YouTube Music rolls out Apple HomePod support

Abner Li | Oct 20 2023 - 2:30 pm PT

After being teased at WWDC this June, Google today announced support for YouTube Music on the HomePod.

This lets you use voice commands — “Hey Siri, play music” — to start YouTube Music on a HomePod. It’s a nice alternative to manually starting the app on your phone and then using AirPlay. Like on Google Assistant speakers, you must be a paid YouTube Premium or Music Premium subscriber.

To set up, update to the latest version of YouTube Music in the App Store. Tap your profile image in the top-right corner for Settings > Connected Apps > Connect with HomePod. This involves signing in to your Google Account.

If you set YTM as the default service, you won’t have to append “on YouTube Music” to the end of your Siri commands every single time. Do this from the iOS Home app: “Settings > Tap username > Tap Default Service and choose YouTube Music.”

YouTube Music support on the HomePod joins Deezer, Pandora, and Tidal.

Back in June, we reported that Google was planning more apps and third-party integrations for YouTube Music. At the time, we heard about work on Apple TV and Garmin smartwatch clients.