Apple Posts 3 HomePod Tutorials to YouTube

Are you curious about how to get started with your new Apple HomePod? Don't ask Siri; HomePod's Achilles' Heel, the digital assistant has been criticized for not being as good at answering queries as the digital assistants you'll find on competing smart speakers like Google's Home Max ($299.00 at Walmart) or the Sonos One ($175.00 at Best Buy) .

Because of this fact, or simply because it's keen to add more content to its somewhat-new YouTube Support channel, Apple published three new videos designed to help new HomePod owners get familiar with their speakers' full capabilities. Each roughly a minute long, the videos cover three major aspects of the HomePod: using Siri to play music, using the HomePod's touch controls, and adjusting the HomePod's settings.

The first almost needs no video introduction, since asking Siri to play a favorite song or album is as simple as, well, asking Siri to do that. What's more useful is knowing all the different voice commands Siri can actually respond to, which includes time-specific queries, such as, "play me some alternative rock from the 90s"; musical genres, like "play me something romantic"; or playlists you've previously created on Apple Music. Once you start rocking out, Siri can adjust the volume based on a general response, like "make it louder," or a request for a specific volume level percent.

If you don't feel like yelling at your HomePod ($299.00 at Apple.com) , Apple's second video shows you the different ways you can poke it to make the smart speaker do what you want. Tapping the top of the HomePod pauses and plays your music. Double-tapping it advances a track, and triple-tapping it goes back one track. The plus and minus buttons control the HomePod's volume, and performing a "touch and hold" gesture on the HomePod's top activates Siri. Easy as that.

Finally, Apple's third video provides a little more detail on the smart speaker's settings, which you access by pulling up Apple's Home app on an iOS device. Within the HomePod's settings screen, you can activate its Sound Check mode to keep your tunes at a consistent volume. If you have younger ones in the house, there's also an option to prevent HomePod from playing explicit music. You'll also find a few settings related to Siri activations, so you can disable "Hey, Siri" commands and touch activations per your preferences.