HomePod has built-in Siri functionality, which means it can be used to do a lot of the same things that can be done with an iPhone or an iPod, like setting an alarm or a timer.
If your HomePod is in the kitchen, setting a timer while cooking can be useful, and it's as simple as using a single Siri command.
All you need to say is "Hey Siri, set a timer for [x amount of time]."
You can set a timer for a select number of minutes or hours, with a maximum timer limit of 24 hours. If you ask Siri to set a timer for longer than 24 hours, Siri will suggest you use a Reminder instead.
If you need to know how much time is remaining on the timer, you can ask Siri a question like "Hey Siri, how much time is left on the timer?" and Siri will give you a time update.
When the time is up, the HomePod will play a sound. To stop the timer sound, you can either tap the top of the HomePod or ask Siri to stop it.
Turning Off the Timer
At any point while the timer is running, you can ask Siri to turn it off with a command like "Hey Siri, turn off the timer" or "Hey Siri, pause the timer."
You can also change the timer countdown with a command like "Hey Siri, change the timer to 10 minutes."
Timer Limitations
Unfortunately, you can only set one timer at a time. If you attempt to set a second timer while the first timer you set is still running, Siri will say "A timer is already running at [x minutes]. Would you like to replace it?"
There's also no way to view or manage your HomePod timers on an iOS device like there is with alarms -- timers on HomePod all handled via voice with Siri.
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.
You can use Apple TV and HomePod together as long as you have a third, fourth, or fifth-generation Apple TV
Pairing Apple TV and HomePod
Open the Settings app on the Apple TV.
Scroll down to the Video and Audio section and select it.
Choose "Audio Output."
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.
Unpairing Apple TV and HomePod
You'll presumably want to use your HomePod for purposes beyond playing audio from the Apple TV, and unpairing is done through the same settings you used to pair the HomePod and Apple TV in the first place.
Open the Settings app on the Apple TV.
Scroll down to the Video and Audio section and select it.
Choose "Audio Output."
Click on the HomePod icon from the list of available devices to deselect it.
Choosing Audio Output Device with the Apple TV Remote
You can also choose your HomePod as your audio output device using your Apple TV Remote, which is a quicker way to swap between devices.
Go to the Home screen of the Apple TV.
Hold down the Play/Pause button on the Apple TV Remote.
In the menu that comes up, select the HomePod option.
To go back to using the Apple TV audio, you can repeat the same steps above, but this time select your Apple TV instead of the HomePod.
In a new test shared today by Loup Ventures, Apple's HomePod was put through its paces in categories including Siri, sound quality, and ease of use. For Siri, Loup Ventures' Gene Munster reported that while the AI assistant understood 99.4 percent of queries asked of it, it answered only 52.3 percent of them correctly. Loup Ventures tested three separate HomePods and asked 782 queries total.
Compared to previous tests of rival speakers, HomePod is "at the bottom of the totem pole" in the AI assistant performance category. Google Home answered 81 percent correctly, Amazon's Alexa answered 64 percent correctly, and Microsoft's Cortana answered 57 percent correctly.
Munster broke this information down further, stating that Siri is good for "local" and "commerce" queries, like asking about nearby coffee shops or assisting in buying new shoes. In this area, Siri beats Alexa and Cortana but still falls behind Google Assistant on Google Home.
Despite the low percentage of correctly answering the 782 total queries asked of it, Munster said Siri's overall performance rose above expectations "given the limited scope of HomePod's music focus."
The researchers explained that over time HomePod and Siri should grow to match, or surpass, rival assistants by simply adding query domains like calendar, email, calling, and navigation.
Some domains like navigation, calendar, email, and calling are simply not supported. These questions were met with, “I can’t ___ on HomePod.” Also, in any case that iPhone-based Siri would bring up Google search results, HomePod would reply, “I can’t get the answer to that on HomePod,” which forces you to use your phone or give up on the question altogether. Removing navigation, calling, email, and calendar-related queries from our question set yields a 67% correct response, a jump from overall of 52.3% correct.
