Jordan O'BrienOne of the key criticisms levelled against the Apple HomePod on its release is the fact that it lacked many of the features offered by its more affordable competitors. The biggest omission was the ability to act as a multi-room speaker, with users wanting to play their music in multiple rooms left leaning on other systems to provide that functionality. Thankfully, the days of the HomePod lacking multi-room functionality are finally over, as Apple will today release iOS 11.4 – which includes many of the features users have been craving.
Multi-room support is the key new feature to land as part of iOS 11.4. Users don’t need to have multiple HomePods to enjoy the functionality, either. That’s because Apple has enabled the functionality for iOS devices, HomePod and Apple TV – and it’s likely that users will be able to loop in additional AirPlay 2 speakers from third-party manufacturers in the feature. That could include the likes of Sonos and Bang & Olufsen.
In addition to multi-room support, those with more than one Apple HomePod can also now pair the speakers together to create a stereo audio system. This should make the already great-sounding speaker sound even better, and do so at a cost much lower than high-end speakers the custom install market is used to.
Unfortunately, there are still some shortcomings when it comes to the Apple HomePod. It still lacks the ability to play music from Spotify, and Siri is considerably dumber than both Alexa and the Google Assistant. This update should go some way in satisfying users who are locked into the Apple ecosystem, however.