I guess we're picking at nits now, but it's less about Apple 'putting restrictions' on such things and more about Apple being slow and inconsistent on implementing and exposing AirPlay 2 functions in their products (and also getting the right support into their SDKs).  I was surprised that the Apple TV 4K, with it's System Settings ability to configure whole home listening, also had an app-level requirement to make AirPlay2 work (though perhaps it was necessary only to recompile using AirPlay2-savvy libraries... don't know.).  At the time I noticed the issue, the Amazon Music app and others on Apple TV played music everywhere just fine (Spotify and Pandora were notably slow). As far as I know, MacOS has never had the ability to set your Sound Output to multiple speakers simultaneously - that's more of a 'whole home' media entertainment thing - hence the app-level AirPlay hack in [MacOS] Apple Music. ... View more

So, you think that establishing that AirPlay connection between your phone and the homepods will somehow fix Siri's vocabulary on the HomePods? I haven't been bothered much by Siri HomePod Pandora misunderstandings, but they still happen.  I have a well-thumbed Pandora Station initially created from Neil Young's "Out On the Weekend" and is so-labeled "Out on the Weekend Radio".   Well, this f-ing instance of Pandora on HomePods heard my "Play Out on the Weekend Radio", and it creates another "Out on the Weekend (2019 Remaster)" station (grrr). ALSO, Siri probably replied something like "Here's music INSPIRED BY 'Out on the Weekend Radio'".  This common response REALLY pisses me off, particularly when it's simply playing the requested station on Pandora as opposed to randomly creating a new station that I don't want.  I don't know if it's stupid Siri's fault or something in Pandora's Siri support code.  In any case, I hate that! ... View more

Hi there.  I thought it was clear that the 'solution' for the Pandora-App-on-Apple-TV-4K-issue described in this thread is simply to update the Pandora app on your ATV4K (sorta happens automatically by default). What you're describing on your MacBook is something else... I believe it's simply Apple's MacOS limitation on Sound Settings and OS-level AirPlay controls.  Open up the Apple Music app on MacOS, and take a look at its custom AirPlay setup... - you can select multiples from any AirPlay speakers found on your home network.  Unfortunately, only Apple Music selections will play on the selected speakers. All other sound from generic apps and your browser [including Pandora] continues to go to your [SINGLE] selected MacOS sound output device. Unless Pandora unexpectedly releases a MacOS native app with an AirPlay output widget like Apple Music's, you'll want to source your 'whole home audio' Pandora sessions from an iOS/iPadOS device (or an Apple TV 4K or HomePod).  Note: when the Pandora app is running on an Apple TV or HomePod, I can select and deselect AirPlay speakers in use from a separate iPhone or even Apple Watch :-). ... View more

I got notified of a like & a post here so I thought I would check in...   I hope Pandora keeps working on this stuff - subscribers notice and app support makes a difference.  I've noticed that an old bug/non-feature on the Apple TV Pandora app was finally addressed in a 2023 update: it now supports AirPlay 2 properly and can do 'whole home audio' correctly! In addition to making the Pandora code for HomePod more useful with Siri, I urge tighter integration with the iPhone Pandora app.  For example, the ability to 'handoff' a pandora session on iOS to a Pandora-enabled HomePod so that it actually continues playing on HomePod rather than via AirPlay from the iPhone.  I believe Apple has this working pretty well with Apple Music. ... View more

Thanks, @BradleyJ22.  To be sure, there are numerous “workarounds” if we include using another product instead of the Apple TV device to accomplish our goal…. Good to hear Sonos hasn’t dragged their feet implementing AirPlay 2.  For me, I can reach for an available iPad to get Pandora playing everywhere I want.   Nonetheless, I would hate for the Pandora product management folks to deprioritize the issue because of “available workarounds” (for people like us who have too many available devices :-).  ... View more

Community feedback: I posted this last message as a new thread yesterday because my searches before doing so somehow failed to find the 33 previous replies on this topic.  Apparently a moderator (or a 'bot) moved my post to the end of this thread - that's fine but why on earth was I not notified? Anyway, now I'm even more disappointed with pandora (the company) after seeing this issue was first reported over a year ago by longtime subscribers like me (I first signed up in 2010).  To date, not a single assurance that the problem is actually being worked on or that it will ever be addressed at all. Moderator Edit: format ... View more

I don't have a family plan and I don't share my account with anyone, but I want to chime in on this topic because your apps are just too darn **ahem**-rententive about my own use of Pandora across various devices.  For example, while I'm at home I tell Siri via my HomePods to play a station...  Since HomePods offer limited control over station configuration, and I'm thinking about it, I launch the iOS app and start adding key songs/artists to a station (without actually playing anything).  Sure enough, the music is interrupted with the "someone else is listening" message.  No, I'm just messing with my account!  On the same network (i.e. from the same IP address)!  Don't get me started on how many times I've heard this message on my Android head unit (in the car) because I've left the app open on my phone (which is also providing the Internet connection to the car stereo but not playing any songs). Anyway, it's a bad customer experience thing.  Your code shouldn't be so quick to complain when a longtime user bounces between devices.  It seems I've been interrupted by this message a lot but I've never actually been in violation of the spirit of my subscription (and I don't actually listen to multiple devices at the same time :-). Thanks for reading my rant and please tell the bean-counters in marketing to lighten up on the circumstances that trigger this interruption (only use upon several minutes of simultaneous interactive usage in different locations for example). ... View more

