At WWDC 2017, Apple announced speaker support for the Home app, powered by an update to AirPlay. While introducing Airplay 2, they highlighted several speaker makers that would add support for the new protocol. Nearly a year later, iOS 11.4 finally launched with support for the updated wireless audio protocol.
As of today – 4 months after becoming available in iOS – speaker manufacturer Libratone has made good on their AirPlay 2 promise.
Since the launch of the ZIPP and ZIPP mini, Libratone has offered their own multi-room protocol, Soundspaces. With it, users could group speakers within the Libratone app to stream audio to multiple speakers within their home. The biggest drawback was that it didn’t allow for mixing speakers from other brands. This meant that ZIPPs couldn’t communicate with HomePod or Sonos speakers, creating an island for those devices.
With today’s firmware update, the ZIPP and ZIPP mini speakers can officially be used in multi-room audio setups with other AirPlay 2 compatible devices. This allows HomePod, ZIPP, select Sonos speakers, Apple TV, or other AirPlay 2 speakers to work together throughout a home.
Photo: Libratone
Users with compatible Libratone Speakers (ZIPP, ZIPP 2, ZIPP mini, and ZIPP mini 2) can install the update through the Libratone app as of today. Older Libratone devices missing the AirPlay 2 love will still work with the Soundspaces feature. Updated speakers can be added to the Home app, as well as selected as audio destinations on Apple devices.
