There is no need to pre-group speakers (like you do on Amazon Alexa app), and you can hook speakers in and out on the fly. You can change the volume of each speaker individually from an iPhone, iPad or Mac. If you have ‘dumb’ speakers with an Airport Express (with Airplay 2), if you start music from a HomePod and then link in the Airport Express, again, you do not need to rely on your iPhone being the music source. You can commence playing music from talking to your HomePod OR from your iPhone/iPad or Mac (yes, without Siri!) Just the normal Apple Music interface. The Apple Music app (on iPhone, iPad and Mac) work as a remote, and HomePod speakers stream the music without your device. Switch from iPhone to Mac, and pick up where you left off.įor those who want to switch to Apple Music, Apple has it’s own version of Spotify Connect and it works in practically the same way, being that: The thing I like the most about Spotify Connect is that the Spotify app, in effect, turns into a remote, and your smart speakers do all the work. As it turns out, Spotify Connect is not that much of a big deal if you switch to Apple Music.

In the end, I decided to delve in myself and test how it all works. However, getting a straight answer about how Apple’s Airplay 2 system works hasn’t been easy. However, I didn’t want to have to Airplay music from my phone all the time, as I didn’t want the battery drain. I wanted to join Apple Music to take advantage of having multiple HomePods and also, to take advantage of the Apple One subscription. Lack of Apple HomePod support (other than via Airplay - hence my reason for this post). Lack of Apple Watch support (which they have finally fixed). I have always had Spotify as my music service and to be honest, I’ve mostly never wanted to leave, until the last year or so. I’ll preface this post with the fact that I am an Apple fan and have been almost totally in the Apple ecosystem, apart from Apple Music. I thought I would write this post as some advice to people who have been wanting to leave Spotify, but have been held back by the fear of losing Spotify Connect.

Spotify vs apple music on iphone 7