When using the Pandora app on Apple TV, music stops playing on the TV/Receiver if one or more AirPlay speakers are also selected (when hoping to hear music on one's home theater and elsewhere around the house). For a long time I had assumed this was a glaring bug in the Apple TV system software, but as multiple tvOS updates failed to address it, I posted about the issue on the Apple Communities' Apple TV Hardware forum: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253548900.  When I learned that the Apple TV/AirPlay feature I was trying to use works just fine for others, I started a more serious troubleshooting process and got Apple's Support folks involved before discovering the problem is isolated within the Pandora app.  I would rather not repeat everything here. I urge the Pandora folks who monitor and participate this community to read the entire Apple Community thread and share it with the engineers/product managers responsible for the Pandora app for Apple TV (if indeed there are any such people still employed by Pandora).  If you need such a person, please hire me :-). In summary, this is yet another issue with a Pandora app that has several issues and hasn't been updated in over two years.  Thanks. ... View more

Thanks, @TannerPandora.  Yeah, it's interesting to note that Apple's Home app, in the photo I posted as a matter of fact, displays the Pandora track metadata with album art on the HomePod status window.  I wonder if the image is being pulled from the HomePod's Pandora service along with track metadata, or if the Home app is pulling all the metadata (and the image) directly from Pandora's servers based on a track GUID supplied by the HomePod?   As you can see, I speculate unnecessarily :-). ... View more

Thank you, Alyssa.  It's good to hear that you're taking our reports and recording them for your engineers and product teams to address.  It would also be great if you can occassionally report back to the community on status (as you're permitted, of course :-).  Here's another more obscure issue I've identified on the Pandora HomePod Service (PHS?): when sharing pandora HomePod Service audio via AirPlay to a TV with "AirPlay 2 support", the Service fails to deliver Album Art to the TV that's sharing audio.  As a result, the TV displays a generic music icon along with the (correct) track metadata. (see attached image). Pandora HomePod Service Audio, shared to TV, doesn't include "album art" PLEASE NOTE:  if I play Pandora using the iPhone app and direct the stream via AirPlay to both the HomePod and the TV, album art is displayed on the TV.  Also, if I instruct Siri to play something using HomePods' Apple Music Service and share the stream to the TV, album art is displayed there too.  ... View more

Honestly this problem persists for me when trying to make use of Pandora running as the "default music service" on my stereo pair of Homepod minis. Example: I have a station called "Light Jazz Radio".  I clearly say "Siri, play Light Jazz Radio".  Siri responds "Now Playing Music Awards Jazz Radio".  I think: **ahem**???   Siri added a public station that I didn't ask for to my collection. SO... I log into my pandora account via Chrome to verify that I in fact have a "Light Jazz" station in "my collection".  I did, but Siri insists on coming up with new stations with the word "Jazz".  I deleted the unwanted stations and, to make it a bit more unique for Siri to identify it, I renamed the "Light Jazz Radio" station "Jazzy Radio". I then rebooted the HomePod pair, but now when I say "Hey Siri, play Jazzy Radio", I get "now playing Smooth Jazz Radio" (a station I had actually deleted after Siri and Pandora last conspired to add to my collection the last time it got confused). I REALLY like that Pandora made the HomePod service app or whatever we shoud call the code running on HomePod, but we need some better control options.  I certainly want a switch to prevent SiriDora from adding new stations to my collection everytime I ask to play something not recognized (without specific instructions).   I'm happy to beta test, etc. ... View more

I’ve also been running Pandora “on the HomePod” with Siri “control” :-).  My HomePod mini has recently updated to 14.3 and become part of a stereo pair since I first “connected Pandora” to it a few weeks ago. I’ve noticed that Siri takes liberties in selecting a Pandora station based on what’s requested.   Sometimes that’s good.  I ask “Hey Siri, play Vivaldi radio on Pandora”.  Siri says something like “playing Antonio Vivaldi radio on Pandora” (and it plays).  Kudos to Siri/Pandora for doing what I meant, not what I said. Other times, it’s annoying.  Me: “...play Dave Brubeck radio”. Siri: “playing Dave Brubeck Holiday radio...”.  Me: “NOOO!!!”.  Shame on Siri/Pandora for bypassing the actual Station in My Collection called “Dave Brubeck [radio]” (sans the Holiday), and somehow finding a holiday variant to inflict upon me.  Another time, I asked “Play some acoustic instrumentals on Pandora” and Siri/Pandora played “Holiday Instrumentals”.  I then tried “Hey Siri, play some acoustic instrumentals on Apple Music” and Siri/AppleMusic cheerfully said “playing ‘Chill Guitar’ on Apple Music”.  I’m not channeling Scrooge here, but Siri/Pandora is queuing up music I’m not asking for with the holiday tunes. With Pandora on HomePod, and specifically because of it, I’ve moved my 10-year-old subscription from what’s now called “Pandora Plus” to Premium, and I’ve set Pandora as the default “Play Music” service over Apple’s.  With the Premium Subscription and HomePod, I can now successfully tell Siri “play the album Who’s Next” and it starts playing the opening notes of Baba O’Riley (the first cut on the old LP), or I can say “play The Who radio”, and I’m hearing my own well-thumbed station.  So, I’m hopeful that Pandora’s HomePod team will make this encouraging implementation great.  It needs a better handle on distinguishing specific requests (station, song, album, playlist, etc) from more vague requests and even whimsical genre/mood music requests.  Good luck with that :-). ... View more