Native support for Amazon Music, Pandora and more all incoming
During the launch event for the new Apple HomePod Mini, Apple revealed that more streaming services will soon become part of the HomePod ecosystem.
“HomePod Mini is designed to work with Apple Music, podcasts, radio stations from iHeartRadio, radio.com, and TuneIn, and in the coming months, popular music services including Pandora and Amazon Music,” was the official word.
However, while Spotify wasn’t listed as one of the music streaming partners in the presentation, it was confirmed in a briefing with The Ambient that Apple “would love to work with Spotify.”
Rivals: HomePod v Sonos One
For a long time, you needed to be all-in with Apple to get the most out of the HomePod. Apple did gradually un-wall the garden over time but you did need to kick start things off with anything non-Apple Music with an iPhone or an iPad.
A HomePod can do everything that any other regular AirPlay speaker does, so if your favorite streaming app is on iOS and has an AirPlay option then you could beam over your music.
- Check out our guide to streaming and controlling Spotify on your Apple HomePod
It meant no “Hey Siri, play UB40 on Spotify” though as you can do with Alexa speakers or Google’s Home devices – both of which even let you set alternative streaming platforms as default ahead of their own native streaming services.
It’s not clear yet to what extent Apple is going to open up for partners such as Pandora and Amazon Music but, whatever it is, it’s bound to be a lot less clunky than the current setup.
Well update this story as and when we learn more.
