7 ms·

What use cases do you see this having? Just curious

alfonsodev 6y ago
I'm guessing being able to send any audio stream, for example your computer audio, so you can use Spotify or anything playing at your computer. Someone did this without the need of jailbreak for Sonos speakers, although it has some delay so was not good for movies or games.
- thebean11 6y ago
  You seriously can't do that on a vanilla homepod? Seems like the most basic feature every bluetooth speaker has. Re: the delay, usually for videos the computer will compensate by delaying the video playback to match the speakers.
  - Moeancurly 6y ago
    Which makes this jailbreak somewhat moot, for now at least. It makes more sense to buy an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker rather than risk bricking your $300 Homepod that has no data port
    - thebean11 6y ago
      I'm so tempted to jump into the Apple ecosystem, but things like this make it really, really hard. If I buy a $300 speaker I shouldn't need a second, shittier speaker.
      - alfonsodev 6y ago
        Yes, once again then convenience of this tight integrations comes with the loss of freedom. I guess the goal is to increase subscriptions to Apple Music at the expense of losing fewer more "demanding" users. I wonder if there would be a case for enforcing companies that use the word "speaker" in their products to allow customers to play whatever they want via bluetooth or jack input.
      - ralfd 6y ago
        I have no great experience with Bluetooth Speakers, but the magic of the HomePod is that they use Airplay 2 which piggybacks on WiFi and has some advantages: - AirPlay uses lossless compression to stream audio from source to speaker. All Bluetooth audio streaming uses lossy compression. - AirPlay has the capability of playing across a much larger distance and with a solid connection between devices than Bluetooth. - When using AirPlay you’re actually capable of controlling the volume of the Airplay speaker (not just the volume of the device which transfers to the Bluetooth device). - Airplay can stream to multiple output devices. Bluetooth is one-to-one streaming. - AirPlay caches multiple minutes of Audio (or Video). AFAIK Bluetooth does not cache. A sibling comment talked about using a Sonos with Bluetooth, but having delay issues. There is no lag on AirPlay: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/gt4g40/lag/ https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/gt4g40/lag/
        thebean11 6y ago
        I might be misunderstanding, so if all I have are iPhones and MacBooks, this actually would allow me to play arbitrary audio from my devices?
        jb0x168 6y ago
        Yes. If you use an app like AirParrot, you can do it from windows as well. Can't speak to android specifically but I believe there's an App For That as well.
        thebean11 6y ago
        Alright, being limited to certain devices seems less bad than being limited to specific apps like Sonos
        jscholes 6y ago
        > Alright, being limited to certain devices seems less bad than being limited to specific apps like Sonos Sonos also supports AirPlay, as well as DLNA/UPnP rendering. So for example you can set a Sonos speaker as the output device, wirelessly, in the latest nightly builds of VLC[1]. [1] https://shaleenjain.com/blog/vlc-dlna-support-2/ https://shaleenjain.com/blog/vlc-dlna-support-2/
      - reaperducer 6y ago
        If you're thinking of buying a HomePod, I think it's fair to assume that you also have an iPhone. So, what's the use case for Bluetooth here? Streaming from phone to HomePod via AirPlay is so superior to Bluetooth as to make it obsolete for such needs. The only thing I can think of is if the kids in the house have Androids or something. Or do some game consoles stream to Bluetooth speakers?
  - alfonsodev 6y ago
    Yep, seriously, I was shocked too when buying my first (and last) Sonos, there was a list of apps, and a list of FM stations that worked with the Sonos app, and some had arbitrary restrictions like Spotify needing premium account. I don't own an Apple HomePod, but I'm assuming the situation is similar because I read Spotify is not supported yet. If that's the case "The speakers of the house."[1] slogan might be miss-leading for many customer that expect bluetooth speaker behaviour or a jack input to play whatever you want in "your" speakers. [1] https://www.apple.com/homepod/ https://www.apple.com/homepod/
