iPhone/HomePod integration is a mess

[CyberGene]

The integration between iPhone and HomePod seems like a mess to me.

Apparently there are two modes:

1. iPhone streaming its own Apple Music audio to HomePod
2. iPhone controlling HomePod. Which is similar to 1 but the currently played song and queue is transferred to HomePod which then continues independently

If that’s not confusing enough, there are additional confusions:
- To initiate 1 you have to open Apple Music on the iPhone and click on the streaming icon and choose your HomePod
- To initiate 2 you have to use Handoff which is to put your phone above the HomePod and it will do the trick
- There’s no way to initiate 2 without being close to the HomePod. If you have some music playing on your iPhone, you have to stop it. You then click on the streaming icon. You choose “control other speakers”. From there you choose the HomePod. On your iPhone you have to start again the track you were playing. Now you’re in control mode.
- In control mode if you’re in the Apple Music app and change the volume with the buttons, it changes the volume of the HomePod. If you’re outside the app, e.g. in Home Screen you change the volume of your iPhone instead.
- In streaming mode if you change the volume with the buttons, you can be in the Home Screen and it will still control the volume of the HomePod
- There’s no way to easily see what mode you’re in unless opening the Apple Music app, then the streaming icon and observe its color and captioning.

I’m a software engineer and have good understanding of the above, yet it still confuses me every day. I can’t believe it’s Apple who came up with such a mess.

 

[Itinj24]

Your best bet is to open the AirPlay platter in Control Center and working from there (top right). When you open it, you can choose to select which AirPlay devices to play to from the current screen (little AirPlay icon to the right, pulsating blue) or you can choose a different device to control separately by clicking on control other speakers and TVs at the bottom. It took a little while to get used to and can be confusing at first but I kinda like it now. You get very granular control of the system. You should be getting this same control as a notification also.

You just have to be sure that you’re in the AirPlay device you want to be controlled.

That said, I like the control implementation but AirPlay itself is a buggy mess at times.

 

[CyberGene]

Your best bet is to open the AirPlay platter in Control Center and working from there (top right). When you open it, you can choose to select which AirPlay devices to play to from the current screen (little AirPlay icon to the right, pulsating blue) or you can choose a different device to control separately by clicking on control other speakers and TVs at the bottom. It took a little while to get used to and can be confusing at first but I kinda like it now. You get very granular control of the system. You should be getting this same control as a notification also.

You just have to be sure that you’re in the AirPlay device you want to be controlled.

That said, I like the control implementation but AirPlay itself is a buggy mess at times.

I also use it from there. It’s basically the same thing. Doesn’t change the fact it’s difficult to distinguish between streaming and controlling mode. And still impossible to transfer what’s being played on the iPhone in Apple Music to the HomePod in controlling mode without bringing the iPhone next to the HomePod or doing a complicated ritual I’ve described above.

 

[CyberGene]

I just checked again everything I posted and this time the audio always transferred between either the iPhone and HomePod in a control mode, i.e. independently, not in streaming mode.

Why it goes in streaming mode sometimes is a mystery.

 

[magicMac]

glad it's not just me. although i've got used to it I still don't like it. i might as well just get a good bluetooth speaker and stream to that.