BBC Radio playing on HomePod Minis

[Saucyken]

The inability to play BBC Radio channels directly though Homepods but only via the Sounds app has long been lamented on these forums. I recently updated my Homepod pair to v16 software and stumbled on a repeatable solution. I ask Siri to play using exactly the following phrase, quite similar ones don't seem to work.
"Hey Siri, can you play Radio 4" (not 'BBC Radio 4' or 'Play Radio 4')
Siri replies with pauses, "One sec...", "Working on it" or "Still working...", then "That's done..." and it plays!
If you say "Hey Siri, Play Radio 4" it usually finds Radio Stoke or sometimes other stations.
Weirdly, when requested to STOP or PAUSE playing, Siri sometimes claims not to be able to and the station has to be turned off manually.

Can others reproduce this behaviour (and/or explain it)?

 

[hg.wells]

Just asked my HomePod to “play BBC Radio 4” and got playing BBC Radio 4 provided by TuneIn.

 

[Saucyken]

If I say "play BBC Radio 4" quite distinctly, it plays Radio Stoke provided by TuneIn.

 

[hg.wells]

If I say "play BBC Radio 4" quite distinctly, it plays Radio Stoke provided by TuneIn.

Odd, I’m guessing you’ve tried restarted your HomePod.

 

[Basic75]

If I say "play BBC Radio 4" quite distinctly, it plays Radio Stoke provided by TuneIn.

Have you tried "play BBC Radio 4 Radio"?

 

[Saucyken]

"Play BBC Radio 4 Radio" ends up at Radio Stoke by TuneIn.

 

[alexcarter123]

The inability to play BBC Radio channels directly though Homepods but only via the Sounds app has long been lamented on these forums. I recently updated my Homepod pair to v16 software and stumbled on a repeatable solution. I ask Siri to play using exactly the following phrase, quite similar ones don't seem to work.
"Hey Siri, can you play Radio 4" (not 'BBC Radio 4' or 'Play Radio 4')
Siri replies with pauses, "One sec...", "Working on it" or "Still working...", then "That's done..." and it plays!
If you say "Hey Siri, Play Radio 4" it usually finds Radio Stoke or sometimes other stations.
Weirdly, when requested to STOP or PAUSE playing, Siri sometimes claims not to be able to and the station has to be turned off manually.

Can others reproduce this behaviour (and/or explain it)?

hey is this still working? I can't reproduce, just end up playing some random song with a similar name...

 

[Saucyken]

hey is this still working? I can't reproduce, just end up playing some random song with a similar name...

No, it stopped regularly reaching Radio 4 several days ago and has since been going straight to Heart Radio following the identical commands. The short-lived access was obviously accidental and unplanned. Even the 'normal' behaviour is puzzling: why don't requests for BBC Radio generate polite refusals rather than making connections which the user clearly isn't seeking?

 

[ElleDBee]

Having the same issue and stumbled across this fix: using Shortcuts to play via Siri works. Genius!

 

[chenks]

Having the same issue and stumbled across this fix: using Shortcuts to play via Siri works. Genius!

Don’t think this works any more, I’ve just tried it and after choosing add action then apps all the bbc apps are missing from the apps to choose from

 

[ElleDBee]

Don’t think this works any more, I’ve just tried it and after choosing add action then apps all the bbc apps are missing from the apps to choose from

It definitely still works. I’ve just set up another. Before trying, open and play a station from the BBC Sounds app. Then open shortcuts app and bbc sounds will appear in the apps list.
I had to play around a bit with naming the shortcut to get it working. Siri doesn’t like “radio 6” and plays a playlist from Apple Music “like” radio 6. But “BBC Radio 6” works as does “My Favourite Radio” - give it a try!

The linked video gives very good step by step instructions that still work, so perhaps rewatch that?

 

[chenks]

It definitely still works. I’ve just set up another. Before trying, open and play a station from the BBC Sounds app. Then open shortcuts app and bbc sounds will appear in the apps list.
I had to play around a bit with naming the shortcut to get it working. Siri doesn’t like “radio 6” and plays a playlist from Apple Music “like” radio 6. But “BBC Radio 6” works as does “My Favourite Radio” - give it a try!

The linked video gives very good step by step instructions that still work, so perhaps rewatch that?

well i eventually got it working after opening and closing the BBC sounds apps numerous times (even though the app was just open and playing something right before i first tried it).

the shortcut is added and named "BBC Radio Scotland", however when saying "Hey Siri Play BBC Radio Scotland" to the homepod it actually plays something else, seems to be a podcast or something, but certainly not the live radio.

it's not an issue with the shortcut though as when pressing the shortcut button it does play live radio correctly on the homepod.

 

[ElleDBee]

well i eventually got it working after opening and closing the BBC sounds apps numerous times (even though the app was just open and playing something right before i first tried it).

the shortcut is added and named "BBC Radio Scotland", however when saying "Hey Siri Play BBC Radio Scotland" to the homepod it actually plays something else, seems to be a podcast or something, but certainly not the live radio.

it's not an issue with the shortcut though as when pressing the shortcut button it does play live radio correctly on the homepod.

I tried this for radio Scotland - Siri didn’t like it at first but eventually got it working. Make sure the bbc sounds step is the first action in the shortcut. Also try renaming the shortcut something different to see if that works for you?

The radio 6 shortcut worked fine first time for me but the Radio Scotland one took a bit of “teaching” but it’s now playing smoothly. Siri now even asks if I want to use BBC Sounds! I obv say yes to this 🤣 Presumably the AI will learn over time.

Note - it also works with “run” rather than “play” as the command.

Another method to get around Siri idiocy if that doesn’t work for you - I created another “run shortcut” shortcut that runs the Radio Scotland shortcut, and that works too! (Convoluted though)

It’s not ideal. Clearly Siri has some issues with BBC Sounds but this workaround does actually work!
Hope you can get yours working.

 

[chenks]

the shortcut itself is fine, as when i press the shortcut button on the phone it immediately starts playing the live radio on the homepod. just seems requesting it via voice seems to think i'm asking it to play something else.

using the youtube video above, shortcuts app has changed a bit so the instructions don't 100% line up with what the settings in the app are now, but i believe it's set up correctly?

 

[ElleDBee]

the shortcut itself is fine, as when i press the shortcut button on the phone it immediately starts playing the live radio on the homepod. just seems requesting it via voice seems to think i'm asking it to play something else.

using the youtube video above, shortcuts app has changed a bit so the instructions don't 100% line up with what the settings in the app are now, but i believe it's set up correctly?

View attachment 2142938

That looks exactly like mine. Maybe try renaming it to see if it works? My HomePod is now switching seamlessly and no longer needs to confirm I want to play via BBC Sounds.

It’s a right pain!

 

[apfelbaum]

This was the main reason why I returned my Homepod Mini after a few days and kept the three Google Home Minis in my home.

The solution using the short cut app looks interesting but I wonder, how reliable this is in the end. Can some people here who play BBC radio stations on their Hopepods, that this really works once setup and also reliable every time the ask Siri via the Homepod to play a station?

I guess in the end the station is played played from the phone and streamed to the Homepod? This makes me a little concerned since playing radio stations on my Google Home speakers directly is the only that works really 100% of the time I ask them to play one, everything else where other devices are involved (turning lights on/off etc.) probably about 95% of the time, what sound good, but it means about every 20 times it doesn't work, so I mostly went back to pressing light switches which worked thousands of times before

So I'd like using Homepods instead of Google Home speakers especially because of Airplay, but I need to be sure, that there is a stable and reliable way to play BBC radio stations on them.