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Using the Apple Homepod in HA
This turned out pretty nice.
I’ve been using Apple Home for a long time.
To control Apple Music on my homepod I’ve configured a couple of Aqara switches, 6 buttons, to play certain playslists.
Two weeks ago I made the switch over to Home Assistant, and didn’t know how to integrate the Homepod or if I had to replace it.
What I did was setting up ssh from my HA/Synology NAS to an iMac that is always on.
Configured a couple of services on HA for running a ssh-script. These scripts run an applescript on my iMac.
Connected those services to the Aqara switch using automations in HA.
On my iMac I created corresponding Applescripts that starts playing a playlist in Apple Music and forwards the audio using Airplay.
Besides scripts for playing a playlist I also create a “Pause-script”, which is configured to double-clicking a button.
This works better than expected. It’s pretty fast.
I also added this functionality to my mobile dashboard so I can control the music, including the volume, from my phone.
I am using the Apple Integration in HA to manage my home pod and can accomplish the same behavior using HA automation! You can then create an automation for each button that triggers playing a specific playlist. Have you tried this approach?
@sbehta Can you share an example automation for this?
I've added my homepod using the Apple Integration, but I haven't figured out how to play a playlist in HA...
It only appears as a media player.
How do you play a playlist with the Apple integration? All I can do is pause/unpause.
Seems a bit beyond me with AppleScript and I don’t have an always on iMac but that sounds pretty cool!
Is anybody’s TTS working with HomePod?
Yes, I use the nabu casa one and it plays fine.
Yes! Working fine.