Playing Third-Party Streaming Services on HomePod Is About to Get Easier

Siri on HomePod will soon be able to remember what your preferred media service is, thanks to an upcoming software update from Apple.

With the release of ‌HomePod‌ 17.4 software, ‌Siri‌ will learn what third-party app you like to play media through most often, which is a change to the way things currently work.

As things stand, ‌HomePod‌ users need to set up third-party audio services in the Settings section of the Home app, and then include the name of the media app in each request to make sure ‌Siri‌ plays from the preferred service.

However, with ‌HomePod‌ 17.4, ‌Siri‌ will learn your preferences and select apps for you, and you won't have to specify the service yourself each time. If you have Deezer, for example, you won't need to say "Play [song name] on Deezer" to bypass Apple Music, nor will you need to set Deezer as your default music service in the Home app.

The change will bring parity between the ‌HomePod‌ and iPhone/iPad, since ‌Siri‌ already works this way on the latter devices. Third-party apps that work directly with the ‌HomePod‌ include YouTube Music, Deezer, Pandora, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio.

Note that not all streaming music services support ‌HomePod‌ in this way. For example, Spotify can play content through a ‌Siri‌ request on ‌HomePod‌, but it uses an ‌iPhone‌ to do so. The ‌HomePod‌ 17.4 software should see a release as soon as this week.