This means added support for these domains would bring HomePod performance above that of Alexa (64%) and Cortana (57%), though still shy of Google Home (81%). We know Siri has the ability to correctly answer a whole range of queries that HomePod cannot, evidenced by our note here. Apple’s limiting of HomePod’s domains should change over time, at which point we expect the speaker to be vastly more useful and integrated with your other Apple devices.
As discovered in the research, where HomePod excelled was its "superior" listening skills. The HomePod allows users to speak at a normal volume, even when music from the speaker is particularly loud, and Siri will pick up on the voice and hear the user. "This was HomePod's most stellar feature," according to Munster.
Loup Ventures also favored HomePod's sound quality, saying that "it sounds incredible." Like other reviews and impressions of the device, Munster's enjoyment of the HomePod's audio quality was countered with the speaker's lackluster Siri performance, which he thinks will be changing fairly soon.
Don’t be fooled by HomePod’s sound quality-focused first step into smart speakers; Apple has a grander vision than delivering a better sounding Echo. While not present in the first version of HomePod (i.e. you can’t even make a phone call with HomePod), we believe Apple’s goal is to make Siri a ubiquitous, ambient presence that connects and controls all your connected devices and services – and to make a leap forward in the transition to voice-first computing.
Visit Loup Ventures to read more of the information gathered from the HomePod "smart speaker gauntlet," including the publication's prediction for demand and market share of HomePod through the rest of 2018.
Following the launch of the HomePod, Apple updated its dedicated YouTube support channel with three new tutorials for the smart speaker, walking users through features like using Siri to play music, using the HomePod's touch controls, and adjusting the HomePod settings.
Each tutorial video is about a minute in length, and in the description, Apple links relevant support documents, which can be useful for finding additional HomePod documentation.
Apple's YouTube support channel, introduced back in November, is where Apple shares tutorial videos that are designed to provide users with tips on using their iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other devices.
Along with the new HomePod videos, Apple has in the past shared quick tips on features like 3D Touch, iCloud backups, editing videos, sending emails, signing documents, taking screenshots, deleting photos, and more.
There are many commands that Siri can understand on the HomePod that make it super simple to take quick notes and set up reminders for later, which all sync to any iOS device connected to the smart speaker. As long as you allowed the HomePod access to Contacts, Messages, Reminders, and Notes in the initial pairing process, you'll be able to ask Siri to do the commands in this guide.
First, make sure that your iOS device and HomePod are on the same Wi-Fi network, so that the Notes and Reminders apps get synced to the requests you make to Siri on HomePod. Then, check out the commands below that you can speak to Siri so you can create new notes and reminders on your iPhone or iPad.
Siri Commands for Reminders
The basic starter command for the Reminders app when speaking to Siri is "Hey Siri, remind me to..." After that, you can follow up with essentially any everyday task that you want to be sure to remember.
Reminders can be more specific, as well. You can add a specific time of day or future date when you want the reminder to appear as a push notification on your iOS device, and use places that are in your Contacts to set off a reminder.
"Hey Siri, remind me to clean the kitchen."
"Hey Siri, remind me to tell Sam happy birthday tomorrow at 10:00 a.m."
"Hey Siri, remind me to pack for the beach Monday afternoon."
"Hey Siri, remind me to text Dad when I leave the house."
"Hey Siri, mark take out the trash as complete."
If you have some pre-set lists in your Reminders app, you can also ask Siri to add items to it. One of the most common lists to create is one for "shopping," and if HomePod is in your kitchen Siri can help you quickly build your shopping list. Siri can also help set up a new list if you want.
"Hey Siri, create a new shopping list."
"Hey Siri, add bread to my shopping list."
"Hey Siri, what's on my shopping list?"
"Hey Siri, remove milk from my shopping list."
"Hey Siri, mark coffee as completed on my shopping list."
