PSA: HomePod Supports Live Radio Requests, But Even UK Users Can't Stream Most BBC Stations

Apple has been rolling out HomePod support for live radio requests to Siri over the last few months, and now users in several countries are reporting success when asking their Apple smart speaker to play live radio stations.

homepod on shelf
After announcing the feature at WWDC in June, Apple said it would launch on September 30, but the company recently removed the date from its HomePod product page, suggesting an official global rollout is basically complete.

Apple began testing the live radio request feature in July, starting in Germany, but station requests to Siri on ‌HomePod‌ are now being routinely fulfilled in many countries including the U.S. and the U.K., despite the fact that Apple has yet to issue a HomePod-specific iOS 13 software update. Using a ‌Siri‌ request, ‌HomePod‌ owners should be able to choose from around 100,000 radio stations, according to Apple, with the broadcast catalog drawn from iHeartRadio, Radio.com, and TuneIn.

MacRumors has been testing the ‌Siri‌ feature on ‌HomePod‌ after updating iOS devices to 13.1.2, and it's still a bit finicky, although it's unclear whether that's due to the ‌HomePod‌ software still languishing on 12.4. Radio requests have to be specifically worded – without key words like "radio station" in the question, ‌Siri‌ will often revert to an Apple Music search. Also, only some users appear to be seeing a new Broadcast Radio section in the Music app's Radio tab that lists available stations.

In addition, ‌HomePod‌ owners in the United Kingdom who were hoping to listen to BBC Radio will be disappointed to learn that the British broadcaster has removed its flagship stations from the TuneIn catalog, after the U.S.-based radio app refused to share information on its listeners.

homepod live radio
The BBC now wants people to access its content through BBC apps and via Alexa so that it can collect analytics and better understand what people are consuming, but unfortunately that has left only a handful of local BBC stations and the BBC World Service directly accessible through ‌HomePod‌.

According to Apple's website, additional ‌HomePod‌ features specific to iOS 13, including multi-user support, music handoff, and Ambient Sounds, will not launch until "later this fall."

Related Roundup: HomePod
Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Buy Now)

Top Rated Comments

VulchR Avatar
46 months ago
WTF BBC? :mad: I support the BBC through my licence fee and should have convenient access to everything the BBC produces. That's all you need to know about me.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ngrai Avatar
46 months ago
Good for Apple to care about privacy. The BBC disappoints in so many ways these days. I grew up listening to it in the 1950s, and have watched with dismay a dismal drop in copy-editorial standards ever since. It remains a good and relatively impartial news source but is no longer the only one. Its refusal to let me listen to it without letting it have my usage data (I know, I know, it's ostensibly de-identified) leaves me and others like me with a not-so-difficult choice to go elsewhere.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
peterh988 Avatar
46 months ago

Isn't the BBC public radio? They don't need information who their listeners are, because by definition everyone in the UK is.

And anyway, TuneIn is just maintaining a directory. The BBC still gets to know the IP address it's streaming to. TuneIn doesn't know anything more.
You have to pay a tax (called the licence fee) to listen to BBC radio, although its more of an honesty system at the moment. When you use iPlayer it asks if you nave a licence, although the answer is just yes/no, there's no need for proof. Maybe there's a problem with authentication with voice activated systems?

You have to have a BBC licence to watch TV here, even if you don't watch BBC channels, it's quite controversial, especially with the BBC, which is bound by charter to be impartial, taking an increasingly partisan political stance and dealing in 'fake news'.

Axe the Telly Tax!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Porco Avatar
46 months ago
The BBC think they have to act like all the commercial services and grab data from everyone. They are like a sad pantomime IMHO. They should behave like the public service broadcaster they are supposed to and fulfil their remit of being accessible to all licence fee payers, not just the ones who are forced to kowtow to their sad delusions of being Google/Netflix etc. and rapidly spoiling the very aspects that used to make them special.
/rant :p
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dadiy Avatar
46 months ago

Living in the UK - my HomePod still doesn't see an update available - I've checked every iOS release day and am running 13.1.2 now but going to Home > Updates it says no updates available.

Trying to listen to BBC R4 or R1 results in it playing podcast episodes instead of live radio,

Weird.
IOS 13 for Homepod is not out yet, launches latter this fall (or autumn for us brits).
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonnyb Avatar
46 months ago

You have to pay a tax (called the licence fee) to listen to BBC radio, ........
'fake news'.


Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2023 Event Taking Place June 5 to 9

Wednesday March 29, 2023 9:58 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 34th annual Worldwide Developers Conference will take place from Monday, June 5 to Friday, June 9. Like WWDC 2020, 2021, and 2022, WWDC 2023 will be an online event for the most part, and it will be open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple will provide online sessions and labs, which will allow...
iPhone 15 Pro Buttons CAD Leak

iPhone 15 Pro Low-Energy Chip to Allow Solid-State Buttons to Work When Device is Off or Out of Battery

Wednesday March 29, 2023 1:54 am PDT by
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will use a new ultra-low energy microprocessor allowing certain features like the new capacitive solid-state buttons to remain functional even when the handset is powered off or the battery has run out, according to a source that shared details on the MacRumors forums. CAD-based render of new solid-state buttons on iPhone 15 Pro models The source of this rumor is ...
CarPlay Phone Call

General Motors to Phase Out Apple CarPlay Starting This Year in EV Transition

Friday March 31, 2023 8:43 am PDT by
General Motors (GM) will phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its vehicles starting this year, shifting to a built-in infotainment system co-developed with Google (via Reuters). GM owns Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC in the United States. It will stop offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto starting with the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer, which goes on sale this summer. The company plans ...
iPhone 15 Pro Multi Purpose button Mute Switch Feature Green 2

iPhone 15 Pro Rumored to Feature Multi-Use Action Button Instead of Mute Switch

Wednesday March 29, 2023 7:28 am PDT by
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models are rumored to feature a customizable Action button like the Apple Watch Ultra, according to a MacRumors forum member who leaked accurate details about the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro models last year. The source claimed the Action button will replace the Ring/Silent switch that has been included on every iPhone model since 2007. They did not...
iOS 16

iOS 16.4 Now Available for Your iPhone With These 8 New Features

Friday March 31, 2023 8:55 am PDT by
Following six weeks of beta testing, iOS 16.4 was released to the public this week. The software update includes a handful of new features and changes for the iPhone 8 and newer. To install an iOS update, open the Settings app on the iPhone, tap General → Software Update, and follow the on-screen instructions. Below, we have recapped eight new features and changes added with iOS 16.4,...
iOS 17 on Phone Feature

Three New iOS Features Coming to Your iPhone Following Apple Music Classical

Thursday March 30, 2023 7:13 am PDT by
With the Apple Music Classical app and an Apple Pay Later early access program now available, the list of previously-announced iOS features that have yet to launch is beginning to shrink. However, there are still a few features we are waiting for. Below, we have recapped three more iOS features that are expected to launch in 2023, including an Apple Card savings account for Daily Cash,...
apple mixed reality headset concept by david lewis and marcus kane

Kuo: Apple Mixed-Reality Headset May Not Appear at WWDC as Mass Production Pushed Back Yet Again

Thursday March 30, 2023 4:50 am PDT by
Apple has again pushed back mass production of its mixed-reality headset and the device may not appear at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today said. Apple headset concept by David Lewis and Marcus Kane In a tweet, Kuo explained that Apple "isn't very optimistic" about whether the headset will be able to create an "iPhone moment." As a result,...