Apple Releases HomePod 16.3 Software With Humidity and Temperature Sensing, Find My Improvements, Audio Tuning, and More

[iLoveDeveloping]

Anyone know if there is a way to record the temp and humidity to see trends. It would be cool if it went into the health app so you can see it over time. Even though it would make sense to see it in there as it’s nothing to do with health, but you know what I mean.

 

[ss2cire]

I, like a few others thought this was released yesterday. Was upset a little that I didnt see the update. Saw it this morning before leaving for work. Had to leave though so if they haven't done so already I'll be updating my minis when I get home. looking forward to the temperature sensors being enabled

 

[CarlJ]

Playing rain sounds right now to see if the remastering includes the removal of the annoying birds...

Edit: Nope, they added even more birds...😡

FWIW, there are tons of good quality (and, I’m sure, not so good quality) rain recordings out there. With or without bird/nature sounds, or thunder, or “calming music”, etc. Light rain, hard rain, etc. I recall getting a few hour-long tracks for 99 cents a piece, years ago, from both Amazon and Apple. You can play them through HomePods or other speakers (or iPhones or AirPods or whatever). I set up a playlist of some of them, called “Sleepytime”, so I can easily ask Siri to play that.

 

[srbNYC]

A tone to indicate a request has been carried out is a new feature in 16.3, which is what the person you replied to was talking about.

Where's that optoin?

 

[iStorm]

Anyone know if there is a way to record the temp and humidity to see trends. It would be cool if it went into the health app so you can see it over time. Even though it would make sense to see it in there as it’s nothing to do with health, but you know what I mean.

Maybe someone will make an app that does this. Or you could create some sort of shortcut or personal automation in Shortcuts to do this. Use the 'Get the state of My Home' action to get the temperature, and then a Numbers action to save it to a spreadsheet.

 

[Dylan33x]

I’ve seen reports of lowered overall volume on both models. Looking for feedback on this

 

[dantracht]

Update doesn’t appear to have corrected the issues with HomePods claiming they’re on the wrong network when they’re not, alarms and timers not working and stereo pairs not playing as a paid.

I’m frankly fed up with HomePods to be honest.

Will reset and reinstall them to see if that helps.

 

[CarlJ]

Sorry to report bad news, but it's all vocal. Hate it. Wish it were at least optional. Get it all the time on my iPhone too, for Home requests. "The table light is on!!!!!" Shut up about it.

Say what? I just asked Siri on a HomePod mini (running 16.3) to turn on a light in another room, and got a nice new little two-tone chime (and no vocal message) in response.

I’m pretty sure they’ve substituted in the chime in situations where the command ran as expected and has easily understood output (that is, the light went on as expected, or whatever).

 

[Waelder]

Can anyone see an update to the architecture? I can still not add family members.

 

[iStorm]

Where's that optoin?

I don't think it's an option or choice. At least I haven't found a way to make her speak the response for home commands again. She does the ding ding tone on all my devices now, so it isn't limited to just the HomePod.

Did you upgrade your Home architecture last month before it was pulled? (I did.) I wonder if the difference in behavior depends on which architecture you're on. If so, Apple hasn't re-released the option to upgrade again for those that haven't yet (link).

Can anyone see an update to the architecture? I can still not add family members.

They haven't released this yet. See link above.

 

[TVreporter]

I'll let you all test this out for the next couple of weeks before I dare update and risk losing my Home setup or ruin the HP minis.

Thank you for your sacrifice!

 

[kiensoy]

Go into settings on them in the Home app. Under the line that gives their location, there is now an “Accessories” line - tap on that, and it’ll list the temperature and humidity sensors. They’ll likely say “calibrating”. Not clear how long calibration takes.

FWIW, if I ask Siri what the temperature is in the other room, I get “I’m still getting that set up - please try again in a few minutes.”

Weird how that doesn't show up on my iPhone (ios up to date) for my homepod minis, but it works and shows temperature/humidity on my macbook. BTW anyone nows why we can't see whats currently playing on Homepods on the Home app on macOS? It used to work before Ventura. Now I cant see the media controls either.

 

[Mind The Mac]

I don't think it's an option or choice. At least I haven't found a way to make her speak the response for home commands again. She does the ding ding tone on all my devices now, so it isn't limited to just the HomePod.

Did you upgrade your Home architecture last month before it was pulled? (I did.) I wonder if the difference in behavior depends on which architecture you're on. If so, Apple hasn't re-released the option to upgrade again for those that haven't yet (link).



They haven't released this yet. See link above.

Just updated 3 x OG (1 x stereo pair, 1x standalone) HomePods to 16.3 that have the original architecture and confirm the ding confirmation works.

Also noticed that dialogue on the stereo pair on ATV 4K 2022 also improved in clarity at lower volumes.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Only one of my three minis shows the temp./humidity after updating

hmm. they way this headline reads, to me, makes me think Apple enabled sensors on the OG HomePod, but I'm doubtful that occured, anyone know for certain?

 

[now i see it]

I love updating device after device after device after device af

 

[scottlitch]

I installed the beta versions of 16.3 on my HomePod minis yesterday since the update wasn't out. I switched off the option to install beta software right afterwards. Will there be any differences than the public version released today?

 

[compwiz1202]

But everyone loves birds right? They help wake you up in the morning when you're trying to sleep in.

Yes as long as they aren't these:

The funny thing is when my wife and I first started dating, she said she found this romance movie, and I was secretly laughing

 

[darthbane2k]

hmm. they way this headline reads, to me, makes me think Apple enabled sensors on the OG HomePod, but I'm doubtful that occured, anyone know for certain?

No they haven’t. The sensors don’t exist on the OG

 

[darthbane2k]

I’ve seen reports of lowered overall volume on both models. Looking for feedback on this

This is true apparently. I wish Apple wouldn’t continually mess with the volume and sound signature of these speakers. Ridiculous!

 

[subjonas]

Aw I was hoping audio tuning meant HomePod could tune musical instruments and give pitches upon request. Hopefully someday.

 

[subjonas]

Still updates to OG HomePod, nice.

 

[macleod199]

Okay, after a while I was able to see the temperature and humidity sensors in the Home app, but not Eve or HomeKit Controller. Does anyone know if they have to update to recognize the new device type? Are the sensors using some proprietary type?

 

[Macropanda]

Very pleased with the ambient sounds in the automations now. This is a great idea for people with young kids that like sleeping with white noise. Will be great when the noise recognition is released so it can play white noise when it hears a baby crying.

 

[JimKas]

Still waiting for them to put out an update to fix the Home App/HomeKit mess that the "new architecture" update created. I have to power down all HomePods (I have 7 minis plus 1 original HomePod) and Apple TVs (3) once/week to keep things limping along until they fix their mess. See related link. I've stopped auto updates on HomePods and ATVs until they issue a fix.

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/12/30/apple-adds-home-app-to-issues-list/

 

[russell_314]

The article says 16.3 was released for the HomePod, but so far for me 16.2 is showing as current and there's no update available. The article doesn't mention beta, so I'm guessing this is supposed to be an actual release. Does anyone have 16.3 installed in their HomePod mini that's not beta?