Siri Commands for Notes
Similar to Reminders, Siri can create you a new Note through simple voice commands when you're near your HomePod. If you already have a Note created, you can also add new text into it through Siri.
"Hey Siri, add a note called birthday present ideas."
"Hey Siri, add iTunes gift card to my birthday present ideas list."
"Hey Siri, create a note called shows to watch."
"Hey Siri, add Parks and Recreation to my shows to watch note."
At any time, Personal Requests can be deactivated on your HomePod by navigating to the Home app, tapping the arrow button in the top left corner, tapping your name, and then toggling off Personal Requests. When it is on, remember that as long as the HomePod and the iOS device are on the same network, anyone near the HomePod can create a Note and Reminder when speaking to Siri.
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.
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.
Open Spotify and choose a track to play.
On the main screen that shows song details, tap on "Devices Available."
Choose "More Devices."
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:
Start a song in Spotify or another app.
Open the Control Center on the iPhone or iPad.
3D Touch or long press on the music widget.
Tap on the AirPlay icon in the upper right side of the widget.
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.
As a smart speaker, HomePod comes with built-in Siri support, so you can use it without ever touching it, but Apple did include a touch panel at the top of the device that supports several gestures.
HomePod gestures can activate Siri, control the volume of what's playing, skip to the next song, pause/play and more. All of the touch gestures you can use with the HomePod are below.
Volume
Volume up - Tap on the "+" button to raise volume by one level, or touch and hold to increase the volume by several levels.
Volume down - Tap on the "-" button to lower the volume by one level, or touch and hold to decrease the volume by several levels.
Playback
Pause or resume playback - Tap in the middle of the HomePod to pause your music and tap it again to unpause.
Go to the next track - When a song is playing, double tap in the middle of the HomePod to skip a song.
Replay the previous track - When a song is playing from a playlist or an album, triple tap in the middle of the HomePod to go back to the previous song that was playing.
Siri
To activate Siri, place a place a finger on the top of the HomePod and hold it there until the visual Siri waveform appears. From there, you can speak your Siri command.
Other Available Gestures
Dismiss an alarm - If an alarm is going off on the HomePod, tap in the middle of it to stop it.
Activate VoiceOver - If you have VoiceOver enabled in the Accessibility settings, double tap to activate it. With VoiceOver enabled, all other gestures will require one extra tap, so pausing, for example will require two taps.
Switch calls - If you're using HomePod as a speakerphone on a call and a second call comes in, you can touch and hold on the green light to put a hold on call. Switch between calls by double tapping.
If you're new to HomePod and don't regularly use the "Home" app for HomeKit devices, you might be wondering how you get to the HomePod's settings, because it's not immediately obvious.
HomePod is controlled entirely through Apple's Home app, much like any other HomeKit-compatible accessory. Accessing HomePod settings is simple once you know where to go, so here's how:
Open the Home app.
You'll see a main page that says "My Home" or "[Your Name]'s Home," with either a series of cards or just the HomePod card if it's your only HomeKit device.
Tap the HomePod card.
Scroll down past the media playback controls, alarms, and timers to see the available HomePod settings. You can also tap the cog icon below the timers section.
When you're done looking at the settings of your HomePod, you can get back to the main Home screen by tapping the X in the top-right corner of the screen.
Available HomePod Settings
In a HomePod's settings, you can change the name of your HomePod (tap where it says HomePod), change the room it is assigned to, add it to your Home favorites, manage automations, change your Siri settings, activate Accessibility features, turn off your Listening history, and more.
Secondary HomePod Settings
Confusingly, there are actually two separate settings sections for the HomePod in the Home app, so if you want to get to options like accessing software updates, you need to go to another section of the app. This split will actually make more sense when there are more AirPlay 2 speakers on the market, which will also be controlled through the Home app, and it also makes sense if you have multiple HomePod speakers. Here's how to get to the other settings:
On the main page of the Home app, tap the ellipsis button (three encircled dots) in the top-right corner.
Tap Home Settings in the dropdown menu.
