Customer Ratings & Reviews

The HomePod seems to still fly under the radar for smart speakers. People always ask about them at my house and most have never seen or heard the HomePod before. A lot of people also don’t know about HomeKit and Siri built into it. However, they are always impressed by the sound and quality of the HomePod. I purchased a HomePod from Best Buy to make a stereo pair with on I already had. With the price reduction of $199 on sale which Best Buy has run every few weeks like clock work, the HomePod is more affordable than ever and is a must buy at its current reduced prices. AUDIO FEATURES While one HomePod sounds great, a stereo pair is where this speaker really shines. The soundstage is large and the audio is warm and balanced. Music has rich, deep bass accompanied by crisp, smooth highs and a balanced midrange. Out of the box, the eq settings are perfect and the microphone placements inside analyze the surrounding environment in which they are placed to automatically adjust the EQ of the speaker. As you move it throughout the house, it shines in an open setting or against a wall where it will pump out loud and clear sound without clipping. With a stereo pair (you can pair them in the Home app), the music is then sent as LEFT and RIGHT channels and the quality is unparalleled. You can even pair them with Apple TV for amazing home theatre quality mimicking surround sound or soundbar setup. Music and TV audio will fill the room perfectly. They are plenty loud in any placement and they sound just as good at a higher volume without distortion. You can also handoff audio playing on your iPhone by simply holding your iPhone next to the device. Your iphones audio will seamlessly transfer to your HomePod without interruption. You can then hold your phone next to the HomePod to have the audio transferred back to your iPhone. You can also stream any airplay capable audio to the speakers from your MacBook or other apple device by selecting the HomePod in the airplay drop down menu. SMART FEATURES The HomePod features a touchscreen on the top of the speaker that recognizes certain gestures like the Echo or Google Home devices. The HomePod has no physical buttons, but illuminated to reveal a volume up and down touchpad and a singular circle touchpad in between them that you can tap to pause, play, and skip songs. You can also accept or reject phone calls on the HomePod and utilize the HomePod to talk on the phone. The microphone quality is great - on the phone you come across extremely clear and “Hey Siri” is almost always recognized in any part of the room you say it. Of all my smart devices, this one recognizes my voice more than any other device and I don’t have to yell or repeat myself to get it to recognize me. The HomePod is integration of Siri is where the speaker leaves a lot to be desired. You can use the Siri function just as you would on your phone. You can set alarms, send texts, make calls, ask it to play music, and ask some basic questions such as metric conversions or “Who is Nicholas Cage”. If you’ve used Siri, you’ll know that it is an AI far behind Alexa and Hey Google. Complicated questions confuse it and it often can’t answer simple questions that Alexa and Google are able to answer. Apple is constantly improving Siri, but I use my Google Nest Hub far more for my everyday questions. If you are a HomeKit user, you can control your smart home with the HomePod. HomeKit, however, has far fewer applications where it useful and it is still pretty bare bones in comparison with its counterparts. For my smart home functions Philips Hue, ecobee, SimpliSafe etc, I prefer to use my google home and Alexa. The functions of HomeKit are limited and until it gets better, it is much easier to use another AI for controlling my home. Even though Apple is serious about its smart home integration with the HomePod, it just isn’t useful yet. So if you’re looking primarily for a smart device, choose something else. CONCLUSION For most people that buy the HomePod are aware of this and they buy it for it’s best quality, its speaker. It is far better than any other speaker in my house, and head to head with the Home Max and Echo Studio, it is miles above them with unparalleled sound quality. For the price, it is the best speaker you can buy and you won’t regret the absolutely amazing sound quality. As a stereo pair, it is much better than some of the top speaker brands at a fraction of the cost. Siri is great for asking it to my shuffle my playlists or play certain albums and the hands free nature of being able to ask for music is great. The design is beautiful - the minimalist look fits well in any space and the cloth covering is much more appealing than plastic or other alternatives that many speakers use. It is very much a signature Apple device that is still underrated. If you are looking for incredible sound in a small and reasonably priced device, you cannot get any better than the HomePod.

i have it connected to my apple tv and it works perfectly. i’m not an audio guy but it sounds better than my tv speakers for sure and that’s about all i need

I'm a bit disappointed with these speakers in that the bass leaves much to be desired. The medium to high range frequencies are pretty good, however. The HomePod Mini is by no means an audiophile product. Setup is quick and easy if you have Apple products, such as iPhone, iPad, or Macs. Besides controlling the speaker from an Apple device, one can merely tap the top of the speaker to control it. One caveat, however, is the need to learn the sequence of taps to control its various functions. That's not a problem if you use it this way often because those sequences will become second nature. If, however, one only uses the taps occasionally, one will want to keep a note nearby as reference. That being said, the speaker does respond to Siri commands too. For $99, it's a good deal. The build quality seems very good and is easy to use. I do wish Apple was currently offering a much better sounding speaker for audiophiles.

Fantastic sound quality and easy setup. It’s a good value for the price. It sounds way better than my google home mini. Although google assistant is superior in some ways, Siri can actually hear you quite easily even while music is playing. I feel like I need to yell when speaking to the google home mini.

Small but powerful. Very clean and sharp sound. You can fit this speaker anywhere. Love it.

Packs great sound for the size, and works seamlessly with iPhones once set up. Sounds great in any situation including tiny bathrooms where some speakers may be unusable. Personally ended up getting a couple to give away as gifts and to put around the apartment!

Good sound. Pretty easy to use but not always perfect. Sometimes you will have to repeat functions to get them to work. Biggest flaw, why is it not wireless?!!!

