How to Hand Off music from your Apple iPhone to HomePod and vice versa

Transferring music between your Apple iPhone and HomePod is a simple process. Here’s how to use the built-in Hand Off feature.

The Apple HomePod is one of the best smart speakers available on the market. That’s especially true if you actively depend on other Apple devices since this speaker tightly integrates with the company’s ecosystem. So, for example, if you have two HomePods of the same type, you can set them up as a wireless stereo pair. Similarly, if you have an iPhone 14 or an older model, you can seamlessly Hand Off the music or audio you’re playing to and from the HomePod. Here’s how to do so.

How to Hand Off music from your iPhone to HomePod

Bring your iPhone close to the HomePod.
Voilà! Your HomePod will automatically start playing the music that had been playing on your iPhone.

It’s worth noting that this feature works with both Apple Music and other audio apps on iPhone. If you’re listening on Apple Music, though, Handing Off the queue to a HomePod will stream the tracks natively on the speaker. So turning off your iPhone afterward won’t interrupt the HomePod’s music playback.

However, if you’re depending on an app like Spotify, then Handoff will simply set the HomePod as an AirPlay target while your iPhone actually remains the audio source. So if you disable Wi-Fi on iOS or turn off your iPhone completely, the audio playback will consequently stop on the HomePod.

From your HomePod to iPhone

If your HomePod is natively playing Apple Music tracks, and you want to move the queue to your iPhone, then that is also possible. This works great if you’re leaving the house and want to enjoy the same music queue on the go. To do so, follow the steps below.

Bring your iPhone close to the HomePod.
Tap on Transfer to iPhone when the pop-up HomePod player appears.
Voilà! Your iPhone will start playing the music that had been playing on your HomePod.

How to disable HomePod music Handoff

If you don’t like or need this feature, then you can disable it by following the steps below.

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
Tap on General.
Click on AirPlay & Handoff.
Disable the Transfer to HomePod toggle.

Notably, this feature only works on the HomePod Mini and HomePod 2. If you have a HomePod 1, then you will have to tap the iPhone on the HomePod’s touch screen to initiate Handoff instead of merely bringing your iPhone close to it. That’s because the original HomePod model lacks the Ultra Wideband (U1) chip, which enables spatial awareness between the devices. Similarly, you need an iPhone 11 or a newer model (excluding SE variants) to take advantage of the U1 chip. So if you’re on outdated hardware, you can simply Handoff by gently tapping your iPhone on the HomePod’s interactive display.