Choose your home by tapping on it if you have more than one.
In this section of the app, you can see your list of home hubs, which includes the HomePod, and access the Software Update feature for downloading new software to the HomePod.
Even more settings are available if you tap on your HomeKit profile, which should be under your name. This is the area where you need to go to be able to turn off personal requests if you don't want HomePod to be able to do things like read your messages, create notes, and more.
VideoLAN on Friday released VLC 3.0 "Vetinari", a major update to the popular media player that is rolling out across all platforms, including macOS, iOS, and tvOS.
Version 3 includes a huge number of new features and improvements to the app, including automatic hardware decoding for 4K and 8K playback, support for 10-bit HDR, 360-degree video and 3D audio, and Chromecast streaming with support for non-native formats.
VLC now works with Blu-Ray Java menus and features network browsing support for local network and NAS drives, including those with SMB, FTP, SFTP, NFS filesystems. The iOS app has also been optimized for iPhone X displays, while on Mac, Chromecast streaming to supported devices can be found in the menu bar under Playback -> Renderer.
Among many other changes and improvements in VLC Vetinari, further standout features include: a redesigned and resizable fullscreen controller; a new status bar icon which displays metadata and play controls; support for keyboard blacklight dimming during fullscreen video playback; significant performance improvements in playlist handling; and a simplified preferences window. Check the online changelog for the complete list of updates.
VLC 3.0 is a free downloaded for Mac from the VideoLan website. (Note that version 3.0.0 of VLC removes support for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and requires Mac systems to run OS X 10.7 Lion or later.) VLC 3.0.0 is already available on the tvOS App Store, but the iPhone and iPad update still appears to be rolling out as of writing.
Today's the official launch day of the HomePod, Apple's new Siri-powered smart speaker. As of now, the HomePod is available in all three launch countries -- the United States, UK, and Australia.
The first orders have gone out to customers who purchased a HomePod starting on January 26, and Apple retail stores also have plenty of supply for walk-in purchases.
We picked up a couple of HomePods this morning, and MacRumors videographer Dan has spent the last few hours testing out the sound quality, the Siri integration, the HomeKit controls, the touch gesture integration, and more.
Design wise, the HomePod is deceptively small, but it's also heavy and has a solid build. It's covered in a soft, pliable mesh material meant to enhance sound, and there's a fabric-covered cable at the back.
After a bit of a snafu with the setup process, which appears to be related to HomeKit and iCloud keychain and is something we'll need to investigate further, we had the HomePod up and running with an alternate Apple ID.
Sound, as previous reviews and impressions have suggested, is incredible. Music is crisp and clear, with the HomePod highlighting and separating every element of a song. Even if you're not an audiophile, you're going to notice the high-quality sound of the HomePod right away.
We tested HomePod with Apple Music, which is how HomePod is meant to be used, but you can also play music from other third-party music services like Spotify using AirPlay.
HomePod's voice detection works impressively well, with Siri able to pick up a "Hey Siri" command from across the room even with music playing loudly. Siri is useful for playing content from Apple Music and controlling your HomeKit devices, but if you're used to something like Amazon Alexa, you're going to notice a few shortcomings.
Siri on HomePod is basically like Siri on the iPhone, and the personal assistant has almost the same feature set on both devices. Apple didn't make major improvements to Siri for the HomePod, and that's definitely one of the most disappointing aspects of the device.
For HomePod owners out there, how are you liking the HomePod so far? Let us know in the comments. Make sure to check out our HomePod roundup if you're new to HomePod or planning to purchase one -- it's got everything you need to know about HomePod along with a running list of our HomePod how tos.
Earlier this week, source code for iBoot, a core component of the iPhone's operating system, leaked on GitHub. The code was old, for a version of iOS 9, and it was quickly pulled from GitHub after Apple issued a DMCA takedown notice, but it left many wondering how such sensitive code ended up publicly available.
To answer that question, Motherboard got in touch with unnamed sources who were involved in the leak and investigated screenshots, text messages, and more, to determine just how it happened.
