Customer Ratings & Reviews

Long story short: you need to be in the Apple ecosystem (including Apple Music) to experience HomePod as intended. Looks/build quality: deceivingly compact, but still feels heavy/solid and very well built as you’d expect from Apple. Sound: While I won’t use the term “audiophile” I certainly enjoy music and technology and my headphone setup runs ~$8,500, so sound quality is important to me. The HomePod is easily the best sound I’ve heard from a single speaker this compact. It is hi-fi? Of course not, it’s a single speaker that’s <7” tall. It has a fun sound signature with impressive bass for such a small form factor. Don’t expect something you’re going to do critical listening on and you’ll be fine. Usage/functionality: I use it in a small home office to have some background music. For this purpose it’s been perfect. I am entrenched in the Apple ecosystem and everything works flawlessly together as you’d expect. I did sign up for Apple Music to use with the HomePod and it has worked great. I am not a big Siri user to begin with, so her current limitations don’t bug me at the present time. Voice activation to manage Apple Music, set timers and reminders, etc is perfectly fine for me. When I’m in the office I’m sitting in front of the computer and don’t need more. I only have a couple of connected devices (video doorbell and a smart lock), so using it as a hub isn’t a major concern for me. The voice detection is amazing. HomePod can hear me from another room in the house. Comparisons: I do have two Echo Dots, one with a Vaux speaker and one with a mokcao power+. The HomePod easily stomps these in terms of sound and build quality, but it should given it’s more than 3x the price. In terms of Siri vs Alexa, they both have their pros and cons. For me it’s basically a wash as far as virtual assistants. Summary: This is an easy recommendation if you’re an iDevice user and an Apple Music subscriber. Outside of that, the cost and walled garden Are barriers to entry.

Good size for our kitchen and doesn't take up much counterspace. Sleek design blends in. Sound quality is good although we mostly use it for background music. Overall happy with purchase aside from wishing the cost was a bit less.

To get this out of the way upfront, I am in the Apple ecosystem. I have iPads, iPhones, and MacBook Pros and like the way they work together. In its current form, this is not a product for everyone. I would think it would be practically unusable if you weren’t at least partially in Apple’s ecosystem. If you want the device to stream music from an internet source, you need to have an Apple Music subscription. I don’t, but I have iTunes Match so this device can stream my music from the cloud. Unlike other devices, like my Echo, it doesn’t support Pandora, Spotify, etc at this time. You can use AirPlay and send these sources to your HomePod from your phone, iPad, MacBook, but not without. The sound quality is very good for its size. It is able to fill the room, sounds clear and crisp, with a good overall sound. Some reviews complain about too much bass. I can see this being true, as it does seem to emphasize bass a little bit. I haven’t noticed it to be a problem in the genres I listen to (Country and Classic Rock primarily). As far as a smart speaker, it does a great job of hearing your spoken commands. I think it exceeds the competition here. Siri almost never miss hears me or ignores me. I can’t say the same for Alexa. Siri has gotten a lot better since this was released. There are still some things she ‘can’t do on this HomePod’ but overall is pretty good. I have to take away one star because of one problem. Being in the Apple ecosystem, I wanted to have Siri add things to my grocery list, reminders, send texts, etc, and I get told the iPhone that was used to setup HomePod must be on the same Wi-Fi network much too often when it is sitting right next to me. I do think it is a 4 star product with the other limitations mentioned above because it generally does everything it promises to do very well. If you are unaware of the limitations, you may be disappointed. Another thing to consider is the color. I went with the black because the white was dirty immediately after being taken out of the box.

Bought two of them, at 199 and 185(open box). Sound good individually, great in stereo. Really solid bass for a small unit, won’t go incredibly loud, but plenty for most uses. Siri works pretty well, much better if you have Apple Music. One undersold feature is that because of the Omni characteristics and dsp, music doesn’t sound boxy(you can’t tell where it is coming from, just nicely distributed, kind of like some Linkwitz lxminis that I made some time ago)-really outstanding with orchestral music.

The HomePod is an amazing piece of tech. The A8 chip allows for it to equalize the audio according to the space that it is in allowing a more linear frequency response. The resulting sound is rich and clear regardless of the volume. Initial setup was a breeze thanks to the ease of the Apple ecosystem with my iPhone being in close proximity to the HomePod and then automatically configuring everything. The Hey Siri detection is quite good with it being able to pick up your voice command from across an average sized room even despite the music from the HomePod playing loudly. Siri is useful in terms of navigating throughout the vast musical library of Apple Music and doing basic commands for reminders, notes, weather, directions, store hours and messages/calls. However, in terms of a global search level, Siri can not compete with the superior Google Assistant. The downside to this speaker is that it can only be used with other Apple devices and Apple Music. However as someone who has everything Apple and is deeply invested into the ecosystem, it doesn’t matter to me. If you want to play Spotify or audio from other services, you’ll have to Airplay to the HomePod. In conclusion, this is a well engineered speaker with a fairly capable voice assistant included. Probably the best sounding smart speaker out there!

