HomePod Alternative to Siri in multi-room HomePod setup?

[ixxx69]

I have about 10 HomePods (original & mini's) throughout my home.

It's complete chaos. A HomePod will respond from the next room when I'm standing right next to a different one. Sometimes they're talking over each other. I'll ask it to turn on the light in the living room and it instead turns off the light in the dining room. That sort of thing. I use voice commands dozens of times a day, so for it to get things wrong 25% of the time is driving me bonkers. As many of us know, Siri is a mess, and it's actually gotten worse over the last few years. I've no interest in debating that.

If I restart every HomePod, that will often improve (not fix) things for maybe a few days before it all deteriorates again. As any HomePod owner can imagine, restarting 10 HomePods is a major pita.

My question is for people who have used several or more HomePods and several or more Google or Alexa smart speakers in a home setup - is there a noticeable difference in performance for things like:

• Turning lights (& other devices) on and off
• Setting timers & alarms
• Avoiding conflicts between speakers as described above
• Just generally understanding commands as described above

I know none of the smart assistants get things right 100% of the time, and I already know that Google and Alexa are considered better than Siri individually - so that's not the question. My question is specifically for people with experience with multi-device/room setups and if it's noticeably better than Siri.

I'll keep the HomePods for whole-house audio (which I control through iPhone/Mac), but I'm considering buying a half dozen Google Nest Mini's strictly for Google assistant (but I'm open to Alexa as well - I already have one of each).

The other alternative I've considered is putting every single HomePod on smart plugs, and setting a scene to turn them all off and back on every day. But I'm wondering if I should just give up on the Siri pipe-dream.

 

[dotme]

I gave up on the "Siri in every room" concept a long time ago because of the chaos. I now have one HomePod (OG) in the kitchen, which is somewhat central to the main floor, listening for Hey Siri. I turned Hey Siri off on all other HomePods, watches and iPhones. It's bliss, and that OG has good enough "ears" that it can hear me 99% of the time from just about anywhere.

If I know I'm in a remote spot in the house, I have an Apple Watch and will invoke Siri with a long press on the crown instead.

None of this is how Apple advertised it, but they just can't get it right IMHO.

Occasionally my OG gets rooms confused for no reason on HomeKit commands. I mostly use scenes now and if I tell Siri to "Set {Scene Name}" I get 100% success, although not without the occasional "Working on it..." first... lol

Sorry I can't address the alternatives you mention, but I kicked Alexa to the street over privacy concerns when I bought my HomePods.

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

I have about 10 HomePods (original & mini's) throughout my home.

It's complete chaos. A HomePod will respond from the next room when I'm standing right next to a different one. Sometimes they're talking over each other. I'll ask it to turn on the light in the living room and it instead turns off the light in the dining room. That sort of thing. I use voice commands dozens of times a day, so for it to get things wrong 25% of the time is driving me bonkers. As many of us know, Siri is a mess, and it's actually gotten worse over the last few years. I've no interest in debating that.

If I restart every HomePod, that will often improve (not fix) things for maybe a few days before it all deteriorates again. As any HomePod owner can imagine, restarting 10 HomePods is a major pita.

My question is for people who have used several or more HomePods and several or more Google or Alexa smart speakers in a home setup - is there a noticeable difference in performance for things like:

• Turning lights (& other devices) on and off
• Setting timers & alarms
• Avoiding conflicts between speakers as described above
• Just generally understanding commands as described above

I know none of the smart assistants get things right 100% of the time, and I already know that Google and Alexa are considered better than Siri individually - so that's not the question. My question is specifically for people with experience with multi-device/room setups and if it's noticeably better than Siri.

I'll keep the HomePods for whole-house audio (which I control through iPhone/Mac), but I'm considering buying a half dozen Google Nest Mini's strictly for Google assistant (but I'm open to Alexa as well - I already have one of each).

The other alternative I've considered is putting every single HomePod on smart plugs, and setting a scene to turn them all off and back on every day. But I'm wondering if I should just give up on the Siri pipe-dream.

I would not look to Google for the solution. I have one of their speaker upstairs and another downstairs and the downstairs one will answer even when upstairs sometimes. It’s super annoying.

To the point that I have decided that NO smart speaker can handle things properly and our household has now resorted to using Siri either by Phone, Watch, or Apple TV remote to much greater success. We are finally happy enough doing it this way.