As it turns out, the code originally came from a low-level Apple employee who took the code from Apple in 2016 to share with friends in the jailbreaking community. This employee wasn't unhappy with Apple and didn't steal the code with malicious intent, but instead was encouraged by friends to obtain the code to benefit the jailbreaking community.
The person took the iBoot source code--and additional code that has yet to be widely leaked--and shared it with a small group of five people.
"He pulled everything, all sorts of Apple internal tools and whatnot," a friend of the intern told me. Motherboard saw screenshots of additional source code and file names that were not included in the GitHub leak and were dated from around the time of this first leak.
The original group of five people who were provided with access to the code didn't intend to share it, but it somehow got out. From one of the original people involved:
"I personally never wanted that code to see the light of day. Not out of greed but because of fear of the legal firestorm that would ensue," they said. "The Apple internal community is really full of curious kids and teens.I knew one day that if those kids got it they'd be dumb enough to push it to GitHub."
The code began circulating more widely in 2017 and picked up in popularity late in the year before ending up on GitHub this week. Many in the jailbreaking and iPhone research communities attempted to stop sharing, but the major public leak couldn't be avoided.
According to the unnamed people who spoke to Motherboard, what leaked wasn't the "full leak." "It's not the original leak-it's a copy," said one source.
Following the leak, Apple confirmed the authenticity of the code in a statement to MacRumors and pointed out that it's for a three-year-old operating system that's been replaced by iOS 11 and is in use only on a small number of devices.
"Old source code from three years ago appears to have been leaked, but by design the security of our products doesn't depend on the secrecy of our source code. There are many layers of hardware and software protections built into our products, and we always encourage customers to update to the newest software releases to benefit from the latest protections."
The iBoot code leak should not be of concern to the average user because Apple has many layers of protection in place, like the Secure Enclave, and does not rely on source code secrecy alone to keep its users safe. The leak could, however, make it easier for people to locate vulnerabilities to create new jailbreaks.
To celebrate the official launch of the HomePod, Sonos, one of Apple's major competitors in the speaker market, made a "Welcome to the Party" playlist for the new device with a hidden message.
Shared on Twitter, the playlist features 21 songs, with each song selected for its title to send a secret note to Apple. Here's the song list:
Hello / Apple / Something About Us / Together / Feels Right / Even Though / You're Crazy / For This / Home / POD / Remember / Two Is Better Than One / Just Playing / It's a Party / Everybody's Coming To My House / Even You / Come As You Are / Fruit Machine / No Matter What You're Told / We're Going To Be Friends / Over Everything
Sending messages through Spotify playlists is a phenomenon that was popular for a brief time right around April of 2017, due to the way Spotify playlists can be arranged and displayed linearly on both the web and within Spotify's apps. The practice is less common now, and though Sonos is using it to send what appears to be a friendly message, it's also a jab at Apple.
The Sonos Spotify playlist made for Apple can't be played natively on an Apple HomePod because the HomePod is limited to content played from Apple Music or iTunes. It can, of course, be played using AirPlay from a connected Mac or iOS device, but that's less convenient than the native playback available via Sonos speakers.
Sonos hasn't had much competition in the high-end connected speaker market, and for years, it's been the go-to brand for high-quality multi-room sound, so it's not surprising that the company feels somewhat threatened by the HomePod.
The launch of devices like the Amazon Echo and the Google Home likely didn't concern Sonos because of the lack of focus on audio quality, but many new HomePod owners have discovered that the HomePod sounds just as good or better than Sonos speakers.
Back in October, Sonos launched its Sonos One, a speaker that directly competes with the HomePod thanks to the combination of Sonos sound and Amazon Alexa smarts.
Sonos kept the price of the Sonos One low at $199, and when the HomePod went on sale, as an attempt to lure Apple customers, Sonos kicked off a deal offering two of its Sonos One speakers for $349, the same price as a single HomePod.
