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Apple is making AirPlay and content sharing better in your home, hotel room, and car
Some of the updates will affect how your HomePod Mini interacts with your devices.
Content sharing is a concept I navigate daily in a home with three kids. As technology becomes more essential to daily life, Apple is putting more emphasis on sharing. With the latest software updates coming to Apple products this fall, the company is making sharing content at home, in the car, and even in hotel rooms more effortless.
Also: Apple no longer requires a $99 account to access developer betas of iOS, MacOS, and other software
The anticipation of what's to come keeps growing as we near the public beta program launch this summer. Though you could install the iOS 17 developer beta today, the biggest updates are yet to come.
I'll break down what you can expect to look different in your Apple devices around your home this fall.
AirPlay gets smarter with AI
Unlike Google during its I/O event, Apple refrained from saying "AI" during WWDC 2023. However, artificial intelligence is an undeniable part of the future of tech and an intrinsic part of many of Apple's products, so the company did share some AI upgrades to its software coming this fall.
For AirPlay specifically, Apple is making it possible for your iPhone, iPad, and Mac to use on-device intelligence to learn your AirPlay preferences through machine learning (ML). Your devices can know what you like to listen to, at what time of day, and at what location.
Also: AI was all over Apple's WWDC. It was just running in the background
Suppose you like to play white noise on a HomePod Mini in your nursery at 7:30 p.m. every night. In that case, your devices will learn the pattern and begin suggesting connecting the HomePod Mini at that time, eventually connecting to your device automatically instead of you having to ask it each day.
More third-party apps AirPlay to HomePod
Apple is also making it possible to start an AirPlay session to access third-party audio apps from your HomePod using just your voice without needing to start it on your iPhone or iPad. This means you could ask Siri on your HomePod to play some music from SoundCloud, Tidal, YouTube Music, or any other third-party app that supports SiriKit and AirPlay.
How AirPlay will work in hotels
Until recently, we hadn't heard much about how AirPlay will work in hotels, but it's a topic that drummed up a lot of interest -- LG's already committed to a new line of AirPlay-equipped TVs for hotels beginning later this year.
Apple will start rolling out AirPlay for IHG hotels by the end of this year. The plan is to make hotel stays a more direct experience, where iPhone and iPad users can go to a hotel and pick up a show right where they left off at home or access their streaming services accounts without having to log into a TV that's not their own.
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Connecting an iPhone or iPad to AirPlay at a hotel TV should be easy enough: A unique QR code will be displayed on the TV. Once you scan it with your device, you get a confirmation on your iPhone or iPad, and it should be automatically connected to the hotel Wi-Fi and the TV via AirPlay.
The QR code is unique to your room and refreshes frequently, ensuring your content isn't accidentally displayed on another TV elsewhere.
Apple has not put any other protections in place or required hotels to follow specific guidelines to allow their customers to use AirPlay.
Sharing music through CarPlay
If you have teenage kids and watched WWDC, you might've flinched hearing about SharePlay coming to CarPlay.
Apple introduced a new feature for CarPlay that lets other iPhone users get in your car with you and become passenger DJs. When CarPlay is available after your Apple Music-subscribed iPhone is connected, it will detect any passenger iPhones and suggest having them join the session.
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Passengers will have the option to scan a QR code that will appear onscreen to join the session. They'll then be able to control the music by adding, reordering, removing, pausing, and skipping any songs -- even if they aren't Apple Music subscribers.