How to make Apple's HomePod as convenient as Echo

The HomePod (and its younger brother, the HomePod mini) isn't as popular as Amazon's Echos and isn't ready to go out of the box, but it's a perfect smart for anyone familiar with Apple's ecosystem. It is a speaker.

However, you don't have to submit to Alexa FOMO at all times.

I'm worried about missing it. To you who are suffering from SNS disease "FOMO"

With just a few tweaks to the HomePod and HomePod mini's default settings (and with a little creative thinking), you can make your device even more convenient and enjoyable.

Lower the default bass level that is too heavy

Even bass lovers may not like the HomePod mini's excessive bass effect.

The small speakers on the HomePod mini don't produce the satisfactorily bass of a large HomePod.

However, the default output is the same, so suppressing the HomePod mini's bass output may improve audio quality.

After updating to version 15.0 of your HomePod software, you can easily suppress bass using the Home app.

To suppress the bass on your HomePod or HomePod mini, open the Home app on your iPhone and tap and hold the HomePod icon.

Then, the playback control is displayed.

Scroll to the bottom and you'll see the audio settings under the Timer section, so enable Suppress Bass in the Music and Podcasts section.

Normalize the volume of any song

The music industry's mastering practices are so different that ordinary users' playlists can have a mix of loud and quiet songs.

Fortunately, the HomePod has an option to normalize the volume level of all songs to a reference level. This option is called "Sound Check" and can be enabled from the Home app.

Open the Home app, press and hold the HomePod icon, and scroll to the bottom. Enable "Sound Check" in "Music and Podcasts".

Adjust to your favorite sound quality

The HomePod doesn't have its own equalizer, but you can fine-tune the EQ settings in the iPhone's music app and use AirPlay to play that audio on your HomePod.

To do this, unlock your iPhone, go to "Settings" → "Music" → "EQ" and select your favorite equalizer preset.

Start playing the song in the music app, tap the player to zoom in, then press the AirPlay icon.

Select your HomePod to send audio to your speakers (even if you're not using Apple Music, most streaming apps, including Spotify, have their own equalizer, which is useful).

Fine-tune the volume accurately

HomePod may not be possible without Siri voice commands. For example, subtle volume adjustments are one of them.

If you want to set your HomePod volume to 62%, using Siri is the only surefire way, isn't it?

Neither the volume slider on the iPhone nor the volume button on the top of the HomePod can be set that accurately. Say "Hey, Siri, turn the volume to 62%" and you'll get the results you want.

Disable unused Siri

Siri isn't the only person who is happy to have a recording device running all the time in the house.

The HomePod is designed for use with Apple's voice assistant, Siri, but you can disable it if you don't want to hear your voice.

Go to HomePod settings in the Home app. In the Siri section, disable the following options.

You can also delete all Siri interactions from Apple's servers by tapping Siri History and selecting Delete Siri History (you can also disable personal requests). ..

Set up useful automation features on your HomePod

It's much smarter to set up a HomePod to play songs automatically and always tell you when your spouse returns from work, rather than asking Siri every time.

You can set up such automation from the HomePod settings in the Home app.

Go to "HomePod Settings" → "Automation" and tap "Add Automation". There are basic triggers such as "people arrive", "people leave", and "time zone", so let's try them.

The easiest setting is a "time zone", which allows you to play a specific song or playlist at any time you like (I automate playing classical music for an hour at sunset on weekdays). Is set).

You can set as many automations as you like.

Even more interesting is automation using location information.

You can use the "People arrive" trigger to have your HomePod automatically play music when you or someone in your family arrives at home.

However, location services must be enabled on both your HomePod and the associated Apple device.

By using location-based services, HomePod knows that the target person has arrived at home.

Similarly, you can use the "people leave" trigger to ask the HomePod to stop playing music when the user leaves home.

If you want to surprise someone, you can set your HomePod to start playing loud music the moment you go out.

You can easily set up a home theater with two HomePods

The true appeal of the HomePod's audio capabilities comes only when you combine two HomePods in stereo mode.

With the addition of the Apple TV 4K, this setup will be even better. You won't get a full surround sound with two HomePods, but it's much easier to set up than having lots of wired speakers in your room.

Source: reddit