HomePod Spotify Connect 🎵

Turn your HomePod into a native Spotify Connect speaker using a Raspberry Pi.

What This Does

• librespot: Creates a Spotify Connect receiver on your network with pipe output
• OwnTone: Receives the audio via named pipe and AirPlays it to your HomePod
• Named Pipe: Connects them so audio flows seamlessly at /srv/music/spotify

Result: Your HomePod appears as a Spotify Connect device in the Spotify app.

Requirements

• Raspberry Pi 3 B+ or newer (Pi 4 recommended)
• Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit, Bookworm or Trixie)
• Spotify Premium account (required for Connect)
• HomePod on the same network
• At least 2GB free disk space (for building OwnTone from source)

Quick Start

1. Flash Your SD Card

Use Raspberry Pi Imager:

• Choose Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit) - Debian Bookworm or Trixie
• Set hostname: homepod-spotify (optional)
• Enable SSH and set your WiFi credentials

2. SSH and Run Setup

# SSH into your Pi
ssh pi@homepod-spotify.local

# Download and run the setup script
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rowbotik/homepod-spotify/main/setup.sh -o setup.sh
chmod +x setup.sh
sudo ./setup.sh

Or clone the repo:

# Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/rowbotik/homepod-spotify.git
cd homepod-spotify

# Run setup (must be root)
sudo ./setup.sh

The script will:

1. Install all dependencies
2. Build OwnTone from source
3. Install librespot (Spotify Connect)
4. Create the named pipe at /srv/music/spotify
5. Configure and start both services
6. Prompt you for your Spotify device name

3. Configure HomePod Output

1. Open http://your-pi-ip:3689 in a browser
2. You should see the OwnTone web interface
3. Go to Settings → Outputs
4. Select your HomePod from the list
5. Enable it as the default output

4. Connect from Spotify

1. Open Spotify on your phone/computer
2. Look for your device name (default: "HomePod Spotify") in the Spotify Connect menu
3. Select it and start playing!

How It Works

┌─────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────┐
│  Spotify App    │────▶│  librespot (Pi)  │────▶│  Named Pipe  │────▶│ OwnTone  │
│  (Phone/PC)     │     │  Spotify Connect │     │ /srv/music/  │     │ AirPlay  │
└─────────────────┘     └──────────────────┘     │   spotify    │     └────┬─────┘
                                                  └──────────────┘          │
                                                                            ▼
                                                                      ┌──────────┐
                                                                      │ HomePod  │
                                                                      └──────────┘

Audio flows: Spotify → librespot → named pipe → OwnTone → AirPlay → HomePod

Service Management

# Check status
sudo systemctl status librespot
sudo systemctl status owntone

# Restart services
sudo systemctl restart librespot
sudo systemctl restart owntone

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u librespot -f
sudo journalctl -u owntone -f

# Enable/disable auto-start
sudo systemctl enable librespot
sudo systemctl enable owntone

Configuration Files

• /etc/librespot/librespot.conf - Spotify device name and credentials
• /etc/owntone/owntone.conf - OwnTone (AirPlay server) configuration
• /srv/music/spotify - The named pipe for audio transfer

Troubleshooting

Services won't start?

Check the logs:

sudo journalctl -u librespot --no-pager
sudo journalctl -u owntone --no-pager

Can't see the Spotify Connect device?

• Make sure your phone and Pi are on the same network
• Check librespot is running: sudo systemctl status librespot
• Check logs: sudo journalctl -u librespot -f
• Try restarting: sudo systemctl restart librespot
• Ensure Spotify Premium (required for Connect)

HomePod not showing in OwnTone?

• Make sure HomePod has "AirPlay access" set to "Anyone on the same network"
  • Home app → HomePod → Settings → AirPlay & Handoff
• Check OwnTone logs: sudo journalctl -u owntone -f
• Restart the HomePod
• Ensure Pi and HomePod are on the same WiFi network

No audio playing?

• Check the pipe exists: ls -la /srv/music/spotify
• Pipe should show as prw-rw-rw- (named pipe with read/write permissions)
• Check both services are running: sudo systemctl status librespot owntone
• Ensure HomePod is selected as output in OwnTone web UI (port 3689)

Audio cuts out or stutters?

• Check WiFi signal strength on the Pi: iwconfig or iw dev wlan0 link
• Lower the bitrate in /etc/librespot/librespot.conf:
  • BITRATE="160" for more stability
• Pi 3 B+ should handle 320kbps fine, but Pi 4 is more reliable

Build fails on OwnTone?

• Ensure you have at least 2GB free space: df -h
• Make sure all dependencies installed correctly
• Try running the build steps manually to see errors

Updating

Update librespot:

# Re-run the install portion of setup
sudo bash -c '
  export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:/root/.cargo/bin:$PATH"
  cd /tmp
  git clone https://github.com/librespot-org/librespot.git
  cd librespot
  cargo build --release --features "alsa-backend"
  cp target/release/librespot /usr/local/bin/
  systemctl restart librespot
'

Update OwnTone:

# Re-run the build portion of setup
sudo bash -c '
  cd /tmp
  git clone https://github.com/owntone/owntone-server.git
  cd owntone-server
  autoreconf -fi
  ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --enable-chromecast --enable-airplay2
  make -j$(nproc)
  make install
  systemctl restart owntone
'

Uninstall

# Stop and disable services
sudo systemctl stop librespot owntone
sudo systemctl disable librespot owntone

# Remove systemd services
sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/system/librespot.service
sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/system/owntone.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Remove binaries
sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/librespot
sudo rm -f /usr/sbin/owntone

# Remove configuration
sudo rm -rf /etc/librespot
sudo rm -rf /etc/owntone

# Remove cache
sudo rm -rf /var/cache/librespot
sudo rm -rf /var/cache/owntone

# Remove pipe
sudo rm -rf /srv/music

# Remove users (optional)
sudo userdel librespot 2>/dev/null || true
sudo userdel owntone 2>/dev/null || true

echo "Uninstalled successfully"

Technical Details

Architecture

This setup uses a native installation (not Docker) for:

• Lower overhead and better performance on Raspberry Pi
• Direct access to audio subsystem
• Native systemd integration
• Smaller resource footprint

Pipe Format

The named pipe transfers raw PCM audio:

• Sample rate: 44100 Hz
• Bit depth: 16-bit signed little-endian
• Channels: Stereo (2)
• Format: pcm_s16le

Security

• Services run as unprivileged users (librespot and owntone)
• Only members of the audio group can access the sound system
• Services are sandboxed with systemd security features
• Optional: Set AirPlay password in OwnTone config

Credits

• librespot - Open source Spotify client library
• OwnTone - DAAP/DACP (iTunes), RSP (Roku) and AirPlay server
• Original concept from HomePod Connect

License

MIT - Do whatever you want with this.