Siri Will Learn Your Music Preferences With HomePod Software 17.4

Alongside iOS 17.4, iPadOS 17.4, and tvOS 17.4, Apple plans to release a HomePod 17.4 software update that adds a small but meaningful change to Siri.

homepod blue green
‌Siri‌ will be able to learn what a user's preferred media service is, which means that there won't be a need to include an app name when asking ‌Siri‌ to play content or go through the process to set a default third-party app.

‌HomePod‌ users have been able to play songs, podcasts, audiobooks, and other media using supported third-party apps through a ‌Siri‌ request for quite some time now, but this needed to be set up in the Settings section of the Home app. The option was fairly hidden, so some ‌HomePod‌ users might have forgotten the feature was even available. From Apple's release notes:

This update enables Siri to learn your preferred media service, so you no longer need to include the name of the media app in your request.

With ‌HomePod‌ 17.4, ‌Siri‌ will learn preferences and use those preferences to select apps. If you have YouTube Music, for example, you won't need to say "Play [song name] on YouTube Music" to bypass Apple Music, nor will you need to set YouTube Music as your default music service in the Home app.

‌Siri‌ already works this way on the iPhone and the iPad, and asks users for their preferred app when playing content for the first time. As ‌Siri‌ has been updated to set a preference automatically, Apple has removed the Home app option that let users select a default media service.

Third-party apps that work directly with the ‌HomePod‌ include YouTube Music, Deezer, Pandora, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio. Streaming music services need to support ‌HomePod‌ for the feature to work, and not all do. Note that popular music service Spotify can play content through a ‌Siri‌ request on ‌HomePod‌, but it uses the ‌iPhone‌ to do so.

Along with ‌Siri‌ support for a preferred music service, the ‌HomePod‌ 17.4 update also includes performance and stability improvements. The ‌HomePod‌ 17.4 software will see a release as soon as this week.

Related Roundups: HomePod, HomePod mini

Popular Stories

iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.4 With Sleep Alarm Update

Tuesday April 1, 2025 10:34 am PDT by
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...

Top Rated Comments

Gengar Avatar
14 months ago
But will they ever introduce an update where Siri will check your library first when you tell it to play a song? It plays so many stupid remixes of songs if you don’t include “from my library” when giving it a command…
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
uptownnyc Avatar
14 months ago
Cool. Now tell me how to get the HomePod two rooms away from responding to the "Hey Siri" request intended for the phone sitting on the table next to me.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
clg82 Avatar
14 months ago
Wow, now if they could teach Siri to do simple tasks that would be nice
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kagharaht Avatar
14 months ago
The one product from Apple that I have is a true Love hate relationship is the HomePod. This thing has frustrated me to no end. The sound is wonderful and when it works it’s beautiful. Still too many occasions “ I didn’t get that, working on it , hmmm taking too long, there is a problem with Apple Music“ then all speakers just stops playing or one or two stops and the rest plays. Then the volume suddenly increases then decreases... The Audio is beautiful with Homepod, but the software and Siri is pure GARBAGE.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dustin_ Avatar
14 months ago

Notably missing from that list is Spotify. Which is also missing from the Vision Pro. Must be a strange coincidence.
solely by spotify’s choosing
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
5097842 Avatar
14 months ago
Notably missing from that list is Spotify. Which is also missing from the Vision Pro. Must be a strange coincidence.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)