Display "what's playing" on HomePod?

I think I can answer your first question. Play some music on the HomePod and try this:

• Open control center on your iPad Pro by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
• Press on the music tile to expand it. You should now see the iPad's music control. Below that should be all the controllable devices on the network. In my case it shows a HomePod and an AppleTV.
• Tap the HomePod section to expand it. You should now see a small remote to control the HomePod.
• Finally tap the top of the section (where it shows the song that is playing). This should open the Music app for the HomePod.

Sorry I can't help with the second question.

Did you do the last step? When you tap on the top part of the small remote control it should open the Music app. You should have the same interface you do when looking at your library/Apple Music on your iPad/iPhone.

Playlists are displayed alphabetically. You can list playlists in the Music app.

As to the second question if a playlist called Cancel was created it would show up on any other computer or device connected to your iCloud Music Library, however I've tried and as yet Siri on the HomePod cannot create new playlists. It can add a song to an existing list, but interestingly not delete them.

tt2

That's strange. I just verified that if I follow the solution in this thread I can use the Music app to interact with the HomePod in exactly the same way I do with Music app playing music on my iPhone. I can see what playing, load songs into the up next list, etc. The music continues to play even if my iPhone is removed from the network.

I have further verified that the music playing on the the HomePod is not linked to my iPhone. I did this by loading the up next list with songs, turning off my iPhone and then connecting to the HomePod (again using the steps in the solution to this thread) using my iPad. The up next list didn't change and continued to play with both iDevices in airplane mode.

It is a shame it isn't working for you. I think it is exactly what you are looking for.

Sorry to hear that. When it works it is a great way to interact with the HomePod. FYI, it has worked on my iPhone 8 and iPad Pro pretty reliably in the short time I have had the HomePod.

I did have it fail to connect once though. When that happened the HomePod disappeared from the airplay list. I rebooted the iPad and after a few minutes the HomePod returned to the airplay list and everything worked properly again.

AmarandAgasi wrote:

Awesome, thanks!

May I ask: how do you get so many points? I'm a tech from waaaay back, but I can't imagine getting 100k points here. 🙂 Any tips and tricks? I'm having a hard time breaking level 2.

10 years with no better hobby. 😉

tt2

I am a visual person as well AmarandAgasi.

I am hoping Apple releases a HomePod app for iOS (similar to the AppleWatch app) where you have better control over what is playing, volume, etc.

I have already suggested this to their feedback team.

I actually haven't tried it yet. (I just read it when I got to work, and am going to have to wait until I get home to give it a shot.)

That solution may be the answer. I'll post again later to see if it worked for me.

So, I had a chance to try that solution... thanks for posting it.

While the control center does give me most of the controls I am looking for, they are limited. I can change the volume and navigate through the current album/playlist I am listening to, and that's fine. However, the one thing it doesn't let me do is browse through my music library to find a different album or playlist. I am forced to use Siri for this.

Yup. I made it to the interface.

And yes, the interface is the same, but I get the window: "If you play this, HomePod will stop playing when your iPhone is no longer nearby."

This method is forcing me to Airplay music from my iPhone, rather than have my HomePod access my library. So, I am still forced to use Siri when selecting new music.

Wow. Thanks for checking all that on your end! At least I know it's a possible solution! I'll just have to dig around and see what's different on my end...

Do you have an Apple Music subscription? I do not, although I do have an iTunes Match subscription - which is suppose to work.

You're welcome and yes I do have an AM subscription. You may have hit on why we are getting different results.

Whatever the problem is, I am optimistic that it will be fixed in a future software update.