How to Use iPhone and iPad to control HomePod Instead of Siri

I have been one of the biggest critics of Apple’s intelligent personal assistant, Siri but it has seemed to be pretty impressive a lot in recent times. However, the virtual personal assistant is still some distance away from being flawless. As such, I would not be surprised if the personal assistant failed to live up to your demand. Keeping that situation in mind, we have come up with a guide which you can use to comfortably control your HomePod with your iPhone or iPad instead of Siri.

So, while you are listening to your favourite music or playlist on HomePod, you can easily find out what is playing on the speaker without having to invoke Siri. With this guide, you will be able to learn how to adjust the volume of your HomePod and even skip ahead. You can also use this guide to control your Apple TV audio on HomePod as well.

How to Use iPhone and iPad to control HomePod Instead of Siri

How to Access Playback Controls For Your HomePod in Control Center on iPhone and iPad

1. Go to the home screen of your iPhone or iPad and then swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the Control Center. If you use an iPhone X, you need to swipe down from the top right corner of the screen to bring up the Control Center.
2. Next up, you need to tap and hold (or 3D touch) on the Now Playing panel in Control Center and then tap on your HomePod Now Playing panel.
3. Now, you need to tap on the Play/Pause button in order to play or pause audio on your HomePod.
4. Next, tap the “Skip Song” button to skip the song to the next track.
   • Note – One important thing you need to note is that you cannot use this feature to skip back to a previous track.
5. Now, you need to drag your finger across the playable slider to fast forward or rewind on a track.

If you want to increase or reduce the volume, drag the finder across the audio slider bar.

How to Access Playback Controls For Your HomePod in the Music App

While playing a song on the Siri-based smart speaker, you can easily access the playback controls in the music app on your iPhone or iPad and finetune them as you want.

1. Launch the Music app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Next, tap on the “Now Playing” banner at the bottom of the screen.
3. Next up, you need to tap on the AirPlay icon at the bottom centre of the screen.
4. After that, tap on your HomePod Now Playing panel and then tap on the Play/Pause button to either play or pause audio on the device.

• If you want to skip a song or track, tap on “Skip Song.”
• To fast forward on a song, simply drag your finger across the playback slider bar.
• To increase or reduce the volume, drag your finger across the audio slider bar.

That is all!

Wrapping Up

There are two things which I personally have come to love in the new Siri-based smart speaker. These are the speaker’s sound quality and its design. What are the things you have fallen in love with on the new Apple’s smart speaker? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.