Wow! The bass and volume from this device is amazing. Controls my Home integrated devices and maintains a consistent connection (even after a power outage). I have Apple Music and this device has become the DJ that takes requests. I now have purchased 2 of these to cover any command given throughout my house. While Siri could be a little better, I have found this device to be light years ahead of its response to the "hey Siri" commands. Even when the music is at full volume. Alexa just cannot replicate this.

I waited nearly a year to purchase the HomePod until it went on sale for a not inexpensive, but much more reasonable price for an innovative and well executed speaker design. I took some time to “burn in” the speaker components with a variety of music styles, something done with higher end speakers in expectation of bringing out audio warmth and fidelity. I even placed it in a bay window enclave to act as a sort of speaker horn enclosure so as to enhance the projected sound. Such were my high hopes for how well the HomePod might perform. After all, it had been hyped and compared to higher end stereo equipment due to its genuine technical advances in speaker design. Its WiFi only input maximized the digital music information the advance computer chip could upscale for the multiple speakers calibrated for each personalized listening area. Well, it turns out not to be the aural renaissance of bookshelf audio systems, an unrealistic expectation Apple perpetrated upon itself for this device. Nonetheless, it is a compact and competent sound system that produces music with enough quality to lose yourself in it, absent of harsh or distracting distortions in the musical reproduction. It is a joy to merely ask for whatever song or album comes to mind from memory or suggestion and then be able to listen effortlessly to faithfully reproduced music. That said, and despite being a fan of the Apple ecosystem who harbored high hopes for how well the HomePod would perform, it is evident that it is not, and never will be a high-end bookshelf speaker system that transforms the music from the mundane into some superlative version. Moreover, it is ironic and frustrating that in trying so hard to be more than it is via strict audio source inputs, it is transformed into less than it could be if only Apple would “jailbreak” the HomePod. For starters, it could at least allow Bluetooth 5 audio connections for input. That would unleash it as a top-notch Bluetooth speaker free from depending upon a WiFi network, freely accessing whatever sound sources were available to the listener. A USB-C input would be a cinch winner also, simultaneously inputting audio and charging the audio input device. Yes, I know that would impinge on the revenue stream from Apple Music that is the real money to be made by Apple with the HomePod, but it would enable a moderately high-end audio system and an ultimate midway audio system. It would likely be the preeminent sound system for small-spaces like apartments, dorms, offices, RV’s, work spaces, sheltered exterior spaces, etc. At the same time, doing so would not prevent it serving as the aspirational sound system Apple envisioned. It would dovetail nicely into maximizing their high-dollar X series phones that now have Bluetooth 5, which seemingly allows virtually lossless digital streaming rather the the garbage in, garbage out hyper-compressed digital formats inherent in previous Bluetooth iterations. As it is, the HomePod has garnered a precious small percentage of the smart speaker market as they have virtually required an Apple Music subscription to make use of their speaker. In pursuit of their version of the perfect sound system, Apple has destroyed the very good, and for most customers of a device like this, good enough is perfect. That still leaves the not-so-smart-speaker problem of poor, dear, simple Siri’s incompetence at summoning anything but Apple Music (or most anything else reliably) that severely limits HomePod's utility as a go-to music and other listening device. That one will not go away until Apple develops the in-house talent to build Siri out as seemingly envisioned originally, or the in-house vision to develop her by building out that talent however those billions of earnings might increase product value. Then Siri might just tell me she does not have access to Willie and Lobo in her music catalogue rather than giving me some random Willie Nelson album.

I wasn’t impressed with the HomePod when I heard it in the store, but the reviews said otherwise so I purchased one. In a home situation the sound is absolutely defying. How can so much sound come from such a small package? I was so impressed that I purchased another one and use them in a stereo configuration. Now it’s two times awesome!! The amount of bass these speakers put out is outrageous. Siri seems to be an attentive listener and quickly finds a song I want to hear or skips tracks or adjusts volume.

