Apple Music & Google Home: 8 Common Questions (Answered)

Google Home is a powerful suite of tools that allow you to control various things about your living environment with smart technology.

Apple Music is a subscription streaming service that grants access to a vast library of music and other auditory media.

In theory, these two things should go together seamlessly; Google Home’s suite of devices includes smart speakers, after all, which should be able to play almost anything.

But how well does Apple Music work through Google Home devices, really? Keep reading if you want to find out because that’s exactly what we’re going to discover today!

Is Google Home Compatible with Apple Music?

Apparently, the answer to this depends on where you live.

Apple Music is available for streaming through Google Home and Google Nest devices in certain regions and territories.

Frustratingly, we were unable to find any precise data on exactly which areas can and cannot stream Apple Music through Google Home.

The good news, however, is that even if you don’t live in such a region, it’s still possible to play Apple Music through Google Home.

All you need is a mobile device with Bluetooth and Apple Music, and you can connect such a device to your Google Home setup to play Apple Music that way.

So if you’re lucky enough to live in the right region, wherever those are, you can play Apple Music directly from your Google Home devices, once your account is linked.

How Do You Play Apple Music via Google Home?

First, you’ll have to do a bit of setup.

For this to work, you’re going to need three things: a Google Home device, a mobile device with both the Apple Music and Google Home apps, and a paid Apple Music subscription.

Once you’ve got those three things, you can start the process of linking your accounts.

Here’s how to link your Apple Music and Google Home accounts:

1. First, open the Google Home app on your iOS or Android device.
2. Tap ‘settings,’ and then ‘music’
3. You should see a section near the bottom called “more music services.” Apple Music should be on this list.
4. Click the link icon (which looks like a small section of three chain links) to the right of Apple Music.
5. Now, tap ‘link account’ to confirm.
6. Next, you should be prompted to log in, using either a fingerprint sensor or Apple ID and password, depending on your settings; go ahead and log in.
7. Now, tap ‘allow,’ and you should be prompted to enter your Apple ID Verification Code; go ahead and do so.
8. Tap ‘allow’ one more time, and the linking process should be complete.

To give it a test, try saying, “Hey/OK Google, play [song, album, or artist name here] on Apple Music.”

If everything is working as intended, you should hear your requested music start playing on your Google Home device(s).

Do People Generally Have Trouble Using Google Home with Apple Music?

If you live in a compatible region, you probably won’t have much trouble.

Technical problems always crop up from time to time with any kind of gadget or technology service, especially if it’s the latest thing.

However, we did not find any evidence of significant issues with the interaction between Apple Music and Google Home, specifically.

That being said, the most glaring issue here is the fact that Apple Music does not support Google Home usage in every country or region.

So with that in mind, this would be a good time to cover how you can still use Apple Music through Google Home even if you don’t live in a compatible region.

In this case, you will be unable to link your accounts, but you may still play Apple Music through your Google Home devices without linking.

For this, you will need a paid Apple Music subscription, at least one Google Home speaker device, and a mobile device with both Bluetooth capability and the Apple Music app.

Here’s how to link Apple Music and Google Home with Bluetooth:

1. To get started, first turn on Bluetooth on your mobile device, if it isn’t already.
2. Say, “OK Google, start pairing” to connect your Google Home device(s) with your mobile device.
3. Now just pair the speaker with your mobile device.
4. Next, open the Apple Music app on your mobile device.
5. Finally, just start playing something from your mobile device; it should play through your Google Home speaker(s) when you do.

And that’s it; just repeat the above steps whenever you want to play Apple Music through your Google Home speaker(s).

It may not be quite as convenient as using voice commands to play your music, but you can still play anything you want through your Google Home system, using your mobile device.

Does Apple Music Work with Older Google Home Devices?

We can’t be certain, but Google Home devices manufactured prior to the creation of Apple Music may be unable to link to your Apple Music account.

However, you may still be able to do so as long as your Google Home app is updated to the most recent version since it’s the application that handles syncing, rather than the hardware.

Even if that doesn’t work, you can always still play Apple Music without syncing accounts via the method detailed in the above section.

How Hard Is it to Use Google Home with Apple Music?

It seems that it’s pretty straightforward and low-effort to play Apple Music through Google Home devices.

If you’re in a region where you can sync accounts, the process doesn’t take long, and once it’s done, you can easily play Apple Music through Google Home anytime.

And even if you can’t or don’t want to sync accounts, you can easily play Apple Music through your Google Home setup using a Bluetooth-compatible mobile device.

Can Apple Music Be Downloaded on Google Home Equipment?

It was surprisingly difficult to find concrete answers to this particular question.

The Apple Music application itself cannot be downloaded onto Google Home devices.

But that’s okay because it’s not designed to work that way; instead, just sync your accounts or play from Bluetooth using the methods we’ve already discussed.

As for downloading music onto Google Home devices from your Apple Music library, that’s an entirely different matter.

From what we can gather, there does not seem to be a simple way to ask Google Home to download music from Apple Music, just to stream it.

However, you can get around this limitation by simply keeping a mobile device on hand and downloading music to that device for offline listening.

That way, if there’s an outage, you can still listen to your favorite songs by streaming them via Bluetooth to Google Home from the device you downloaded the music to.

Does Google Home Play Apple Music Lossless?

The lossless format is one of the many options Apple Music provides subscribers on any tier higher than the Voice plan.

There’s no reason playback should be any different on your Google Home devices between lossy and lossless formats.

As a side note – if you are also a Spotify user, keep in mind that Spotify doesn’t offer lossless audio, therefore Google Home cannot play Spotify lossless.

Does Apple Music Work with Google Home Mini?

The good news is that Apple Music does work with Goofge Home Mini. The process is exactly the same as with any other Google Home or Google Nest device.

Just follow the same steps we’ve outlined earlier in the article; nothing should be any different.

If you’re considering getting Google Home or if you use this tool already, please check out our article about Google Home, Google Nest and Wi-Fi.

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