Title says it all. Is there STILL no way to play music as an alarm? If not and/or if you have to create a Shortcut to "hack" this feature then I call FAIL on Apple.
I know they added a sleep timer in iOS 13, but why no music alarm to wake?
HomePod, iOS 12
I just ran a test and it worked using an automation. Turned off the lights first to make sure they came on . At 4:15 pm the music playlist I chose and my bedside lamps both came on. No needing to use my phone or anything,
I just ran a test and it worked using an automation. Turned off the lights first to make sure they came on . At 4:15 pm the music playlist I chose and my bedside lamps both came on. No needing to use my phone or anything,
Okay, thanks, I guess you confirmed my suspicion. So, no music alarms on the HomePod.
Interesting contrast here, even my $30 Google mini can do this. But I guess the Google mini is actually a smart speaker whereas the HomePod isn't.
Okay, it's worse than I thought. There is no way you can run an automation to produce a music alarm because the "time of day" automation requires you to confirm a prompt to actually run the automation. So, the automation triggers but you'd have to be awake and holding your iPhone or iPad to receive the notification and then tap a confirmation button to actually get the automation to play and begin playback on the HomePod.
So, there is no way to play music as a wakeup alarm on the HomePod.
I’d say that’s as good as it gets to being a clock radio with the added bonus of turning lights on as well.
Maybe try it again. Close the Home app and restart your phone, then try it.
... and you are on iOS 13.2.1 on the HomePod?
Yes, I learned earlier today that you apparently need to be running iOS 13.2 (released just last week) to get this to work under the Home app. I was using iOS 13.1 on my iPad and there you can enable an automation to play music on the HomePod at a specific time but it requires that you confirm the automation every time before it will run (at a particular time). So, not useful to create a wakeup music alarm.
Unfortunately, although iOS 13.2 allows you to create an automation using the Home app (in addition to the previous support for automations under the Shortcuts app) it requires that the music source be from an Apple Music subscription and you can't enable this feature using your own music even if that music was purchased directly from the iTune Store.
So, the only way to create a wakeup music alarm is that you pay Apple a monthly subscription fee. And note, none of this is required when I set alarms on my Google mini. You just need to say something like, "Hey Google, set an alarm to play some music at 7:30AM." And I make no payments to Google to do that.
I don't know about Apple's Music service. I tried the free trial last year and I found it to be worse than the service that I get for free from Pandora. It's not the size of the music library that is the problem, it was the fact that Pandora did an immensely better job at selecting music that actually matched my preferences.
Apple Music would mix in totally inappropriate tracks during playback of something like classic rock, it was almost like they were trying to "push" certain music genre like rap or hip hop because those were the "hot" tracks of today. Believe me, Apple, rap is NOT classic rock. In fact, I think they even did that same substitution when I asked for country music.
I don't know, maybe Apple has improved their algorithm in the last year or two. I think they are offering a new (second) free trial so maybe I'll give that a try.
Not sure about another free trial. Not everyone is going to like Apple Music.
Sorry this option didn’t work for you. It works for me because I don’t use the recommended music. I make my own playlists. I like to have full control!
Yes, I was offered another free, one-month trial and I enabled that a few days ago (I had used the original, three month free trial a few years ago).
Given that subscription and when using iOS 13.2 I could create an automation with the Home app to play music on the HomePod at a specific time (like a music alarm). However, I don't know whether I want to spend an extra $10 per month just to enable that feature. But, I'm going to use Apple Music for the next month under the free trail and then I'll make a decision.
That's good you got another free trial. It’s a lot to pay if that’s the only thing you’d use it for!
The algorithms have improved somewhat. My new music playlist in the For You Tab actually has music I’m interested in. New songs from Artists I like. Apart from Sam Smith being a techno song lol Thought it might be his usual fare.
I think you set it up in automations through the home app .Not been able to test.
Vancouver22, thanks for the reply, but that really doesn't answer my question.
So, once again: Can you set an alarm on the HomePod to play music at a given time (like a wakeup alarm to music)?
Not that I can find, if you mean like a clock radio.
You can on your iOS devices.
Still no ALARM with MUSIC on the HomePod?
