Apple’s HomePod delivers some of the best sound quality you can get from a smart speaker and if you’re an Apple user baked into the Apple ecosystem, you’ll find some excellent features on board too.
Where HomePod comes a little unstuck is when you want to use other systems and services that aren’t owned by Apple in harmony with it. Setting a different default music service to Apple Music being a prime example.
There are a couple of services that work in the same way Apple Music does with HomePod, but you have to select them and they are limited. Deezer and Pandora are both on that list however, along with the more recent addition of YouTube Music.
What is the default music streaming service on HomePod?
It will come as no surprise to many that the default music service set for Apple’s HomePod and HomePod mini is Apple Music. What that means in practice is that each time you ask Siri on HomePod or HomePod mini to play music, it will automatically pull it from Apple Music to stream.
You can get around this by saying “Play Fleetwood Mac on Spotify” or “Play Ed Sheeran on Amazon Music” but to just be able to tell Siri what to play and it pull from your streaming service of choice, you’ll need to change the default service.
How to change the default music service to YouTube Music on HomePod
Sounds simple enough right? Well it’s not as not all streaming services are created equal on HomePod. In other words, only some are natively supported. These include Deezer, Pandora and YouTube Music. Spotify can’t be set as a default music service on Apple HomePod, but you can get around it in other ways, which we’ve covered off separately.
To change the default music platform to YouTube Music on HomePod, follow the instructions below.
Connect YouTube Music to HomePod
- Open the YouTube Music app.
- Tap on your Profile Icon in the top right corner.
- Tap on Settings.
- Click on Connected Apps.
- Tap on Connect with HomePod.
- Choose the YouTube Music account you want to use HomePod. You’ll need to have an account.
- Tap on Continue to sign in.
- Tap Continue again to allow HomePod access.
- Tap on Use in Home on the pop up that should appear.
- Tap on Done.
Set YouTube Music as the default music streaming platform on HomePod
Once you’ve linked your YouTube Music account to your HomePod, you’ll need to set it as the default music platform.
- Open the Apple Home app.
- Tap on the circle with the three dots in the top right corner.
- Tap on Home Settings.
- Tap on your name under the People section.
- If you have setup your YouTube Music account properly, it will appear under Media below Apple Music.
- You should also see Default Service under that, which is what you’ll need to tap next.
- Click on YouTube Music in the Default Service list.
- That’s it, you’re all set.
