YouTube Music Integration Comes to HomePod

by

YouTube Music is now available directly on Apple's HomePod and HomePod mini, thanks to new Siri integration support in the YouTube Music app.

youtube music logo
The change means subscribers to the streaming service can now choose to use voice commands to start YouTube Music on a ‌HomePod‌, without having to append "on YouTube Music" to every request. From Google's support document:

YouTube Music is supported on the following Apple HomePod models: Apple HomePod 1st Generation, Apple HomePod 2nd Generation, Apple HomePod Mini.

With YouTube Music on Apple HomePod, you can:
– Use Siri voice commands or physical touch controls on Apple HomePod to play music
– Handoff playback between your Apple HomePod and iPhone, and vice versa
– Control playback in the Apple Home app.

Support for the option was announced by YouTube Music in a Reddit post spotted by 9to5Google. The update has been expected since September, when hidden code was revealed in the app.

To set up ‌Siri‌ integration for YouTube Music, make sure you have updated the app, then follow these steps.

  1. Open the YouTube Music app.
  2. Tap your profile image in the top-right corner.
  3. Go to Settings ➝ Connected Apps.
  4. Select Connect with ‌HomePod‌.
  5. Tap Use in Home.

If you don't see the option in YouTube Music, try force-closing the app and re-opening it.

After you have done that, you will need to select YouTube as the "Default Service" for your ‌HomePod‌(s).

  1. Open the Home app on iPhone or iPad.
  2. Tap the More button (three encircled dots) in the top-right corner.
  3. Tap Home Settings.
  4. Tap your username under the "People" section.
  5. Tap Default Service and choose YouTube Music.

youtube music homepod

Note that to connect YouTube Music to ‌HomePod‌, you will need to have either a YouTube Music or YouTube Premium account.

Apple has supported a handful of third-party music services on ‌‌HomePod‌‌ for the last couple of years, and the functionality is already available with Pandora, iHeartRadio, Deezer, and TuneIn Radio.

Other music services including Spotify have not supported this option even though Apple made the SiriKit Media feature available in iOS 14, so it remains limited in scope. With the direct play function, users can set a third-party service as a default music option, and when ‌‌Siri‌‌ on ‌‌HomePod‌‌ is asked to play content, ‌‌Siri‌‌ will play music from the selected service.

Related Roundups: HomePod, HomePod mini
Tag: YouTube Music
Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Neutral), HomePod Mini (Caution)
Related Forum: HomePod, HomeKit, CarPlay, Home & Auto Technology

Popular Stories

Apple Glass

Apple Smart Glasses: Everything We Know So Far

Wednesday May 21, 2025 8:21 am PDT by
Google recently made waves by showcasing a set of lightweight smart glasses featuring deep Gemini integration and an optional in-lens display. The demo has reignited interest in Apple's own smart glasses project, which has been the subject of rumors for nearly a decade. Here's a recap of where things stand. Current Development Status Apple is actively working on new chips specifically...
Read Full Article • 55 comments
Apple Glasses Purple Feature

Apple Smart Glasses Launching in 2026

Thursday May 22, 2025 12:22 pm PDT by
Apple is planning to launch a set of smart glasses by the end of 2026, reports Bloomberg. The glasses will be comparable to the Meta Ray-Bans and the Android XR glasses that Google showed off earlier this week. Apple's smart glasses are expected to include cameras, microphones, and AI capabilities, much like the Meta Ray-Bans. The glasses will be able to take photos, record video, provide...
Read Full Article • 134 comments
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
Read Full Article
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Battery Capacity and Weight Allegedly Revealed

Monday May 19, 2025 2:22 am PDT by
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
Read Full Article • 62 comments
WWDC 2025 Banner

