AirPlay with Social Hour

Play the party on HomePods, Apple TVs and other AirPlay speakers, several at once, with the Mac playing along in step.

Turn it on

1. On the Mac, open Social Hour and go to Settings.
2. Under AirPlay, switch on Use AirPlay. The first time, macOS asks to let Social Hour record system audio: Social Hour uses it only to send the party's music to the speakers.
3. Click Select AirPlay Speakers and tick the speakers you want. You can tick several.
4. Tick the Mac's own row to have it play along. Its slider sets the music's level on the Mac.

Volumes

Each speaker has its own volume slider in the AirPlay menu, next to its name. Open it again with Select AirPlay Speakers whenever you want to adjust the balance.

From the iPhone

In DJ Controls → Sound, the DJ can switch AirPlay on and off, choose whether the Mac plays along and set its level. Speakers are picked on the Mac.

A few seconds behind

AirPlay speakers play a few seconds after the Mac. That's how AirPlay keeps several speakers in sync. When the DJ presses play or pause, Social Hour reminds everyone that the speakers follow a moment later, and the progress shown on the iPhones takes the delay into account.

Turntables and mixers

Plugged a turntable, a mixer or a microphone into the Mac? Pick it under Settings → Source, and it plays over AirPlay too. The queue waits until Apple Music is the source again.

Coming later

Under Settings → Advanced, the Mac app lets you choose between Native AirPlay, used today, and Experimental AirPlay. Experimental AirPlay will have Social Hour talk to the speakers itself, so every speaker on the network can be picked and adjusted from the Mac or the iPhone. It isn't available yet.

If something's off