    - reaperducer 6y ago
      might be miss-leading for many customer that expect bluetooth speaker behaviour or a jack input It's not a Bluetooth speaker. At no time does Apple claim it's a Bluetooth speaker. If someone wants to believe it's a Bluetooth speaker, that's their fault for failing reading comprehension. I don't expect Apple to put a big red sticker on HomePod boxes reading, "THIS IS NOT A BLUETOOTH SPEAKER!" any more than I expect an electric car to have a big red sticker on it reading, "THIS WILL NOT RUN ON DIESEL FUEL!"
      - alfonsodev 6y ago
        The slogan is literally "the speaker of the house" and is wireless, so OK they don't use Bluetooth word, but you get my point, is just my opinion, I can't claim how many people expect Bluetooth like behaviour, just personal anecdote, I would.
    - crooked-v 6y ago
      HomePods have AirPlay, so you can use that to stream arbitrary audio from anything that supports it (officially Mac and iOS devices, but there are various apps that have reverse-engineered the protocol to stream from Windows and Android). It's not Bluetooth, but as long as you don't literally need Bluetooth hardware specifically you can use it the same way.
    - closeparen 6y ago
      Current Sonos accepts arbitrary audio from Airplay. That's how I use mine most of the time, streaming via podcast websites in mobile Safari or using my local NPR affiliate's app. In these cases my phone is handling the audio stream, so its battery is draining and if I step out of the apartment it will cut off. Deeper app integrations like Spotify are nice because my phone isn't in the signal path.
  - reaperducer 6y ago
    You seriously can't do that on a vanilla homepod You can. I don't know why the poster claimed it can't. I'm doing it right now with the HomePod I bought yesterday. It shows up just like any other audio device on your LAN.
  - turtlebits 6y ago
    You can for any Mac, however only to a single HomePod (not a stereo pair). It shows up as a system audio device.
- leecb 6y ago
  I've been sending my computer audio to my Homepod Mini every day since I got it this week. Can the full sized Homepod not do this? The 2 second delay is annoying, but doesn't really have a big impact for music.
- smnrchrds 6y ago
  Not even using a Mac? I am surprised.
  - reaperducer 6y ago
    It can. Anyone who tells you it can't is repeating some rumor they read on an Apple-hater forum or something. HomePods show up on your devices just like any other audio device you own.
    - p1esk 6y ago
      No you can’t if you want stereo sound: https://www.google.com/amp/s/9to5mac.com/2020/07/22/mac-sound-to-stereo-paired-homepods/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/9to5mac.com/2020/07/22/mac-soun...
      - reaperducer 6y ago
        You're moving the goalposts there.
        p1esk 6y ago
        Yes, I'm moving them where they should be.
      - turtlebits 6y ago
        Yes, very annoying. iTunes/Music.app on the Mac does support stereo though.
- reaperducer 6y ago
  being able to send any audio stream, for example your computer audio, so you can use Spotify or anything playing at your computer. HomePod does this. I'm doing it right now. Click on the volume icon > select your HomePod. Done.
  - p1esk 6y ago
    I could not do this with my stereo pair.
- dpkonofa 6y ago
  You can already AirPlay audio from a Mac or iPhone device, including Spotify. You can also do it from a PC but it requires something like Airfoil.
draw_down 6y ago
My understanding is that Apple has still not mastered the exotic voodoo of “streaming arbitrary audio to the speaker from a computing device”. Perhaps someone can now assist them with this Herculean undertaking.
dpiers 6y ago
The numerous microphones/speakers and spatial awareness features could be used for some localized active noise cancellation. At the very least you could set it to increase the volume of white noise/ambient sounds playing when ambient volume increases. This would be useful for anyone who uses it to block out traffic/street noise at night.
turtlebits 6y ago
- Use of the top screen for custom notifications - Run an audio server on it

