How to Prevent Other HomePod Users From Affecting Your Apple Music Recommendations

Friday February 9, 2018 6:00 AM PST by Tim Hardwick
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.

If you're concerned that other people in your household will skew your Apple Music recommendations by using HomePod to play songs that don't align with your tastes, then there's a setting you'll want to disable as soon as possible. It's called "Use Listening History", and here's how to find it.

How to Enable/Disable Your HomePod's Listening History


  1. Open the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Long press on the HomePod icon in your Accessories list.
  3. Tap the Details button.
  4. Under the "Music & Podcasts" section, toggle on/off Use Listening History.

And that's it. By turning off the setting, HomePod will happily continue to play songs from Apple's vast music catalog for anyone who asks, but the songs will be excluded from its personal curation algorithms.

Related Roundup: HomePod
Tags: HomeKit, Apple Music
Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Buy Now)
21 comments


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TwoLivesLeft
11 weeks ago

So I need to take out my phone to control a voice activated speaker?


I just tried "Hey Siri turn use listening history off" and "Hey Siri turn use listening history on" — this works just fine. The HomePod says "I turned on/off use listening history."

It also works if you say it more naturally, e.g., "Hey Siri start using listening history" or "Hey Siri stop using listening history."

Edit: You can also ask "Hey Siri are you using listening history?" or "Hey Siri is use listening history on?" and it will tell you if it's on or off.
Rating: 12 Votes
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nheilweil
11 weeks ago

So I need to take out my phone to control a voice activated speaker?

It’s a one-time setting they are recommending.
[doublepost=1518189472][/doublepost]They totally fail to mention the downside of this workaround that turning off that setting not only prevents your Music from being affected by other users — it also prevents the system from recommending music based on what you listen to!

So because the system can’t recognize multiple users (as can similar Amazon or Google units), one is left reducing the functionality of the experience in order to safe guard it from others in the family that use it as well.

I’m a total Apple fan boy but this unit is a real fail and Apple needs to figure this out!
Rating: 5 Votes
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mcdspncr
11 weeks ago
Man this thing really needs multiuser/multiaccount support
Rating: 5 Votes
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HobeSoundDarryl
11 weeks ago

So I need to take out my phone to control a voice activated speaker?


The alternative you seem to favor could accidentally start a nuclear war, shut down power in 6 states and/or initiate the HP self-destruct sequence countdown

"Hey Siri toggle my use listening history off"
Siri: I don't know what use listening history means.

"Hey Siri toggle my use listening history off"
Siri: I found this on the web about the history of Listerine.

"Hey Siri toggle my use listening history off"
Siri: I can't find any stores that sell used Listerine near you.

"Hey Siri..."
Siri interrupts: RandyHudson, maybe you should try asking Alexa?

All ;)
Rating: 3 Votes
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Scottsoapbox
11 weeks ago
It's too bad Apple focused all its efforts on the speaker and ignored the smart part of this smart speaker.
Rating: 2 Votes
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cknibbs
11 weeks ago

Man this thing really needs multiuser/multiaccount support


I have no sources and this is just my gut speaking, but I have full confidence that multi-user support is in the pipeline. First and foremost it always seems that privacy and security are the most important to Apple and that’s why up front some of the features are limited (like not being able to start a call from the HomePod) I wouldn’t be surprised if in HomeOS 2.0 or whatever they call it, that many of the requested features will be arriving, and that as developers take advantage of SiriKit that the HomePod will compete with Alexa and Google Assistant in third party support. But again, that’s just my gut feeling (or perhaps wishful thinking)
Rating: 2 Votes
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randyhudson
11 weeks ago
So I need to take out my phone to control a voice activated speaker?
Rating: 2 Votes
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randyhudson
11 weeks ago

I just tried "Hey Siri turn use listening history off" and "Hey Siri turn use listening history on" — this works just fine. The HomePod says "I turned on/off use listening history.


I figured as much. Pretty sad this site can't be bothered to actually investigate the topic covered in an article.
Rating: 1 Votes
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sully54
11 weeks ago
This is good to know. Glad they thought of this.
Rating: 1 Votes
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friedmud
11 weeks ago

haha Not even the iPad or Mac OS has that.


Ummm - OSX has had it since the beginning.

But yes: multi-user support is sorely needed for iPad, Apple TV and HomePod.

For AppleTV it would be awesome if they included TouchID in the remote!
Rating: 1 Votes
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