These smart powered speakers (I bought a stereo pair) look great and sound great...and listen even better. At first blush the $349 price sounded very high...though I hit a $50 off sale... but when you think about it they’re not. The solid/heavy compact speakers pack a punch in the bass and with 7 folded horn tweeters fill the whole room with omnidirectional sound. Each of the 8 speakers has its own amplifier and are separately controlled by the A8 processor (same as in iPhone 6). The touch controls and discreet color display round out the package. The bass auto adjusts to room size and the 7 tweeters sense walls and beam the sound around the room...I.e. these sound great anywhere in any room at any volume (no distortion at full volume). After updating them to Airplay 2, I could use them as a stereo pair, whole house speakers that play the same or different content in different rooms or assign each to different accounts for independent control from separate user IOS, TVOS, or MacOS devices—remember these are WiFi, not Bluetooth, full range speakers (40-20kHz?). Spookily amazing are the 6 microphones that can hear and respond to your normal (inside) voice even when the speakers are creating a cathedral soundstage while playing Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor at full volume. Siri easily answers queries like “what’s the weather tomorrow” when you ask from the next room. I did not have home automation devices to test, but as you can tell I’m having fun with a pair of HomePods. Just don’t think they can replace your $500+ HiFi tower speakers ... or the other way around ;?)

Sound is great, Siri can understand commands even when music is loud from across the room, Easy setup with an iPhone, and overall just a great smart speaker... IF you’re an Apple person. Unfortunately it has no Bluetooth capability for any other devices beyond Apple and has poor integration with even Apple Watch. Requires Wi-Fi or AirPlay for connection, nothing else works, which can be a hassle if you’re in an area without Wi-Fi (outdoor picnic, sports tournament, camping, etc where you’re running off a generator or battery pack, etc). Not perfect by any means, but it’s great within its limitations.

I 100% love this product it has excellent sound quality, good bass and really shines in the high tones. I bought this product because of the privacy and sound quality. Here are my pros and cons of the product, Pros Great audio Respects your privacy Works with all things apple Great design Cons Expensive White color attracts dirt quickly Requires HomeKit devices for smart home Requires iPhone for setup Overall a great device!

Now, I've used many wireless digital assistants and speakers. We've used Google home, Alexa, etc. Bought one of these, as it was on a good sale at Christmas, and decided to use it in my office. Digital assistant is a great feature, but the sound quality is what really stands out. Plenty of bass, even at low volumes. Easy to pause/play by tapping the top. Adds music to the office without being boomy or harsh sounding. Would love to have two to pair together!

Item was better than expected. Siri understands all in my household. We can say her Siri from downstairs and be heard. The set up was very easy, it even connects to my phone and my husbands. Very loud speaker, clear, and we like the ease of taking it places. The only down side is that it’s not wireless, wish this $300 speaker was wireless but it’s great besides that

I know the price of this product doomed it to irrelevance in the smart speaker market but no matter what Apple decides to do with the HomePod I’ll always love it. It’s super easy to setup, it calibrates itself to sound great no matter where you put it. Siri sounds great, makes Alexa sound like a robot. It sounds amazing. The highs are great, the mid range (vocals) are awesome, the bass is so deep and very satisfying. On top of all that, it’s beautiful in white or black. I have three of them and if I knew that Apple was devoted to the product I would buy many more. A HomePod mini is needed badly and an investment in HomeKit would be helpful too. The HomePod should have been released for 199.00 and even then that would have been asking a lot. 349.99 was an absolutely non starter for 90% of buyers, leaving only Apple fans like me, and even I never paid full price for it. I only bought three when they were on sale for 249.00.

The quality of these speakers outshines most others. The home automation ecosystem has been lacking due to this being the only option up until late 2020. Siri, despite what haters may claim, works just as well as the multitude of Alexas we have around the house. The Homepods definitely take the cake on sound quality, even by comparison to Amazon’s highest end Echo Studio and Sub combo. It is on par with the more expensive Sonos units; but you can get HomePods for $199 if you catch them on sale and, thus, this makes them a better value than compatible Sonos. Sonos has the benefit of a large ecosystem full of a myriad of options. The call quality on these is superb, second to know, it may even be their best feature. People on the other end are completely unaware that I’m not talking on my phone. I’ve also been on the other end of these calls and can attest to this observation. It is simply astounding how well they isolate your voice. This definitely surpasses Alexa, Google, and even similarly priced Sonos units. It also integrates much better with our home automation on a grand scale than our Alexa units; working with more lights and smart home devices overall. We just simply have more Alexas due to cost. We use the pair of HomePods exclusively for music and phone calls due to this fact. However, I’m only rating this as 5 stars with the knowledge that the ecosystem is FINALLY expanding with the Mini; if not for that, this would probably get 4, maybe even 3, stars. Apple simply waited too long to break out of this single-unit shell.

