Tips and advice

Using Handoff with the HomePod for music and phone calls

November 21, 2020
Handoff with the HomePod: In this tip, we'll explain what you can use Handoff on the HomePod for and how it works. 
4.6/5 - (48 votes)
In this tip, we’ll explain what you can use Handoff on the HomePod for and how it works. This way you get everything out of Apple’s smart speaker!

Using Handoff with the HomePod: Transfer Music and More

Since iOS 13.2, you can use Handoff on your HomePod . This allows you to quickly send music from your iPhone to your HomePod, and vice versa. You can also transfer phone calls from one device to another. In this tip we explain how that works.

Do you want to continue playing your music on your HomePod after returning home? You can with Handoff . With this technology, you can easily resume tasks on another device. The feature has been around for years on iPhone, iPad and Mac and Apple Watch , but can also be used on the HomePod since iOS 13.2.

With the arrival of the HomePod mini, even more is possible. In the HomePod mini you will find a U1 chip for Ultra Wideband for the first time . This offers even more possibilities for your iPhone and HomePod to work together seamlessly. You get visual, audible and tactile effects when the sound is transferred from one device to another. And if you hold the iPhone next to the HomePod mini, you get individual listening suggestions and controls on the screen, without having to unlock the iPhone.

Set up Handoff for HomePod

Even if you play music or make a phone call on your HomePod, you can transfer this to your iPhone. This way you can continue outside the door undisturbed. Make sure you have at least iOS 13.2 on both your iPhone and HomePod. Check out our tip on how to update a HomePod .

Also check if the feature is enabled. You do this as follows:

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings> General .
  2. tap AirPlay and Handoff .
  3. Turn on the switch at Switch to HomePod .

Using Handoff on HomePod

This is how you transfer music and phone calls:

  1. Make sure there is music playing or a phone call in progress on one of the devices.
  2. Briefly hold your iPhone just below or above the screen of your HomePod.

It’s that simple! If the action is successful, you will feel a subtle vibration on your iPhone and you will receive a notification on the screen as confirmation. A second or two later, the sound plays on the other device. Make sure you do not hold your iPhone against the screen of the HomePod, because then the device will see that as an input.

In our experience, Handoff didn’t always work well with the HomePod. Sometimes we had to try again, but it was not very disturbing. The HomePod was running iOS 13.2 at the time, so Apple may be addressing this issue in a later software update.