HOW-TO
Controlling from Control Centre in iOS Soon after I got home with my HomePod, I found myself sitting on my sofa while the HomePod played music from a few feet away. I realized that while I could call out a command to make the HomePod slightly louder, that would make a noise and disturb everyone else in the living room. I had my iPad with me; surely I could adjust the HomePod’s volume with that? The answer is yes, but it took me a while to ind it. Perhaps the fastest way to remotely control the HomePod from an iOS device (running iOS 11.2.5 or later) is by using Control Centre, where you need to tap on the top right corner of the audio controller tile (or 3D Touch anywhere on the tile). Once you do this, you’ll see several diferent tiles. (You can also get to this same view by opening the Music app and, in the Now Playing sheet, tapping on the AirPlay icon at the bottom of the screen.) At the top is a tile for your iOS device, showing what’s currently playing (if anything) as well as a list of all the available AirPlay devices on your network and a volume slider. One of the AirPlay devices you’ll see will be your HomePod, since it supports AirPlay 1. Other tiles on this screen are Apple devices you can control remotely – Apple TV models as well as HomePod. Tap on any of these tiles and you’ll get a set of controls that let you scrub, change volume, play/pause, and change tracks on that device. This is the quickest way to control a HomePod from an iPhone or iPad without using Siri.
April 2018 • Macworld 117