works as it should, Siri will be able to give you the location of the person/item, including their distance and a nearby address.

3. Use the Temperature and Humidity Sensors on HomePod and HomePod Mini

The second-generation ‌HomePod‌ and HomePod mini features temperature and humidity sensors that can be used to measure the indoor climate.

To get a readout from the sensors, make sure you have updated your iPhone or iPad to 16.3 or later, which should allow you to update the HomePod software to 16.3, then follow these steps.

1. Open the Home app on your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌.
2. Select your home, and then the room in which the ‌HomePod‌ is located. Alternatively, tap the Climate button at the top of the main screen for your home.
3. Look for the Temperature and Humidity readings at the top of the screen. If you have multiple temperature sensors in the room, it will display an average of them. (If you’ve just updated your ‌HomePod‌, the sensors may need a few minutes to calibrate.)
4. Tap the readout, then tap the sensor button again to access more options.
5. In the menu card that appears, you can change the name of the sensor, change which room it is linked to, check its status, and add an automation.

4. Prevent Others’ HomePod Requests From Skewing Your Apple Music Recommendations

As ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers will know, the streaming service learns your music preferences based on what you say and play, which helps it populate the app’s "For You" section with new songs that you might like, and enables ‌Siri‌ to generate new playlists on the fly at your request.

But what if you frequently command ‌Siri‌ to play music for other people in your household, such as your children? Using ‌HomePod‌ to play songs that don’t align with your own tastes can quickly skew your ‌Apple Music‌ recommendations. Fortunately, you can use a Hidden HomePod trick to prevent your recommendations being inundated with Encanto or Frozen tracks by disabling a simple setting. It’s called "Use Listening History", and here’s how to find it.

1. Start the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap on the ellipsis button (three encircled dots) in the top-right corner of the main Home screen.
3. Tap on Home Settings in the dropdown menu.
4. Under "People," tap on your name.
5. Under the "Music & Podcasts" section, tap Update Listening History.
6. Toggle off the switches next to the ‌HomePod‌ devices that you want to disable listening history updates on.

5. Enable Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio and Apple Lossless on HomePod

Apple’s spatial audio feature uses Dolby Atmos to create a richer, more immersive soundstage when listening to songs in the ‌Apple Music‌ catalog that support spatial audio. With Dolby Atmos enabled, the subjective experience is that musical notes are coming from all around you. ‌Meanwhile, ‌Apple Music‌‌ Lossless provides listeners with higher quality audio in a lossless file format, which is great news for audiophiles and purists.

To enable Dolby Atmos and Apple Lossless on your ‌HomePod‌, follow these steps:

1. Start the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap on the ellipsis button (three dots encircled) in the top-right of the screen.
3. Select Home Settings from the dropdown menu.
4. Under "People," select your named owner profile.
5. Under "Media," select Apple Music.
6. Scroll down and toggle the switches beside Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio to the green ON position.

6. Create a HomePod or HomePod Mini Stereo Pair

Adding a second ‌HomePod‌ to your setup is a nifty trick to enable stereo sound with a wider soundstage for richer, more enveloping sound.

A ‌HomePod‌ stereo pair also creates greater bass extension, resulting in a deeper, more accurate reproduction of low frequencies.

Both the ‌HomePod‌ and HomePod mini support stereo pairing, but be aware that you cannot pair a ‌‌HomePod mini‌‌ and an original ‌‌HomePod‌‌ together. You can only pair two original HomePods or two ‌‌HomePod‌‌ minis as stereo speakers. It’s also worth bearing in mind that when two ‌HomePod‌ speakers are joined, only one responds to Siri requests, plays alarms, and acts as a speakerphone.

1. Start the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Make sure both HomePod speakers are in the same room
3. Touch and hold one of the HomePods.
4. Swipe up and tap the cog icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
5. Tap Use as Stereo Pair and follow the onscreen instructions.

7. Use Your HomePod as a Speaker for Your Apple TV

The HomePod offers great sound, and with AirPlay connectivity, you can set the ‌HomePod‌ up to function as a speaker for your Apple TV, routing ‌Apple TV‌ sound through the ‌HomePod‌.

To use ‌Apple TV‌ and ‌HomePod‌ together, you need a third, fourth, or fifth-generation ‌Apple TV. Here’s how:

1. Start the Settings app on the ‌Apple TV‌.
2. Scroll down to the Video and Audio section and select it.
3. Choose "Audio Output."
4. Select the ‌HomePod‌ icon from the list of available devices.

Once the ‌Apple TV‌ is paired with the ‌HomePod‌, TV sound will be routed through your ‌HomePod‌ instead of through your TV. Using the ‌HomePod‌’s physical controls, you can change the volume of the ‌Apple TV‌, or you can ask Siri to do so. You can also play/pause content through the top of the ‌HomePod‌ or through ‌Siri‌.

8. Play Ambient Sounds on HomePod

Did you know there’s a cool HomePod trick that you can use to play relaxing high-quality soundtracks with Ambient Sounds?

The Ambient Sounds feature offers seven continuous streaming options. They include the following:

• Rain
• Stream
• White Noise
• Fireplace
• Forest
• Night
• Ocean

To start streaming one of the sounds on your ‌HomePod‌, simply ask Siri To play White Noise for example, you would say "Hey Siri, play white noise sounds."

You can also get ‌HomePod‌ to play a random ambient sound by saying "Hey Siri, play sounds."

Additionally, you can use another HomePod trick to play an ambient sound and set a sleep timer so that it automatically stops playing after a certain period of time has passed.

First, get ‌HomePod‌ to play an ambient sound using one of the phrases above, then say "Hey Siri, set a sleep timer for 45 minutes," or however long you want it to play for.