I absolutely love this. Have it paired with the orange one in my bedroom for a stereo sound and I must say it’s really good. Definitely recommend.

This little speaker packs a punch. The sound is clear, great bass, and volume can get loud. My only complain is pairing the speaker. First, you need pair it with the iPhone app and then you link it to the Apple TV at home. You cannot ask the Apple TV to search for wireless Bluetooth speakers without having those speakers linked to your Apple account. I also attempted to look for Bluetooth speakers using my smart TV feature, but the tv would not read the Apple speaker as available. The same thing happened with my Galaxy Note, when I searched for Bluetooth speakers, no luck either. This is not a Bluetooth speaker that you can directly pair it with any device. However, if you have any iPhone playing music, just put it close by and the speaker will auto-sync and start playing the music from your iPhone. No setting, no buttons to push, any iPhone just 2 inches or so away from the speaker, and that is all it takes for the speaker to play whatever music you had in your iPhone.

great sound love the auto volume and great look and controls

Bought open box. Great quality. I bought one a year before and you wouldn't know the difference.

My 4 year old Bluetooth speaker finally died and needed a replacement. Since I'm already in the Apple ecosystem, decided I might as well buy an apple product so I can take speakerphone calls, podcasts, and music while sleeping. One of my issues (which is most likely exclusive to me) is you have to plug it in (which is good and bad, since no battery to die like my previous), but this also means I cannot take this to my restroom/shower, because I do not have any power outlets there, they are right outside. So I can't use this there, fine. My other issue which really bothers me - is it's not compatible with Youtube! Youtube will not stream to this, which means I cannot listen to music there. That's *very* annoying. Also not compatible - business VoIP apps, so I cannot take speaker phone calls on my business line, can only take calls on my personal cell. Now the good: Sounds great! Calls/music/podcast using the Apple versions all work pretty well and I don't have to worry about charging it or batteries running out in the middle of the night. Small annoyances: moving it around (especially if you wind up lifting it from the top) - turns on music that isn't playing on your phone, but the device itself. Sometimes my AppleTV will try to play to it instead of my airpods, which *can* be useful if done on purpose. These are minor glitches that are partially user error and partially design error. It appears I'll need a couple so I can use it the way I used to use my previous BT speaker, which I may buy the next version when it comes out.

I bought 2. They sound great as a stereo pair for my TV. I wish I could use them as a regular Bluetooth speaker. That’s one thing the Beats Pill has over the HomePod family. Either way, a great product — just don’t expect it to be as smart as the other smart speakers out there. These are purely intended for people who want something that sounds good and integrates well with their ecosystem. Intercom feature is nice. Siri needs to get smarter.

[Employee of bestbuy] I recently had the pleasure of experiencing the first-generation HomePod, and let me tell you, it was an absolute auditory delight! The sound quality was mind-blowing, immersing me in a world of rich, vibrant music like never before. Siri's voice recognition was spot-on, effortlessly following my every command. The sleek design added a touch of elegance to my living space, making it a centerpiece that garnered compliments from all who entered. If you're in search of a smart speaker that truly raises the bar, look no further than the HomePod. It's a five-star experience that will leave you craving more.

In love with my HomePod Mini. It pairs very easily with my Apple TV and the handoff feature has been used on multiple occasions. This purchase has made me debate spending the extra money and getting the bigger version, but that’s for another day.

So far so good. It’s perfect for my kitchen. Sound is good, and loud enough for me in the kitchen. It connected to my smart outlets, and switches with ease. It was easy to set up my kitchen with my TP link Tapo. I did try it in my shop and compared it to my JBL Charge 5 I have out there. It’s no where near loud enough for that, at full volume it’s about half as loud as the Charge 5. I was hoping that I could use one out there as connecting and playing music is easier than the Charge 5. I’m not sure if I want to spend the money to see if the regular one might do better for that.

Overall, a good product. The sound is noticeably better than what I’ve experienced of the less expensive Google and Alexa speakers. The design is great, as to be expected with Apple products. However, also to be expected with some Apple products, I feel the price is a little high for what you get. Sometimes Siri can be a little air-headed, but that’s not a problem with this product so much as with Siri, of course. On the other side of the tech fence, Amazon and Google seem to have the edge regarding the competence of their assistants. For example, I never had a problem with my Google Home speaker detecting which device I was talking to—an occasional problem with the Home Pod Mini. If you’re married to the Apple ecosystem, this is what I would recommend, hands down, although it may be one of the few choices you have for what it does. If you don’t care about Apple’s ecosystem, I might recommend trying one of the other ones until Apple catches up. As for me, I’m into Apple, so this is the best choice for me and a pleasant one overall.

These are great little speakers. Good sound, good volume, work without any annoying setup.

It’s definitely a simpler HomePod. It does sacrifice the loudness of the original HomePod but it’s size makes it so easy to put anywhere and be very unnoticeable. The sound for such a small speaker is great and easily fills up a large living room or even a small house. The sound is clear with very little to no distortion. And the microphones can hear and process commands across the room and at full volume. The only issue i had was a setup issue. Apparently it does not not like being set up with a mesh router system very well. It never finished. I researched it and it’s a issue.all that is needed is turn off wifi temporarily and use your phones hotspot as the internet and the setup breezes through. Then turn back on your wifi. I had no issues since. It works great. I always wanted apple to make a smaller HomePod for every room. And I’m glad they listened

The mini home pod is very easy to set up, and there is the ability to pair multiples for stereo effect. I love itresponds easily to the Siri command.