Pavel Jelic It's been a few months back since Apple introduced the brand new HomePod mini. It is the little brother of the original HomePod, which has been with us for almost three years. Despite the fact that not one of the available HomePods is officially available in the Czech Republic, smart apple speakers are relatively popular in the country. If you managed to snag a HomePod (mini) and put it under the Christmas tree, or if you want to know more about it, then you will like this article. In it, we will show you 5 tips and tricks for HomePod that you may not have known about.
It could be interest you
Don't let Apple bug you
By default, every Apple device, including the HomePod, is constantly “listening” to your surroundings. The device must be able to respond to the activation phrase Hey Siri, which calls up the Apple voice assistant. Of course, this is not exactly eavesdropping, although a few months ago there was a case where Apple employees were supposed to listen to some recordings. So if you're also afraid that Apple could hear what you're talking about at home, there's nothing easier than waiting for the phrase to be spoken Hey Siri deactivate. In this case, just go to the application Household, where hold your finger at yours HomePod. Then click on the bottom right gear icon and disable the feature Wait for "Hey Siri" to be spoken.
Protect your furniture
A few weeks after the introduction of the original HomePod, posts appeared on the Internet from slightly disgruntled users who had the smart Apple speaker damage their furniture. When listening to music, of course, vibrations also occur, which are the cause of damage, especially to wooden furniture. Probably none of us wants to voluntarily destroy our furniture, so you should use a pad when using the HomePod. HomePod mini doesn't have these problems because the speaker isn't that big. In any case, luck favors those who are prepared, so don't be afraid to use a decent mat for your little brother as well.
Avoid explicit content
If you're a music lover, you probably don't need to be reminded that various vulgarisms often appear in songs - but it depends on the genre you're listening to. If you own a HomePod and subscribe to Apple Music at the same time, you can set the smart speaker not to play explicit content, which is especially useful in families with small children. If you want to disable explicit content on your HomePod, first go to the native Home app. Here hold your finger at yours HomePod and in the lower right menu click on gear icon. You just need to get off here below a deactivate switch at option Allow explicit content. I will remind you once again that this function is only available for Apple Music, not for Spotify, for example.
Receiving messages within Intercom
With the arrival of the HomePod mini, Apple also introduced a brand new feature called Intercom. Using this function, you can easily send a message to all members of the household. You can then play the message you created on the other HomePods in the home, as well as on the iPhone, iPad and within CarPlay. If you want to create a message via Intercom, just say a phrase "Hey Siri, intercom [message]," which will send the message to all members, optionally you can specify where exactly the message should be sent. In any case, you can set where Intercom notifications will go to you. Just go to the app Household, where at the top left click on house icon. Then tap on Home Settings -> Intercom and choose whether and where to receive notifications.
Stereo HomePods on Mac
If you own two identical HomePods, you can easily turn them into a stereo pair. You can simply start playing the sound from both HomePods through your iPhone or Apple TV, but the whole process is unfortunately more complicated on a Mac. First, of course, it is necessary that you have both HomePods ready – it is necessary that they be in of one household, switched on and set as stereo few. If you meet the above condition, open the native application on your Mac Music. After launching Music, tap on the top right the AirPlay icon and select from the menu two HomePods. Once you've made the settings, the Music app do not turn off and switch to the application Audio MIDI settings. Now you just have to right click they tapped the column airplay, and then select an option Use this device to output sound.
Gallery
I bought a HomePod mini using Apple Music. I'm trying to enable explicit content the other day, but I don't know how. This guide is apparently outdated 🥲