YouTube Music is Now Supported on Apple HomePods

YouTube Music is joining the list of music streaming services that are officially supported on Apple’s HomePod speakers. This means that users can play songs (and now podcasts) on YouTube Music on HomePods without having to use AirPlay via another Apple device.

As Google explained on a support page for YouTube Music (via Redmond Pie), there are now multiple ways to use the service on a HomePod. The easiest one is probably to ask Siri to play what you want. Apple’s digital assistant is built into the HomePod, and it also integrates with other music streaming services such as Pandora, Deezer, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

If you don’t want to use Siri, you can also “handoff” playback between your iPhone and your HomePod. Apple’s Home app, which acts as a hub to control smart home devices also lets you control music playback on your HomePod.

To connect your YouTube Music account to your HomePod, you’ll need to open the iOS app, tap your profile picture in the upper right corner, and then go to Settings > Connected apps > Connect with HomePod. Once you’re done, you can choose to make YouTube Music the default music service on your HomePod.

Apple’s HomePod family used to work best with Apple Music and Apple Podcasts, but the company has been slowly making the smart speakers less Apple-centric. HomePods are quite expensive compared to other smart speakers, and Siri is also quite limited as a digital assistant. However, the sound quality is really good, especially on the bigger $299 HomePod.