While Sonos and Apple are now direct competitors, the HomePod and the Sonos One can peacefully co-exist once Apple's AirPlay 2 protocol officially launches. Sonos has promised to add AirPlay 2 support to the Sonos One, and with AirPlay 2, a person who owns both a Sonos One and a HomePod will be able to play music to both devices at the same time over-the-air.
Today is HomePod launch day in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, and as promised, the speaker is now on display and available to purchase at most of Apple's retail stores in each of those countries.
HomePod has already received rave reviews for its sound quality from both the media and early adopters, but customers who prefer their own listening demo can now visit one of Apple's stores to hear it for themselves. Of course, customers can also take advantage of Apple's 14-day return policy and try it at home.
Most if not all of Apple's retail locations currently have plentiful stock of the speaker in both Space Gray and White, but we recommend calling ahead before making the trip. To check availability in your area: go to the HomePod order page, click on the link under the "Pickup" section, and enter your ZIP or postal code.
HomePod orders placed online today are estimated for delivery by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, so if you didn't pre-order the speaker, visiting an Apple Store is the only option to get one in your hands this weekend. Some resellers like Best Buy may also have limited in-store availability.
Meanwhile, deliveries are beginning to arrive to customers who did pre-order the HomePod a few weeks ago. If you've received yours already, be sure to share your thoughts in the MacRumors discussion forums.
Over the past five days, Uber and Waymo have been entangled in a court case over Waymo's allegations that Uber stole its self-driving LiDAR system. Today, the two companies have announced that they reached a settlement agreement, under which Uber will pay Waymo a 0.34 equity stake, "amounting to about $245 million at Uber's recent $72 billion valuation" (via CNBC).
Additionally, Uber has agreed that it will not incorporate Waymo's self-driving technology into any of its own hardware or software. Alongside the settlement, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a letter that the company "does not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber," nor that Waymo's tech was used by Uber in any way, but expressed regret for the ongoing trial over the past year and the events that led up to it.
To be clear, while we do not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber, nor do we believe that Uber has used any of Waymo’s proprietary information in its self-driving technology, we are taking steps with Waymo to ensure our Lidar and software represents just our good work.
While I cannot erase the past, I can commit, on behalf of every Uber employee, that we will learn from it, and it will inform our actions going forward. I’ve told Alphabet that the incredible people at Uber ATG are focused on ensuring that our development represents the very best of Uber’s innovation and experience in self-driving technology.
Waymo's lawsuit concerned Uber and its acquisition of self-driving trucking startup Otto, with Waymo believing that employees at Otto stole information from Alphabet-owned Waymo and shared it with Uber. Despite Khosrowshahi's belief that no such data was seen or used by Uber, the company appears ready to put the legal battle behind it through the settlement and payment to Waymo.
As the fight between the two companies stretched throughout last year, Waymo began a self-driving car test in Phoenix, Arizona, which eventually expanded to testing an autonomous ride-hailing service with no safety drivers. With its fleet of more than 600 minivans, Waymo is considered one of the leaders in the field of self-driving technology, which Apple is now attempting to catch up with through "accelerating" its self-driving efforts in California.
Apple's HomePod speaker is best enjoyed when linked to an Apple Music subscription, since this allows you to make the most of Siri's enhanced music smarts and its DJ-like role as a personal music curator, or "mixologist", as Apple calls it.
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 avoid 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.
Tap the ellipsis button (three encircled dots) in the top-right corner of the main Home screen.
Tap Home Settings in the dropdown menu.
Under "People," tap your name.
Under the "Music & Podcasts" section, tap Update Listening History.
Toggle off the switches next to the HomePod devices that you want to disable listening history updates on.
That's all there is to it. By turning off the setting, HomePod will happily continue to play songs from Apple's vast music catalog for you on behalf of others in your home, but the songs will be excluded from its personal curation algorithms and they will no longer appear in your recommendations. You can easily revert this setting by turning the switches back on in the last step.
Apple's deals match those frequently offered by authorized resellers like B&H Photo Video, which has BeatsX and Solo3 Wireless on sale for the same prices, but even lower prices can be found on Amazon for select colors.
Like AirPods, the BeatsX, Solo3 Wireless, and Powerbeats3 Wireless are equipped with Apple's W1 chip for instant pairing with an iPhone. They can then simultaneously connect to an Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac via iCloud.
All three headphones feature Fast Fuel. Five minutes of charging provides up to three hours of playback for the Solo3 Wireless, two hours of playback for the BeatsX, and an hour of playback for the Powerbeats3 Wireless.
Apple's special Beats prices are available in the United States only for a limited time.
Disclosure: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with B&H Photo Video and may get paid if you click one of the above links and make a purchase.
Apple today updated its HomePod support website with out-of-warranty service pricing for the speaker, which is arriving to customers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia starting today.
HomePod owners who do not purchase AppleCare+ will pay $279 in the United States, £268.44 in the United Kingdom, and $399 in Australia for Apple to repair or replace a HomePod with any damage, unless the issue is the result of a manufacturing defect covered by Apple's limited one-year warranty.
HomePod service can be obtained with an appointment at an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Apple also offers to send customers a box to ship their HomePod to its repair center for an additional fee of $19.95, £13.44, and $29.95 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia respectively.
HomePod costs $349 in the United States, £319 in the United Kingdom, and $499 in Australia, meaning Apple's replacement fee is 80 percent of the cost of a brand new one, so AppleCare+ could be worthwhile.
AppleCare+ extends a HomePod's hardware coverage to two years from its original purchase date, and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $39 in the United States, £29 in the United Kingdom, and $55 in Australia, plus the upfront cost of the plan.
Is it worth it to buy AppleCare+ for HomePod?
We've put together a chart to compare the potential costs of replacing a damaged HomePod with and without AppleCare+ in each country:
Since the HomePod is more of a stationary product placed on a desk or kitchen countertop, many customers may opt against purchasing AppleCare+ for the speaker. But if you have children or pets, or worry about splashing it in the kitchen, then it may be worth considering AppleCare+ for its potential savings.
DirecTV Now has updated its Apple TV 4K deal today with an even lower price point: if you prepay for just three months of the streaming TV service for a total of about $105, you'll get the 32GB Apple TV 4K at no cost. The deal is an improvement on the original DirecTV Now offer of prepaying for four months of the $35/month service (that's the entry price point), which ended up costing $140 for the 32GB Apple TV 4K.
This makes DirecTV Now's deal the best sale price currently available online for the Apple TV 4K, with the $105 price tag up to $75 cheaper than the device's current going rate of about $170 to $180 at retailers like B&H Photo and Best Buy. You could also opt for the higher cost packages of DirecTV Now when prepaying for three months, with the service increasing to $50/month, $60/month, and $70/month for additional channels.
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Once ordered, the Apple TV 4K arrives in the mail within a few weeks, and if you don't want to continue to pay for DirecTV Now at the end of the three-month prepaid period, you can cancel it before you're billed again and keep the Apple TV 4K. The offer is limited to new DirecTV Now subscribers in the United States, but existing customers can take advantage of it by using a different email address. There's also a limit of one offer per DirecTV Now account and two per shipping address.
Below you'll find more of the fine print on the refined deal:
4K Apple TV (32 GB): Must prepay first three months of service at full price. Online orders will be shipped via FedEx ground to address provided. Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Offer limited to 1 per DIRECTV NOW account; 2 per shipping address. Not combinable with select offers. 4K HD not available with DIRECTV NOW.
The company notes on the updated page for the deal that it is a limited time offer and "won't last," suggesting that it could return to the normal four months of prepaid service fairly soon. If you're interested, head over to DirecTV Now's landing page for the deal, click "Redeem & Stream," and make sure to add the Apple TV 4K to your plan at no cost during the sign-up process.
For more information on discounts happening this week, visit our Deals Roundup.
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