The Apple HomePod smart speaker has finally arrived. If you’ve bought it and want to get started, here’s how to set it up.
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First of all, before you even think about taking it out of the box, you need an iPhone or iPad to set it up, and your device must be updated to at least iOS 11.2.5. Also, you need to make sure that the Home app and the Apple Music app are installed on your device as the former is required to set up and configure HomePod settings and the latter during setup.
As soon as you plug in the HomePod, the display will begin to spin a white light, followed by a short bass sound. From there, the white light will begin to oscillate and it will be ready to be adjusted.
Make sure you’re near your HomePod and have an iPhone or iPad (with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on). Unlock your device to go to the home screen and you should see an automatic pop-up to set up your HomePod. Click «Customize» at the bottom.
Click Continue.
Then choose where you will put your HomePod and click Continue.
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After that, you can subscribe to Apple Music as it is the only music service you can control by voice from HomePod. However, you are not required to subscribe to it. So if you decide not to, just click «Not now». (If you see a blank white screen, it’s probably because you don’t have the Apple Music app installed.)
Then choose if you want to enable personal requests. If you do this, please be aware that any will be able to ask Siri to read your recent text messages, as well as access your reminders, notes, and other information, by simply asking Siri while your iPhone is connected to your Wi-Fi. fi network.
On the next screen, click Agree.
Click Transfer Settings.
Your HomePod will begin the installation process. During this time, the HomePod will emit several different tones in the form of an «audio passcode». Try not to make any noise during this process.
Once your HomePod is connected, Siri will start telling you about the various things you can do with the HomePod, so feel free to play with it at this point to get comfortable. Otherwise, just say «Hey Siri, stop.»
Click Finish on your iPhone or iPad to complete the installation process.
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From there, you’ll be able to ask the HomePod for just about everything Siri can normally do, including playing music, creating reminders, managing smarthome devices, and listening to the news.
To access your HomePod settings, open the Home app and you’ll see your HomePod in your Favorite Accessories list.
Clicking on the HomePod icon will play/pause music. Long press or 3D touch on the icon will open more options where you can select «Alarms» or «Details».
Clicking More will give you access to HomePod settings, such as setting up Hey Siri and changing some music settings.
As for interacting with the touch bar at the top of the HomePod, pressing it will pause and resume music playback, while long pressing will activate Siri. Whenever you have music playing, the volume controls will be permanently displayed on the touchpad until you stop the music.
On top of that, it’s actually a pretty basic device, and it’s clearly geared towards music playback rather than the ultimate voice assistant like Amazon Echo or Google Home. Either way, enjoy the new Siri speaker and let us know what you think of it in the comments if you have one!