9. Use Your HomePod as a Speakerphone

Although the HomePod is primarily geared towards playing songs from the Apple Music catalog and listening to music and podcasts in your iTunes library, it also features a handy speakerphone function that’s ready to use out of the box.

You can use this trick on both the HomePod mini and larger ‌HomePod‌, but it works best with the latter device since it has a multi-microphone array, which features an advanced echo cancellation system so that Siri can understand anyone speaking to it in the room.
This also means that anyone in your household on the same local network can easily hand off calls to the ‌HomePod‌ from a nearby iPhone, with the ‌HomePod‌ able to serve as both a speaker and a microphone for a handsfree conversation, regardless of their position in relation to the device. Here’s how it’s done.

1. When you’re next in a call or about to accept a call on your ‌iPhone‌, tap the Audio option in the call interface, then choose the ‌HomePod‌ in the list that you’d like to use as a speakerphone.
2. Alternatively, hold your ‌iPhone‌ near the top of ‌HomePod‌ to handoff the call automatically. (To hand off audio, your device must have Bluetooth turned on and be on the same Wi-Fi network as ‌HomePod‌. You must also turn on Transfer to HomePod in Settings -> General -> AirPlay & Handoff on your ‌iPhone‌.)
3. Wait for the light on top of the ‌HomePod‌ to turn green, which tells you it’s connected to the audio of your call.
4. Now you can put down your ‌iPhone‌ and continue your call handsfree using the ‌HomePod‌ as your speakerphone.
5. To hang up the call, simply tap the top of the ‌HomePod‌, or refer back to your ‌iPhone‌’s call interface to do so.

10. Disable Playback of Explicit Content on HomePod

Apple’s HomePod speaker is a great way for your kids to play their favorite songs from Apple Music and podcasts from the Podcasts app, but many parents will be aware that some song lyrics and the contents of some podcast episodes can include explicit content.

Thankfully, there’s a cool trick to disable playback of explicit content for specific ‌HomePod‌ users in your home. Once the restriction is turned on, when that person makes a request, the ‌HomePod‌ will not play songs, albums or podcast episodes that contain explicit content. Here’s how to access the setting on your iPhone or iPad.

1. Start the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap on the ellipsis button (three dots in a circle) in the top-right corner of the main Home screen.
3. Select Home Settings from the dropdown menu.
4. Under "People," tap the name of the person whom you want to protect from explicit content.
5. Under the "Music & Podcasts" section, toggle off the switch next to Allow Explicit Content.

That is all you have to do. The new setting will take effect immediately.

11. Keep HomePod Volume Level Consistent for Music and Podcasts

Occasionally, you might find that some podcasts or music tracks play at a louder or quieter volume than others, which can be uncomfortable for your ears.

Thankfully, Apple includes a HomePod trick that lets you balance out the volume level between different media sources. It’s called Sound Check, and here’s how you can enable it.

1. Start the Home app on your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌.
2. Tap on the ellipsis button (three dots in a circle) in the top-right corner of the main Home screen.
3. Choose Home Settings from the dropdown menu.
4. Scroll down, and under "Media," toggle on the switch next to Sound Check.

That’s it. The volume at which you play music and podcasts on your ‌HomePod‌(s) will be consistent from now on.

12. Enable smoke alarm detection alerts on your HomePod

You can depend on your speaker to receive iPhone alerts if the HomePod detects a smoke alarm. So even while you’re outdoors, you can stay up to date with your house’s safety. The feature even allows you to check in on people in the affected house through the iPhone and HomePod. Here are the steps you need to follow to utilize this perk.

1. Launch the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap on the 3-dot menu in the top right corner.
3. Choose Home Settings.
4. Tap on Safety & Security.
5. Enter the Sound Recognition section, and enable the Smoke & CO Alarm toggle.

13. Manually or automatically update HomePod

The HomePod and HomePod Mini updates are less glamorous and don’t always add noticeable new features. But those updates are still there and are still getting pushed out. So how do you update the HomePod?

The good news is that you shouldn’t have to worry about updating your HomePod. Automatic updates **should **be enabled, but if they’re not you would have to manually apply the update.

Fortunately, you enable this feature in the same exact menu as you would apply a manual update. Here’s how to find it.

1. Open the **Home app **on your iPhone or iPad.
2. If on iOS 15 tap the Home icon. If on iOS 16, tap the **three dots **menu button.
3. Tap on **Software Update. **
4. To enable automatic updates, ensure the toggles are turned on for any listed HomePods.
5. If there’s a manual update, you’ll see a notification of it. To apply simply tap Update.

14. Restart your HomePod

Almost all of the time, Apple’s HomePod and HomePod Mini are simple to use and just get on with their job without fuss. But occasionally things go wrong. In those instances, you have options, like rebooting the HomePod.

You can do this in the Home app either on a Mac or on an iOS device.

1. Open the Home app.
2. On iOS, touch and hold on your HomePod. On Mac, right-click on it.
3. On iOS, scroll to the bottom and tap the settings. On Mac, select **Settings **from the right-click menu.
4. Select Reset HomePod.
5. Select Restart HomePod.

15. Don’t remember the name of a song? Ask for it by its lyrics

This one is pretty cool. HomePod has the capability to find a song by its lyrics. If you’re trying to identify a song but can’t remember the name or artist, you can say something like "Hey Siri, play the song that goes ‘… [insert lyrics here] …’". As long as you have the right lyrics, Siri will begin playing that song. On occasion, it will get the song right even if you don’t have the right lyrics.

Use Your Apple HomePod to Its Full Potential

These Apple HomePod tips and tricks are only the tip of the iceberg. There are a ton more features that come with this awesome smart home device, and we’re sure you’ll have fun discovering them all.