The HomePod by far is the best sounding smart speaker you can buy on the market. However, due to the fact many manufacturers don’t support Apple HomeKit, Siri falls behind in terms of overall functionality. But the main highlight of the HomePod is the sound. Though the sound is room filling, it is best when it is stereo paired, which dramatically changes the entire listening experience. Also, if you have 2 HomePods and an Apple TV 4K, you can use HomePods for Dolby Atmos sound which is amazing. Overall, it’s a really good sounding speaker and has tons of bass, yet somehow remains balanced, presumably due to the fact there is a dedicated sub component within the HomePod which is about 4”. The audio is very clear, and the HomePod gets very loud. In my experience, I would recommend putting the HomePod about 5-7 inches away from a wall, this will give the HomePod better functionality in terms of its sound beaming capabilities. it makes a huge difference, it’s just the basic physics of sound. One thing that is important to note is that this device is for people who are heavily invested into the Apple EcoSystem, and are subscribers of Apple Music, because yes they do have 3rd party music support from platforms such as Spotify and Pandora, however the functionality is not ideal due to it still being implemented and developed. Also this is not a Bluetooth speaker and is only AirPlay compatible, meaning you need an Apple device to stream to it, if you aren’t using Siri on the HomePod to ask it play music.

I have been intrigued by this product since released, and frustrated with Apple's pricing practices and desire to be a "top tier" company by only offering high end high price products. This device always seemed a bit overpriced and unnecessary for me as I have a nice sound system connected to my TV, but I wanted something for Home Kit control. I like Apple's focus on encryption and privacy especially with the alway on always listening home controlling devices like this. I have apple Home Kit enabled devices in my house, and wanted a quick way for my pet sitter to turn them on and off when she comes in. I tried the Amazon dot last year, but found it difficult to setup and you need to have the always listening feature on. It also required setting up my already existing already working HomeKit enabled devices in the Alexa app which was hit and miss. I was waiting and hoping that Apple would release a cheaper version of this with less speaker and more control. Then Best Buy had this on holiday sale for 100 dollars off retail price. I figured it was worth a try knowing I had time to return it if it did not work. I set it up in seconds yesterday, and immediately transferred the podcast I was listening to on my phone to the speaker. I often wear headphones around the house and listen to music or podcasts throughout the day. This makes it easy to transfer what I am listening to via my phone airplay button and I can hear it clearly from anywhere in the downstairs. It sounds amazing and is so much easier to use to listen to anything on my phone. Yes you can use it without the Hey Siri feature listening. You can press and hold the center of the top panel which prompts Siri so I can turn off the "always listening" or if it does that annoying digital assistant thing where it mishears something I say that sounds vaguely like "Hey Siri" and becomes disruptive (This has not happened yet). I also like that in the Home app on my iPhone I can turn off the Home pod analytics which will not share my always on always listening recordings with Apple or anyone else. I wish the $200 price was not a promotion, but the retail price. After 1.5 days it has proven its worth and made me realize something I was overtly critical of and uninterested in is as good as I was sure it was not. I like being proven wrong. I am not sure I would pay $300 for it at full price, but if it keeps impressing me like this I might eat those words as well.

I'm an Apple fanboy, yet there's one issue I have with this amazing smart speaker. For sound, it's top notch and better than any other smart speaker out there, IMO. The bass punches and the clarity is spectacular. If you buy two of these and make a stereo pair, expect to be amazed. This speaker is a no brainer for Apple people and if you're patient, it usually goes on sale at BB every few months where you can snag it for $199. When this happens, snatch the babies up. Now for my one main issue, and it has nothing to do with quality of sound. I wish so badly that there were an Apple speaker that had an HDMI ARC port and could hook it up to your tv. This way you could have true surround sound with these speakers much like the way Sonos works. I only have one of these Homepods due to this reason and I have way more Sonos speakers around the crib. Each of my flat screen tv's have a Sonos Beam synced up with two Sonos One SL's. They're sound is good but if I had the option to replace this setup with Homepods, I would in a freaking heartbeat. Maybe it's good that I can't cause that would destroy my wallet trying to replace the One SL's with Homepods. But who knows, maybe if a miracle happened and Sonos and Apple had a collab... haha and we're all going back to our normal lives within a week (cough, Corona virus). I would give these Homepods 5 stars and beyond if I could set them up as surround speakers for a TV but that just ain't where we're at. If you do have an Apple 4K TV you can go into your video and audio settings and set the Homepods as the audio source but it's a pain to have to do that each time you turn on the device. Not worth it in my opinion. Anyway, if you plan on using the Homepod strictly for music then you're definitely getting your money's worth.

Sounds so good I had to buy two more. I can distinguish between instruments used in the song. Base is sufficient. I just wish it was a little louder. Also Siri can hear you over the music which I thought was cool. Works well with other Apple devices like Apple TV and HomeKit. Also the intercom feature comes in handy.The intercom feature works with your phone.

If you love music and good sound this is the speaker for you. This is by far the best sounding small smart speaker I have heard. This will fill a room with beautiful sound. It is stereo sound from a single point. There are speakers in all directions so some do left channel and some do right channel. The bass response is astonishing and is better than other larger high end bookshelf speakers I have. I now have 4 of them scattered about the house.