I'm guessing being able to send any audio stream, for example your computer audio, so you can use Spotify or anything playing at your computer. Someone did this without the need of jailbreak for Sonos speakers, although it has some delay so was not good for movies or games.

thebean11 6y ago
You seriously can't do that on a vanilla homepod? Seems like the most basic feature every bluetooth speaker has. Re: the delay, usually for videos the computer will compensate by delaying the video playback to match the speakers.
- Moeancurly 6y ago
  Which makes this jailbreak somewhat moot, for now at least. It makes more sense to buy an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker rather than risk bricking your $300 Homepod that has no data port
  - thebean11 6y ago
    I'm so tempted to jump into the Apple ecosystem, but things like this make it really, really hard. If I buy a $300 speaker I shouldn't need a second, shittier speaker.
    - alfonsodev 6y ago
      Yes, once again then convenience of this tight integrations comes with the loss of freedom. I guess the goal is to increase subscriptions to Apple Music at the expense of losing fewer more "demanding" users. I wonder if there would be a case for enforcing companies that use the word "speaker" in their products to allow customers to play whatever they want via bluetooth or jack input.
    - ralfd 6y ago
      I have no great experience with Bluetooth Speakers, but the magic of the HomePod is that they use Airplay 2 which piggybacks on WiFi and has some advantages: - AirPlay uses lossless compression to stream audio from source to speaker. All Bluetooth audio streaming uses lossy compression. - AirPlay has the capability of playing across a much larger distance and with a solid connection between devices than Bluetooth. - When using AirPlay you’re actually capable of controlling the volume of the Airplay speaker (not just the volume of the device which transfers to the Bluetooth device). - Airplay can stream to multiple output devices. Bluetooth is one-to-one streaming. - AirPlay caches multiple minutes of Audio (or Video). AFAIK Bluetooth does not cache. A sibling comment talked about using a Sonos with Bluetooth, but having delay issues. There is no lag on AirPlay: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/gt4g40/lag/ https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/gt4g40/lag/
      - thebean11 6y ago
        I might be misunderstanding, so if all I have are iPhones and MacBooks, this actually would allow me to play arbitrary audio from my devices?
        jb0x168 6y ago
        Yes. If you use an app like AirParrot, you can do it from windows as well. Can't speak to android specifically but I believe there's an App For That as well.
        thebean11 6y ago
        Alright, being limited to certain devices seems less bad than being limited to specific apps like Sonos
        jscholes 6y ago
        > Alright, being limited to certain devices seems less bad than being limited to specific apps like Sonos Sonos also supports AirPlay, as well as DLNA/UPnP rendering. So for example you can set a Sonos speaker as the output device, wirelessly, in the latest nightly builds of VLC[1]. [1] https://shaleenjain.com/blog/vlc-dlna-support-2/ https://shaleenjain.com/blog/vlc-dlna-support-2/
    - reaperducer 6y ago
      If you're thinking of buying a HomePod, I think it's fair to assume that you also have an iPhone. So, what's the use case for Bluetooth here? Streaming from phone to HomePod via AirPlay is so superior to Bluetooth as to make it obsolete for such needs. The only thing I can think of is if the kids in the house have Androids or something. Or do some game consoles stream to Bluetooth speakers?
- alfonsodev 6y ago
  Yep, seriously, I was shocked too when buying my first (and last) Sonos, there was a list of apps, and a list of FM stations that worked with the Sonos app, and some had arbitrary restrictions like Spotify needing premium account. I don't own an Apple HomePod, but I'm assuming the situation is similar because I read Spotify is not supported yet. If that's the case "The speakers of the house."[1] slogan might be miss-leading for many customer that expect bluetooth speaker behaviour or a jack input to play whatever you want in "your" speakers. [1] https://www.apple.com/homepod/ https://www.apple.com/homepod/
  - reaperducer 6y ago
    might be miss-leading for many customer that expect bluetooth speaker behaviour or a jack input It's not a Bluetooth speaker. At no time does Apple claim it's a Bluetooth speaker. If someone wants to believe it's a Bluetooth speaker, that's their fault for failing reading comprehension. I don't expect Apple to put a big red sticker on HomePod boxes reading, "THIS IS NOT A BLUETOOTH SPEAKER!" any more than I expect an electric car to have a big red sticker on it reading, "THIS WILL NOT RUN ON DIESEL FUEL!"
    - alfonsodev 6y ago
      The slogan is literally "the speaker of the house" and is wireless, so OK they don't use Bluetooth word, but you get my point, is just my opinion, I can't claim how many people expect Bluetooth like behaviour, just personal anecdote, I would.
  - crooked-v 6y ago
    HomePods have AirPlay, so you can use that to stream arbitrary audio from anything that supports it (officially Mac and iOS devices, but there are various apps that have reverse-engineered the protocol to stream from Windows and Android). It's not Bluetooth, but as long as you don't literally need Bluetooth hardware specifically you can use it the same way.
  - closeparen 6y ago
    Current Sonos accepts arbitrary audio from Airplay. That's how I use mine most of the time, streaming via podcast websites in mobile Safari or using my local NPR affiliate's app. In these cases my phone is handling the audio stream, so its battery is draining and if I step out of the apartment it will cut off. Deeper app integrations like Spotify are nice because my phone isn't in the signal path.
- reaperducer 6y ago
  You seriously can't do that on a vanilla homepod You can. I don't know why the poster claimed it can't. I'm doing it right now with the HomePod I bought yesterday. It shows up just like any other audio device on your LAN.
- turtlebits 6y ago
  You can for any Mac, however only to a single HomePod (not a stereo pair). It shows up as a system audio device.
leecb 6y ago
I've been sending my computer audio to my Homepod Mini every day since I got it this week. Can the full sized Homepod not do this? The 2 second delay is annoying, but doesn't really have a big impact for music.
smnrchrds 6y ago
Not even using a Mac? I am surprised.
- reaperducer 6y ago
  It can. Anyone who tells you it can't is repeating some rumor they read on an Apple-hater forum or something. HomePods show up on your devices just like any other audio device you own.
  - p1esk 6y ago
    No you can’t if you want stereo sound: https://www.google.com/amp/s/9to5mac.com/2020/07/22/mac-sound-to-stereo-paired-homepods/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/9to5mac.com/2020/07/22/mac-soun...
    - reaperducer 6y ago
      You're moving the goalposts there.
      - p1esk 6y ago
        Yes, I'm moving them where they should be.
    - turtlebits 6y ago
      Yes, very annoying. iTunes/Music.app on the Mac does support stereo though.
reaperducer 6y ago
being able to send any audio stream, for example your computer audio, so you can use Spotify or anything playing at your computer. HomePod does this. I'm doing it right now. Click on the volume icon > select your HomePod. Done.
- p1esk 6y ago
  I could not do this with my stereo pair.
dpkonofa 6y ago
You can already AirPlay audio from a Mac or iPhone device, including Spotify. You can also do it from a PC but it requires something like Airfoil.

draw_down 6y ago

My understanding is that Apple has still not mastered the exotic voodoo of “streaming arbitrary audio to the speaker from a computing device”. Perhaps someone can now assist them with this Herculean undertaking.

dpiers 6y ago

The numerous microphones/speakers and spatial awareness features could be used for some localized active noise cancellation. At the very least you could set it to increase the volume of white noise/ambient sounds playing when ambient volume increases. This would be useful for anyone who uses it to block out traffic/street noise at night.

turtlebits 6y ago

- Use of the top screen for custom notifications - Run an audio server on it