Apple HomePod Mini review

Over a couple of weeks we spent a lot of time listening to the Apple HomePod Mini, whether that’s rock and classical tracks from our music library, audiobooks, podcasts or radio stations streamed over the web.

We’ve also tested it out in combination with a variety of other devices, including an iPhone and a smart lighting set, and asking the Siri digital assistant just about every question we could think of.

The process of setting up the HomePod Mini should just take a few minutes, assuming you do have a mobile Apple device to hand. Plug the speaker power cable in, wait a few seconds, and then bring your iPhone or iPad close to the HomePod Mini.

You should see a prompt to start the setup process on the screen of your device, and then it’s just a question of following the instructions on screen.

Your iPhone or iPad will take care of connecting the HomePod Mini to wi-fi, and your Apple ID, and a bunch of Apple services (including Apple Music and Apple Calendar) – this is all stored on your phone or tablet, and it’s simply beamed over to the speaker wirelessly.

You’ll be asked to indicate which room the HomePod Mini is in – to make it easier to locate later on – but most of the initial configuration is done automatically. You won’t have to wade through multiple menus or download any new apps, as everything you need is already on your iPhone or iPad.

It’s all refreshingly straightforward, so long as you have an iPhone or iPad.

The HomePod Mini is shaped like a little orb, with a rubber base on the bottom and a touch sensitive panel on the top (which lights up at certain times, such as when Siri is listening to you).

Your colour choices are blue, white, yellow, orange and space grey (which is the model we had). It stands a mere 8.4 centimetres (3.3 inches) tall, and is wrapped in a tough fabric mesh that adds a touch of class to its appearance.

A little bit bigger than a baseball – but don’t toss it across the room – the HomePod Mini really can be put anywhere, and the choice of colours means there should be a model that fits in with the home decor aesthetic you’re going for.

We’re pleased to report the built in power cable is nice and lengthy too (it’s about 180 centimetres, or 6 feet), so you’re not going to have to have it right up against a plug socket.

We would’ve liked to have seen a bit more polish on the touch controls at the top – the lighting and feel comes across as slightly below Apple’s high standards – but that’s a minor complaint really. We don’t think you’ll want to hide the HomePod Mini from guests.

Apple’s digital assistant Siri is at the centre of the HomePod Mini experience, and it’s easy enough to carry on a conversation with it.

We didn’t have any problems making ourselves understood after the “hey Siri” command, and the responses come back nice and clear (even if the voice is a little on the robotic side).

As with the digital assistants from Amazon and Google, you can get answers to a whole host of questions through Siri – from how long it will take you to drive somewhere, to the birth date of your favourite celeb.

You can also tell your HomePod Mini to call someone, or ask what’s coming up on your schedule. In these and other similar situations, the speaker relies on the information inside the Apple apps on your phone or tablet (so your contacts or your calendars).

When it comes to getting audio playing, you can either ask Siri to start playing some tunes, or use your iPhone, iPad or Mac, which is a bit more precise.

For example, you could tell Siri to play some Queen and see what you get, or you could curate a Queen playlist on your MacBook and beam the songs over to the HomePod Mini.

The HomePod Mini doesn’t support Bluetooth, but it does support Apple’s AirPlay wireless technology – so getting audio from any app over to the speaker only takes a couple of clicks or taps, provided (and stop us if you’ve heard this before) you’re only using Apple gadgets like iPhones, iPads, and Macs. It scores highly from a usability point of view, with that major caveat.

If you have little patience for fiddling with menus and options on a phone screen, then being able to just say what you’re after, whether it’s sports scores or the greatest hits of the Beatles, makes for a refreshing change – but there are limitations to this approach.

You can’t exactly plan out a multi-stop route or a specific queue of podcasts (for example) easily using your voice.

The HomePod Mini is able to fill a small or medium-sized room well enough with clear and crisp audio – and it’s worth noting you can buy two of these smart speakers and set them up as a stereo pair if you need some more volume.

Testing the HomePod Mini with a variety of different music genres, we found that it carries more of a kick than you might expect from something so small: bass is well defined, and more subtle sounds can be picked out in the mix.

At louder volumes, it does sound a little like the audio is trying to break free from the physical limitations that have been imposed upon it, and it’s definitely not up there with bigger, more expensive speakers in terms of the audio performance.

