HomePod HomePod mini connection to iPhone question

[thatdarnfish]

I currently have a small Bose speaker that I play iTunes and radio apps music on from my iPhone via Bluetooth. Thing is, I have to manually connect the iPhone to the Bose speaker via Bluetooth every time I enter the room. So.... I’m now looking at the HomePod mini. How does it connect to an iPhone, and would it do so automatically, so that I don’t have to deal with this cumbersome connection issue? Thanks for your help!

 

[DSL Steve]

HomePod Minis connect via AirPlay for all devices. BTW AirPlay is much higher quality than Bluetooth.

Connection to AirPlay is automatic. You just need to select the AiPlay device to AirPlay to, in your case, the HomePod Minis.

You also may want to set up the Apple Home app with the HomePod Minis for easy AirPlay access to them

 

[zonernovi]

I currently have a small Bose speaker that I play iTunes and radio apps music on from my iPhone via Bluetooth. Thing is, I have to manually connect the iPhone to the Bose speaker via Bluetooth every time I enter the room. So.... I’m now looking at the HomePod mini. How does it connect to an iPhone, and would it do so automatically, so that I don’t have to deal with this cumbersome connection issue? Thanks for your help!

Have you tried resetting the bluetooth on the Bose? I have an old Soundlink that would not pair and after a reset I now have no issues. On my Soundlink there are two ressts each involving holding down either the mute button or the bluetooth button till the indication completion beep. I don't know if you have those but worth a try if you do.

 

[waw74]

you will still have to start the connection when you've been away
just hit the airplay icon (circles with a triangle at bottom) and select the speaker
Airplay works over wifi, so it shouldn't disconnect if you go to the other side of your house, as long as your network is set up properly.


If you've got an appleTV, it works pretty much the same way regarding airplay if you want to see how It works


If you use Apple Music, you can actually play back directly on the HomePod, meaning it doesn't matter what your phone does or if it disconnects. there are 3 ways to do this,

• using Siri on the HomePod.
• on your phone, in the airplay menu at the bottom there's a "control other speakers" button, if you click that and select the HomePod, then the Apple Music app on the phone will be controlling the player on the HomePod.
  • the other speakers button won't be there if you don't have any airplay devices on your network.​
• If you're playing music on your phone, and hold the phone next to the HomePod, it will transfer the music to the player in the homepod
  • it also works in reverse, and will transfer what's playing on the HomePod to the phone
  • if you're using a service besides Apple Music this will start or stop airplay to the HomePod.

playing back on HomePod is "coming soon" for other music streaming services, I'm not sure if any are supported yet, or which will be supported in the future.

"Playing on the speaker" and "playing on the phone and airplaying to the HomePod" look really similar on the phone. but playing on the speaker has a couple advantages, when playing on the speaker it doesn't matter if your phone disconnects, and if you're airplaying a web page with auto play video can take over the stream and replace the music playing on the HomePod.


All of this applies to both the mini and full-size HomePod.

Play audio on HomePod using iPhone or iPad

You can hand off audio by bringing your iPhone near your HomePod. HomePod can also play audio sent from an iPhone or iPad using AirPlay and Siri.

support.apple.com