How To: All of Siri's New AirPlay 2 Commands — So You Can Control Music Playback from Your iPhone Just by Talking

All of Siri's New AirPlay 2 Commands — So You Can Control Music Playback from Your iPhone Just by Talking

Nearly one year after its announcement, AirPlay 2 has finally landed on iPhones everywhere. Not only can you easily control multiple speakers including Apple TVs and HomePods from your iPhone, but you can use Siri to help you get the job done. It's one of the iOS assistant's best features, and if you're running iOS 11.4 with a compatible speaker, you can try it out right now.

Before you can start commanding Siri to play your favorite tunes all over the house, you'll need to make sure you and your speakers are all properly updated. Your iPhone needs to be running iOS 11.4, your Apple TV needs to be running tvOS 11.4, and your HomePod needs to be updated using iOS 11.4 as well. For more information on AirPlay 2, its requirements, and how it works, check out our full guide.

List of Siri's AirPlay 2 Commands

All of the following Siri commands can be applied to a specific room if you have more than one AirPlay 2-compatible speaker. For instance, if you have an Apple TV in the living room and a HomePod in the bedroom, you can tell Siri where you want your commands to go to, either the "living room" or "bedroom" or both. What makes this even better is that you can use "Hey Siri" to do all of this without lifting a finger.

  • Play song, track, playlist, genre (ex. "Play 'Mr. Brightside' by The Killers" on all speakers)
  • Shuffle an album (ex. "Shuffle 'Pacific Daydream' by Weezer" on all speakers)
  • Shuffle a playlist (ex. "Shuffle my 'Workout' playlist" in the living room)
  • Raise the volume of a current song (ex. "Turn up the volume in the living room")
  • Lower the volume of a current song (ex. "Turn down the volume in the bedroom")
  • Mute a current song (ex. "Mute in the basement and kitchen")
  • Unmute a current song (ex. "Unmute in the living room")
  • Continue playing on an Apple TV or compatible speaker in another room (ex. "Continue playing 'Party Mix' playlist in the living room)
  • Stop playing on an Apple TV or compatible speaker in another room (ex. "Stop playing in the bedroom)
  • Play different Apple Music songs in different rooms (ex. "Play 'This Is America" in bedroom and "Creep City" in the kitchen")
  • Play the latest album from an artist on Apple Music (ex. "Play the latest album by Lorde in the living room")

The following can be used once audio is playing on one or more speakers already, but a lot of the commands above can also be used once playback on AirPlay 2 speakers has already been initiated.

  • Pause current song (ex. "Pause music")
  • Skip (ex. "Play the next song")
  • Go back to a song (ex. "Play the song before this one")
  • Repeat a song (ex. "Repeat last song")
  • Repeat an album (ex. "Repeat album")
  • Repeat a playlist (ex. "Repeat playlist")
  • Fast-forward a song with specific time increments (ex. "Fast forward this song 30 seconds")
  • Rewind a song with specific time increments (ex. "Rewind this song 30 seconds")
  • Add song to Up Next to "Play Next," even while a song is playing (ex. "Play 'Hey Ya!' next")
  • Add song to Up Next to "Play Later," even while a song is playing (ex. "Play 'Feels Like Summer' later")

Know of any other Siri commands that we missed that are directly related to AirPlay 2 multiroom playback? Let us know in the comments below and we'll add them to this list.

Just updated your iPhone? You'll find new Apple Intelligence capabilities, sudoku puzzles, Camera Control enhancements, volume control limits, layered Voice Memo recordings, and other useful features. Find out what's new and changed on your iPhone with the iOS 18.2 update.

Cover image by Jake Peterson/Gadget Hacks

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