HomePod Can anyone explain how airplay works to HomePod?

[Seanm87]

Hi all,

If I play a podcast and airplay it to my HomePod, sometimes the control panel appears on my phone, as I would expect. Sometimes it goes onto the home app instead. What is the criteria that decides whether it stays on the phone or hands off to the home app?

 

[TonyC28]

It’s totally random and rarely works as you’d expect.

 

[waw74]

it's probably always goes to the HomePod. It's just the control center on your phone doesn't always switch, it's a known thing. In theory, when you play something on an appleTV or HomePod, it should pop up on the phones in your house, but it doesn't always happen.

On your phone, hit the airplay icon in the control center widget, scroll down, select "control other speakers" and select your HomePod.

 

[joshy123]

why does Airplay work so trash, i miss my echo 😅

 

[waw74]

why does Airplay work so trash, i miss my echo 😅

probably network related

almost all of the airplay issues I've seen or had, have been fixed by doing some network changes.

 

[MYZ]

Now that you mention it I've never seen a reference to which exact panels/menus appear when doing a certain thing.

 

[bbednarz]

It’s downright horrible. AirPlay works different based on which device you are casting to. If I cast to my Sonos speakers it works flawlessly every single time, literally cannot remember the last time I noticed a problem or hiccup.

AirPlay with HomePods is just a mixed bag of crap. The way they implemented it where it takes over as the source of playback when you just want to use it as a speaker is infuriating at time. I dont understand why there cant be a setting to ALWAYS cast from my phone and not allow the HomePod to be the source of playback. It’s especially infuriating when listening to podcasts because the podcasts app does such a horrible job keeping track where youre at. Numerous times I’ll listen to a podcast on it. Then go to get in the car and want to pick back up, only for it to start over. Thats not to mention the random drop outs and randomly playing mono instead of stereo. it’s not like the HomePods are any older than my Sonos speakers either. just an annoying experience.