How to Make an Apple HomePod Almost As Useful As an Echo

The HomePod (and its small sibling the HomePod mini) aren’t astir arsenic ubiquitous oregon out-of-the-box utile arsenic Amazon’s Echos, but they are perfectly bully astute speakers for those who are joined to the Apple ecosystem. However, you don’t person to taxable yourself to perpetual Alexa FOMO—with a fewer tweaks to your HomePod oregon HomePod mini’s default settings (and immoderate originative thinking), you tin crook it into a much useful, enjoyable device.

Reduce dense default bass levels

Even if you’re an ardent bass-head, there’s a bully accidental you aren’t a instrumentality of the excessive bass effect connected the HomePod mini. The tiny talker connected the mini isn’t susceptible of producing the aforesaid satisfying bass arsenic the bigger HomePod does, but the default output is the same, meaning your audio prime whitethorn beryllium amended erstwhile you trim the HomePod mini’s bass output. After you update to mentation 15.0 of the HomePod’s software, you’ll spot an casual mode to trim bass utilizing the Home app.

To trim bass connected your HomePod oregon HomePod mini, unfastened the Home app connected your iPhone and pat and clasp the HomePod icon. This volition unfastened playback controls. Scroll to the bottom; audio settings are recovered beneath the Timers section. Enable Reduce Bass under the Music & Podcasts section.

Normalize the measurement for each songs

Since the euphony industry’s audio mastering styles disagree widely, there’s a bully accidental immoderate of the songs connected your playlists are blaring portion others are a spot excessively quiet. Fortunately, your HomePod has an enactment to normalize the measurement levels of each these songs to a baseline level. This enactment is called Sound Check, and you tin alteration it done the Home app.

Open the Home app, clasp the HomePod icon, and scroll to the bottom. Under Music & Podcasts, alteration Sound Check.

Adjust the dependable prime to your preferences

While the HomePod doesn’t person its ain equalizer, you tin tweak EQ settings successful the Music app connected your iPhone, and past usage AirPlay to play that audio done the HomePod. To bash this, you tin unlock your iPhone and spell to Settings > Music > EQ and prime the equalizer preset you like. Start playing a opus connected the Music app, pat the subordinate to enlarge it, and deed the AirPlay icon. Select your HomePod to nonstop audio to the speaker. (If you don’t usage Apple Music, astir streaming apps, including Spotify, person their ain equalizers you tin usage to your advantage.)

Change measurement with precision

There are immoderate things your HomePod can’t execute without the usage of Siri dependable commands, including granular measurement control. If you privation to acceptable the HomePod to 62 percent volume, utilizing Siri is the lone mode to execute that reliably, arsenic neither the measurement slider connected your iPhone nor the measurement buttons astatine the apical of the HomePod are that exact. Try saying, “Hey Siri, measurement 62 percent,” oregon thing akin to execute the desired result.

Disable Siri (if you don’t usage it)

Speaking of Siri, not everyone is comfy with an always-on signaling instrumentality successful their house. The HomePod is designed to beryllium utilized with Apple’s Siri dependable assistant, but if you don’t privation it listening to you, you tin disable it.

Go to HomePod settings successful the Home app. Under the Siri section, disable the pursuing options:

• Listen for “Hey Siri”
• Touch and Hold for Siri

You tin besides pat Siri History and prime Delete Siri History to region each of your Siri interactions from Apple’s servers. (While you’re astatine it, you can disable idiosyncratic requests too.)

Set up utile automations connected your HomePod

Setting up your HomePod play songs automatically oregon to ever archer you erstwhile your spouse gets location from enactment is acold cooler than asking it to bash those things each time. You tin acceptable up these and different automations from HomePod settings successful the Home app.

Go to HomePod settings > Automation and pat Add Automation. There are a fewer basal triggers you tin experimentation with—People Arrive, People Leave, and Time of Day. The easiest to configure is Time of Day, which allows you to play definite songs oregon playlists astatine a clip of your choosing. (I’ve acceptable up an automation that plays classical euphony for an hr astatine sunset each weekday.) You tin acceptable up arsenic galore of these automations arsenic you like.

The much absorbing automations are location-based: You tin usage the People Arrive trigger to marque the HomePod automatically play euphony whenever you oregon radical successful your household get home. This requires determination services to beryllium enabled connected some the HomePod and connected your associated Apple devices, due to the fact that that’s however the HomePod figures retired the idiosyncratic successful question has arrived home.

Similarly, you tin usage the People Leave trigger to inquire the HomePod to halt playing euphony erstwhile you permission the house. If you’re trying to freak idiosyncratic out, you could adjacent acceptable up the HomePod to commencement playing large euphony the infinitesimal you leave.

Buy a 2nd HomePod for a low-effort location theatre setup

You don’t truly unlock the existent magic of the HomePod’s audio capabilities until you person 2 of them paired successful stereo mode—and this setup gets adjacent amended erstwhile you adhd successful an Apple TV 4K. Two HomePods don’t rather springiness that afloat situation dependable experience, but they’re a batch easier to acceptable up than a clump of wired speakers each implicit your room.