AirPlay 2 and stereo-pairing come to HomePod via iOS 11.4

Today's iOS 11.4 update for iPhone and iPad brings a couple of a long awaited features to Apple's HomePod smart speaker: multi-room support and stereo-pairing.

Updating your iDevice to the latest version of iOS will finally let you play tunes on more than one HomePod at a time. You've got the option of using two as a stereo pair, with a dedicated left and right speaker, or simultaneously playing the same song to multiple HomePods in different rooms. This puts HomePod in line with other multiroom speakers such as the Sonos range.

HomePod's multi-room support is driven by AirPlay 2, an upgraded version of Apple's AirPlay wireless music protocol. Third parties are able to use AirPlay 2, which means other AirPlay 2 enabled speakers will be able to communicate with HomePod. You'll eventually be able to ask Siri to play tunes on devices from manufacturers including Bang & Olufsen, Bluesound, Bose, Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Libratone, Marantz, Marshall, Naim, Pioneer, and Sonos. You'll also be able to group these speakers with a HomePod.

AirPlay 2 also means you'll finally be able to take a call or play a game on your iPhone or iPad without interuppting playback on your speakers.

Read our HomePod review here.

iOS 11.4 also lets you store your iMessages in iCloud, rather than on an individual device for improved syncing, and includes multiple bug fixes.

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