Eight Years Later, My HomePod Can Finally Be My Mac Speaker

I’ve owned HomePods since the original big one, then gradually filled the house with HomePod minis. And all this time, I’ve wanted one very ordinary thing: let me use them as proper desktop speakers.

Not just streaming music over AirPlay. I want my Mac’s everyday audio coming through them, without the delay that made the old setup frustrating.

The original HomePod arrived in February 2018. It’s now October 2026—eight years and eight months later. That’s quite a wait for something I’ve always considered a basic speaker job. Source

With the newly announced HomePod mini 2, Apple finally says it can serve as the default speaker for a Mac, including for things like FaceTime calls. It’s still wireless—not a cable connection—but this is the direction I’ve been waiting for. Source

Naturally, there’s a catch: your Mac needs Wi-Fi 6E or later. That means a Mac Studio from 2023, not my MacStudio M1 Ultra 2022; likewise, supported MacBook Pros, iMacs, Mac minis and Mac Pros start in 2023, while MacBook Air support starts in 2024. So, no, this isn’t a new lease of life for every older Mac in the house. Source

Still, I’m genuinely happy Apple is finally getting here.

Now I just need to upgrade all my Macs and replace all my HomePods to make my speakers work like speakers.