Comparing the HomePod Mini directly with the speakers on one of Apple’s high-end MacBook Pros, the smart speaker did provide a fuller, richer sound.

For most casual listeners we think the sounds that this little orb emits are going to be good enough, and perhaps better than expected, but if you’re serious about the clarity and fidelity of your music then you’re going to want to upgrade. When it comes to spoken radio and podcasts of course, this doesn’t matter so much.

Returning to our previous theme, you’re sadly rather restricted when it comes to the apps you can command with your voice: you’re mostly limited to Apple Music and Apple Podcasts if you want to ask Siri for some audio. With the help of AirPlay you can get audio from any iPhone or iPad app sent over to the speaker, but it’s not quite as convenient.

Apple says it’s engineered the HomePod Mini to provide a full 360-degree sound experience, and the speaker does indeed sound great from whatever angle you’re listening to it from.

We’re also pleased to say that its microphones are sensitive enough to pick up a “hey Siri” command even when the music is playing full blast.

If you’re familiar with using Siri on other devices, you’ll know that it can also control your smart home (“turn off the lights”) as long as your smart home kit supports the Apple HomeKit standard. There aren’t as many devices compatible with HomeKit as there are with Alexa or Google Assistant, but the number is steadily growing.

Another cool trick you can do is to have audio playing on your iPhone and then bring it close to the HomePod Mini to have it automatically transfer over to the smart speaker.

It’s another example of how slick the device is, as long as you only want to use it with Apple apps and other Apple gadgets. There’s no wired audio input here either, so you really are stuck if you’re using an Android phone or tablet, or a Windows laptop.

Siri is able to recognise the voices of up to six different people – assuming they all have Apple IDs – and tailor its responses to them accordingly.

Apple also promises that the speaker is only listening for the “hey Siri” command and nothing else, and that your voice commands won’t be logged and associated with your Apple account.

It’s fair to note that the HomePod Mini costs twice as much as smart speakers of similar size from Amazon and Google.

The sound quality is slightly better than the Echo Dot and Nest Mini, but it’s certainly not twice as good, and Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are currently both more versatile and comprehensive than Siri is (especially for non-Apple services).

Even the larger, better sounding Amazon Echo costs around the same as the HomePod Mini which makes the Apple option look overpriced. That’s not unusual for Apple though, which prides itself on the perceived superior quality of its products and has a loyal fanbase that’s happy to pay the extra.

As with a lot of other Apple products, like the Apple Watch or the Apple TV 4K streaming box, the HomePod Mini makes a lot of sense if you already have a home full of iPhones, iPads and Macs. Otherwise, it’s not really great value for money at all.

The Google Nest Mini smart speaker retails for £49 and is shaped like an oversized hockey puck. Like the HomePod Mini, you can pick it up in a range of tasteful colours, and as far as sound goes the quality it’s a notch below Apple’s speaker.

Where the Nest Mini has the advantage is that it works equally well with iPhones and Android phones, and connects up with more third-party services (such as Spotify).

It’s a similar story with the £55 Echo Dot from Amazon. It’s orb-shaped, like the HomePod Mini, and it pumps out audio to the same sort of quality level.

As with the Nest Mini, it’s straightforward to use with iPhones and Android phones, and it connects up to a whole host of third-party gadgets and apps, from audiobook apps to smart home devices. It’s great value for money.

It’s also worth considering the brand new HomePod, which gives you significantly superior sound for a hefty £299, and offers all the same seamless iPhone, iPad and Mac integrations.

There’s no doubt that the Apple HomePod Mini is a fine smart speaker: it’s nicely designed, it’s well put together, it produces pleasing audio (whether that’s music or the spoken word), and it’s really simple to set up. Thanks to Siri it’s very useful too, and it can quickly become an essential digital companion for you.

That said, there has been a running theme throughout this review: it’s really only for people who have an iPhone or an iPad. It’s also best suited if you prefer Apple apps: you can’t connect services like Google Calendar to the HomePod Mini, for example, and if you want to use anything like Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music or BBC radio then you have to beam them over from your phone rather than accessing them directly from the smart speaker.

That’s actually par for the course for a lot of Apple products, including its wireless earbuds – great if you’re using them with other Apple products, not so great otherwise. And that makes it hard to reduce the HomePod Mini down to a star rating, because how good it is really depends on what you’ve already got.