audioOS 17.4
With HomePod Software 17.4, Siri is able to learn what a user’s preferred media service is, eliminating the need to set a third-party app as the default or include an app name when asking Siri to play content.
[…]
Apple has removed the Home app option that let users select a default media service as a result of the new feature addition. The change brings the HomePod in line with the iPhone and the iPad, which already offer the option to provide a default music service selection to Siri when making a song request for the first time.
Previously:
6 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
@Ben Not sure, but I think it just asks you. So this is easier the first time but then hard to discover how to change it.
so how do you set it if you don't use, and refuse to use Siri?
@Someone If you’re not using Siri then I guess you are AirPlaying so it doesn’t matter what the HomePod is set to. Or is there another way to play music on a HomePod?
Is this just relating to music? I’d love my HomePods to be able to play from Overcast. I find Overcast and airplay a little unreliable sometimes.
This is hardly an Apple-specific trend, but I find it puzzling that we're now preferring an interface that's only ~80% reliable, and about 0% discoverable, over a touch GUI that's much better in both respects.
(Then again, I also find "oh, sometimes the Home app is also a Settings app of sorts for the devices around you" less than ideal.)
So does this mean now you have to say something arcane like "Hey Siri, set my preferred audio streaming service to Spotify" instead of just selecting Spotify from a list in the Home app? If so, that seems completely idiotic. Siri is already buggy enough as it is.