At WWDC in June, Apple said iOS 13 would bring live radio requests to Siri from iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Radio.com, but it looks like that rollout is already underway ahead of the software's release in the fall.
Macerkopf.de this morning reports that some users in Germany are having success asking Siri to play live national radio stations over HomePods running the latest official software and via Apple Music on devices running iOS 12.
It's not clear how far the company has got in laying the groundwork for live radio Siri requests elsewhere, but Apple says that come the official global rollout in the fall, Apple device owners will have around 100,000 radio stations to choose from.
Other new features destined for HomePod this fall include Handoff for music, podcasts, and phone calls, as well as individual voice recognition for up to six users.
Apple says the latter feature will enable a personalized listening experience and personal access to messages, reminders, lists, and calendars, as well as the ability to make phone calls from the user's contacts.
Alongside iOS 26.5, iPadOS 26.5, and macOS Tahoe 26.5, Apple has released new HomePod 26.5 software for the HomePod and the HomePod mini. The update comes a little over a month after Apple released HomePod Software 26.4.
According to Apple's release notes, HomePod Software 26.5 includes performance and stability improvements.
HomePod software is installed...
We're only four months out from the launch of Apple's premium next-generation smartphone lineup, and while we're not expecting a sea change in terms of functionality, there are still several enhancements rumored to be coming to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth noting is that Apple is reportedly planning a major change to its iPhone release cycle this year, adopting a...
Apple released iOS 26.5 after a few months of beta testing, and while it doesn't have the Siri features we were hoping for since those are being held until iOS 27, there are a handful of useful changes worth knowing about.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
End-to-End Encryption for RCS
Support for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages between iPhone and...
I would like this on my iPhone natively. If the iPod could do it would love my phone too.. Surely with all the antennas in there it can pick up radio. Just saying, even in emergencies it would be useful, instead of relying on an app and data.
I'd like it too but to clarify it sounds like this is about internet radio. Actually picking up FM/AM stations via radio waves isn't supported, it sounds like, and instead this is live-streaming via wifi or mobile data.
Working for me too, but it seems to be hit or miss depending on where the station is being sourced from. A majority of the stations in my area (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN) are on iHeart, so those all work fine. Recently tested it out with one of the stations in the area (KTCZ/Cities 97.1) and it worked like a charm! Radio.com stations (for the most part) are working too. The only ones I seem to be having trouble with are the TuneIn ones so far.
Asked Siri (English) : "Play live Radio" , got Deutchlandfunk playing.
Non of my local channels seem to work.
Happy that at last we have an easy way to listen to "Normal" Radio, Hardware Radio on the iPhone should have long time ago be enabled, now it needs data, if they just had the (Hardware) radio enabled by default it would not cost people any data.