HomePod 17.4 Lets Siri Learn Your Default Music Service

While recent HomePod software updates haven’t been much to write home about, the upcoming HomePod 17.4 packs in one useful new feature for folks who prefer to use alternative audio services for music and podcasts.

Apple opened up the HomePod to third-party music services alongside the release of the HomePod mini in 2020. The feature was available on Apple’s more affordable diminutive speaker from the start and came to the full-sized HomePod in a software update.

Before that, the only way to access third-party streaming services was to AirPlay from a paired iPhone, with limited support for calling these services up using Siri. HomePod Software 14 gave developers of these services the ability to plug directly into the HomePod and Siri ecosystem — no iPhone required — but it was also up to each service to embrace the new capabilities.

Some, like Pandora and Deezer, jumped on board eagerly, while others, like YouTube Music, took a bit longer. Meanwhile, despite being initially listed as a partner, Amazon Music remains missing in action for unknown reasons, and Spotify has stubbornly held its customers hostage in its war with Apple.

Nevertheless, one of the more annoying limitations of the HomePod support was that you had to either set the music service as a default in the Home app on your iPhone or suffix every request with “on” or “using” to call up tracks from it, instead of Apple Music. Ditto for things like podcasts and audiobooks, which default to Apple Podcasts and Apple Books, respectively, unless told to do otherwise.

To be fair, that’s not a huge dealbreaker; however, it still requires you to jump through some extra hoops to set your default, and it’s particularly jarring when you consider that Apple figured this out three years ago in iOS 14.5 for iPhone users.

Thankfully, it’s bringing some of that same logic to its smart speakers in HomePod Software 17.4, as explained in the release notes of the current beta:

This update enables Siri to learn your preferred media service, so you no longer need to include the name of the media app in your request.

You’ll still need to connect any additional services you want to use to Apple’s Home app before you can call them up, as you still have to log into your account to identify yourself — something that would be pretty cumbersome to try and do via Siri on your HomePod. This is typically handled through the service’s iPhone app, as we’ve seen with Pandora and, more recently, with YouTube Music.

However, the setting for the default service has vanished from the Home app in iOS 17, replaced instead with a note that says Siri will now handle this for you:

Siri will learn your preferred media apps for music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Non-connected media can be played from your personal device using AirPlay.

You’ll still be able to call up specific services by asking Siri to play something “on” them, but it will now gauge your preferences based on how often you use different services, occasionally asking you when in doubt.

Although Apple doesn’t use Release Candidate (RC) designations for its HomePod updates, HomePod Software 17.4 is in what appears to be its final beta stages and will likely land on Apple’s smart speakers this week.