Apple's new HomePod smart speaker is designed primarily for Apple devices, and it's heavily tied to the Apple ecosystem. Natively, you can only stream music on the HomePod through an Apple Music subscription, iTunes purchases, or iTunes Match content uploaded to iCloud Music Library.

It might sound like you're out of luck if you subscribe to a third-party music service like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime Music, Google Play Music, Tidal, or another option, but it's not impossible -- you can still play content from these services to HomePod, you'll just need to use AirPlay to do it.

homepodspotify
With most music apps, you can start up a song and then choose a device to play to right from within the app. These instructions will be specific to Spotify.

  1. Open Spotify and choose a track to play.
  2. On the main screen that shows song details, tap on "Devices Available."
  3. Choose "More Devices." spotifyairplayhomepod1
  4. Tap on the icon for your HomePod, and music will be streamed directly to it.

Here's an alternative method that works with Spotify and all other music apps:

  1. Start a song in Spotify or another app.
  2. Open the Control Center on the iPhone or iPad.
  3. 3D Touch or long press on the music widget.
  4. Tap on the AirPlay icon in the upper right side of the widget. spotifyairplayhomepod2
  5. Select the HomePod icon.

It will take a few seconds for the iPhone or iPad to connect to HomePod, but once it's connected, your music will be streamed to HomePod from your iPhone.

You generally need an Apple device to stream music to the HomePod because it requires AirPlay functionality, but some HTC phones support AirPlay, and there are unofficial third-party Android apps that work with AirPlay, so these devices may also work with the HomePod. You can't, however, connect devices to the HomePod over a Bluetooth connection.

When streaming music to HomePod through AirPlay, you're not going to have full Siri support, but you can use Siri to play/pause music, change the volume, and change music tracks.

Related Roundup: HomePod
Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Neutral)

Top Rated Comments

penajmz Avatar
91 months ago
Seems like a pain in the ass.

I'll stick with my Echo and Sonos.
Seriously? Lol
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
levitynyc Avatar
91 months ago
Seems like a pain in the ass.

I'll stick with my Echo and Sonos.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dlemmon Avatar
91 months ago
Seems like a pain in the ass.

I'll stick with my Echo and Sonos.
The struggle is real.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bpp85 Avatar
91 months ago
It’s amazing to see how fast technology has advanced that now we are like “omg I can’t activate my speaker by voice to play music through my app of choice so I have to use AirPlay :eek:“
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
unobtainium Avatar
91 months ago
Just get Apple Music! You own an iPhone!
Apple Music sucks.

Specifically
- Music discovery sucks compared to Spotify
- Lack of year-end playlists (your most listened tracks etc.) and other fun features...sucks
- UI sucks
- Lack of free tier sucks for some people
- In conclusion, Apple Music sucks and the only reason to get it instead of Spotify is if you’re desperate to be as far up Apple’s #*@# as possible.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GadgetBen Avatar
91 months ago
Just get Apple Music! You own an iPhone!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Expected to Release iOS 18.3 Next Week With These New Features

Thursday January 23, 2025 6:41 am PST by
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones. Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3. Notification Summary Changes Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries Apple Intelligence...
iOS 18

5 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.3

Friday January 24, 2025 1:55 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.3 next week, bringing further refinements to Apple Intelligence features, a couple of neat new capabilities to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 devices, and bug fixes. While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Beta Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday January 24, 2025 8:16 am PST by
iOS 18.3 is expected to be widely released next week, and that means the first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner. Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri ...
Apple Pay Walmart Feature

Walmart Stands Firm on Why It Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in the U.S.

Thursday January 23, 2025 7:32 am PST by
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today. A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Launching This Year With These New Features

Wednesday January 22, 2025 6:01 pm PST by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device. The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.3

Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes. The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Horizontal Single Feature

Kuo: iPhone 17 Models Won't Have Smaller Dynamic Island

Friday January 24, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The upcoming iPhone 17 models that Apple plans to release this year will not feature a smaller Dynamic Island, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. On social media, he said that he is expecting the size of the Dynamic Island to remain "largely unchanged" across the iPhone 17 lineup. His statement is contrary to prior rumors that we've heard about planned changes for the iPhone 17 models. ...
iPhone 16 Apple Store Levels

Gurman: Apple Stores Receiving 'Merchandise' Updates Next Week

Saturday January 25, 2025 5:07 pm PST by
Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch. In each of the past four years, ...
apple power beats pro 2

Apple's First Product Announcement of 2025 is Imminent

Thursday January 23, 2025 2:48 pm PST by
It's also time for Apple's first product announcement of the year. Last year, Apple said it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and the wireless earbuds are expected to launch very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the...