Apple Announces WWDC 2025 Schedule, Including Keynote Time

Tuesday May 20, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced a more detailed schedule for its annual developers conference WWDC, which runs from June 9 through June 13. The schedule confirms that Apple's keynote will begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream to be available on Apple.com, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16,...
Read Full Article • 43 comments
macOS 16 visionOS Inspired Feature 1

macOS 16: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday May 20, 2025 7:31 am PDT by
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple's annual developer and software-oriented event, is less than three weeks away. We haven't heard a great deal about macOS 16 ahead of its announcement this year, so we could be in for some major surprises when June 9 rolls around. Here's what we know so far about the next major update to Apple's Mac operating system. macOS 16 Name? Every year ...
Read Full Article • 103 comments
maxresdefault

OpenAI Buys Jony Ive's AI Startup to 'Completely Reimagine What It Means to Use a Computer'

Wednesday May 21, 2025 10:27 am PDT by
OpenAI is acquiring io, the hardware-based AI startup co-created by Jony Ive, OpenAI announced today. Ive has been working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on io for two years, and the duo expects to develop a family of AI devices. In a video shared by OpenAI, Altman and Ive outlined their partnership and what they expect to create as a result of the merger. "I have a growing sense that everything ...
Read Full Article • 434 comments

Top Rated Comments

Hank001 Avatar
Hank001
21 months ago
"Hey Siri, play me some music from Hollywood Wildlife on the living room HomePods"

- ok, timer set for 6 minutes.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JuicyGoomba Avatar
JuicyGoomba
21 months ago
You have to wonder at this point if Spotify will ever see any sense? It's kind of getting embarrassing.

Similar situation to Epic refusing to put Fortnite back on iOS. They're now laying off staff due to massive losses, but throwing Fortnite on the App Store even temporarily would likely be a very significant revenue uplift.

YTM support likely only caters to a handful of people on iOS that both use the service and own a homepod... But they're supporting it. Spotify have millions of users in this scenario and would rather be petty children.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarAnalogy Avatar
CarAnalogy
21 months ago
Yes! Finally! This alone is a huge improvement (assuming it works properly.) As a bonus, the process of turning it on showed me how to turn OFF Apple Music so maybe Siri will FINALLY quit trying to figure out what to play on Apple Music in response to “turn on the lights.”
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
steve09090 Avatar
steve09090
21 months ago

I've honestly found that most things don't work within the "ecosystem". Many people simply fall for the Apple marketing engine and end up believing in it.

Apple don't really do anything innovative at a software level anymore. They laid the foundation when Jobs was around, then after his passing they've simply refocused on bleeding dry what was left.

iOS, and now MacOS, are archaic. They need either a rewrite from the ground up to remove the bloat and actually optimise, especially where GUI performance is concerned. They could cut the bloat from what they have, but I don't actually recall Apple ever really deprecating little used "features". Google take a lot of flak for killing a lot of features, but they have the numbers that say only a couple of % of people actually use it. So they gut it from the code, keep everything streamlined, and ignore the vocal minority that complain. Harsh but ruthless and efficient.
Always fun (boring) to hear the anti-Cook side of things. The Apple ecosystem works very very well. Bloat? ???. What a load of bs.

I'm wondering how well you are airdropping images & files between the Android tablet, phone and laptop.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ackmondual Avatar
ackmondual
21 months ago

Note that to connect YouTube Music to HomePod, you will need to have either a YouTube Music or YouTube Premium account.
Huh... didn't know you can get just YouTube Music, but makes sense. More people get YouTube Premium, while wishing they could leave off YT Music and save the $$. Did know one person who actually got YouTube Premium only for YT Music! One nice feature he mentioned was you can upload your own music on there and access it anywhere!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cgs1xx Avatar
cgs1xx
21 months ago
My homepods won’t even play Apple Music, one day that stopped working and nothing I’ve tried resolves the problem. But I just use airplay now and it’s fine and I get to listen to versions of my albums from my library instead of the standard Apple Music versions. It’s interesting how you can be fully inside Apple’s eco system and some things don’t “just work”.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments