How to Play Music on HomePod?

Apple smart speaker, the HomePod, is compatible with Apple Music and your iTunes library, as well as music from other sources. In this article, we'll go over how to play music on your HomePod without an Apple Music subscription, as well as how to play music from Spotify or Amazon Music on your HomePod.

How to Use Apple Music on HomePod

Playing music on the HomePod is simple, but it's even simpler if you have an Apple Music subscription. A subscription to Apple Music costs £9.99/$9.99 per month and gives you access to 50 million songs. Before you sign up for Apple Music, you can get a free trial here.

Play Music on HomePod

If you are not a subscriber to Apple Music, you will see a page with instructions on how to sign up for the free trial or the various membership plans. Choose the best option for you (if you are a student, there is a hidden option that allows you to get Apple Music for £4.99 per month if you click on are you a university student).

There is also a Family Membership option that allows you to share Apple Music with up to six family members. This probably makes sense if you all have HomePods or iPhones, but if you're sharing the HomePod, you might as well just have a single account.

How to Listen to Music on HomePod Without Using Apple Music?

You are not required to register for Apple Music. On your HomePod, you can listen to any music you've purchased from iTunes. If you're unsure about which songs you purchased on iTunes, open the Music app on your iPhone and select Downloaded Music in Library.

AirPlay Music Streaming to Your HomePod

Streaming music to your HomePod should be simple from any app, not just iTunes.

Swipe up on your iOS device to access Control Center.
Hold the audio card icon down.
Tap the triangle-with-loops icon.

Follow these steps and play music on HomePod.

Spotify Music Streaming to the HomePod

If you use AirPlay, you won't be able to use all of Siri's features, but the HomePod will still play music as the artist intended, according to Apple.

Play Music on HomePod

How to Stream Amazon Music to HomePod

Open your iPhone's Amazon Music app.
Find the song you would really like to listen to.
At the bottom of the screen, tap on the AirPlay icon.
Tap on the HomePod, which should be labelled with the name of the room it is in.

Follow these steps and play music on HomePod.

How to Find Music by Lyrics on HomePod

The ability to ask Siri to play a song based on some of the lyrics is new in HomePod OS12 (find out how to update your HomePod here). This is a bit hit-or-miss in our experience, but it could be a great way to find out what the name of a song is when you only have a lyric stuck in your head.

So, you could inquire:

Hey Siri, what's the song that goes, "You took my hand and showed me how"?

This must give users the Pink song, "Who Knew". Siri didn't get it right the first time, but it's worth asking again because Siri eventually got there.