When it comes to playing music, Apple's HomePod and HomePod mini are fantastic ways to fill your room with excellent sound. If you have an Apple Music subscription, you have access to a vast catalog of music you can play by invoking Siri. While you may know the basics of using Siri to find and play your music, there are a ton of commands you may not know about; here's how to use Siri to find music on HomePod or HomePod mini!
How to find songs using Siri on HomePod and HomePod mini
Note: We are using iPhone screenshots to illustrate the Siri interactions of the commands, but you can use "Hey, Siri" directly to your HomePod or HomePod mini to achieve all these results.
The most straightforward way of searching for music on your HomePod is by asking Siri to play you a song you want to hear, but that isn't the only command you have can give Siri to play a particular song. You can get Siri to find you the newest single from an artist or even find songs based on lyrics. Here are some examples of what Siri can do:
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, play Stairway to Heaven"
You'll likely have to add the artist to the command if you're trying to play a song with a name in common with multiple songs.
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, play the latest single by Cardi B"
You can even use lyrics to search for a song you may not know the name of, which is surprisingly helpful when you hear a catchy song but don't know the artist. The general command to achieve this is to say: Hey Siri, play the song that goes insert song lyrics here.
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, play the song that goes 'it's pulling me back to Earth'"
Searching Apple Music with Siri using lyrics works surprisingly well! We tried to stump Siri several times while testing it out — from classic hits to small indie band singles — and Siri pulled up the right song for me every time without fail.
How to find artists and albums using Siri on HomePod and HomePod mini
Like finding a specific song, you can start playing an album by asking Siri to play an album, but you can also find the newest album, oldest album, or even top album right now. Here are some examples of what Siri can find:
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, play Walls by Kings of Leon"
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, play the newest Post Malone album"
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, play the top album"
You can even play the album shuffled just by saying so in the command like "Hey Siri, play Walls by Kings of Leon shuffled," and Siri will scramble that album up for you!
How to find playlists and stations with Siri on HomePod and HomePod mini
Apple Music has many playlists and radio stations that can help you find large quantities of songs from specific genres, decades, or even for certain activities. Siri can even create radio stations for you based on a band you like or even a song in some instances. Here are a few examples of how Siri can play playlists and radio stations on your HomePod or HomePod mini.
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, play some '70s".
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, play running music"
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, create a radio station for Coldplay"
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, create a station for this song".
Of course, if you know the name of the specific playlist you want to play, just tell Siri, and it will be up and playing for you in no time!
Using Shortcuts and HomeKit to play music with Siri on HomePod and HomePod mini
If you've set up custom Shortcuts or HomeKit scenes through the Home app that plays music, you can also tell Siri to run them directly on your HomePod or HomePod mini.
Say you have a custom HomeKit scene or Shortcut titled "time to clean," which plays a playlist and turns on all the HomeKit light bulbs in your house; you can activate that command using HomePod or HomePod mini.
- Give a command like "Hey Siri, time to clean".
Your HomeKit scene or Shortcut will run in no time, and your music will be playing loud and clear.
Find your new favorite track with Siri on HomePod
Now that you know how to use Siri to find music on HomePod, you can summon your favorite tracks on-demand anytime. Siri on the HomePod isn't just limited to your music library, as you can also use Apple's virtual assistant to discover new artists and find curated playlists. You can even hunt down that one song that you only know the lyrics to using just your voice. With Siri on the HomePod, you can do it all.
Updated June 2022: Updated for iOS 15.
