Hands-On With the HomePod's New Multi-User Detection and Ambient Sound Features

[citysnaps]

You’re right that the main intention of the HomePod is to play music autonomously. But you can’t deny the fact that every Apple device has Bluetooth functionality except HomePod. You can play music to it direct only through airplay. You truly don’t think that is not even in the least bit suspicious? One of the main uses of Bluetooth is music playback but the only Apple product not to have it is a speaker?

What's there to be suspicious of? You accuse Apple of "such greed." How is Apple realizing that greed and making a ton of money by not supporting Bluetooth?

HomePod was never intended to compete in the Bluetooth speaker space. And certainly not at $300.

 

[goobot]

What's there to be suspicious of? You accuse Apple of "such greed." How is Apple realizing that greed and making a ton of money by not supporting Bluetooth?

HomePod was never intended to compete in the Bluetooth speaker space. And certainly not at $300.

I really don’t have any desire to turn this into a roundabout argument. But like I said earlier it pressures people into buying other Apple products just to use it. It’s obvious why they made that decision because there is literally no other explanation as to why they didn’t enable it. Honest question. Why do you think they didn’t enable bluetooth?

 

[Jbaffoh]

You’re right that the main intention of the HomePod is to play music autonomously. But you can’t deny the fact that every Apple device has Bluetooth functionality except HomePod. You can play music to it direct only through airplay. You truly don’t think that is not even in the least bit suspicious? One of the main uses of Bluetooth is music playback but the only Apple product not to have it is a speaker?

Bluetooth actually sucks for music playback compared to wifi. Many non-Apple TV’s support airplay. You’re losing this argument with every word you utter.

 

[citysnaps]

I really don’t have any desire to turn this into a roundabout argument. But like I said earlier it pressures people into buying other Apple products just to use it. It’s obvious why they made that decision because there is literally no other explanation as to why they didn’t enable it. Honest question. Why do you think they didn’t enable bluetooth?

People already have Apple products before purchasing HomePod - an Apple device is needed to set HomePod up.

And, most people will use HomePod to listen to Apple Music autonomously.

That's not selling more Apple iPhones. And I doubt there are tons of people in the Android camp lusting for a $300 HomePod, to the point of buying an iPhone in order to purchase and setup a HomePod.

There are much better speaker solutions if you're in the Android camp. Just use Bluetooth.


Why do you think they didn’t enable bluetooth?

My guess is Apple tends to be light on including extra features, providing only what's necessary to realize the intent of their product. There's also no audio in jack on HomePod. That minimalist culture has always been true at Apple, going back to when Macintosh was introduced.

 

[goobot]

Bluetooth actually sucks for music playback compared to wifi. Many non-Apple TV’s support airplay. You’re losing this argument with every word you utter.

A few brand new tv’s is hardly many. I guess Apple should have not made AirPods cause WiFi is better.

 

[Jbaffoh]

A few brand new tv’s is hardly many.

FFS, the HomePod is an accessory to the Apple Ecosystem—it’s not a stand-alone product. If they wanted to sell more units, they could have made it a bluetooth speaker for all instead of catering to the existing ecosystem.

The HomePod will never sell iPhones, iPads, Macs or Apple TV’s. It is merely an accessory catering to those items.

What’s next? Apple silicone iPhone cases are an example of greed because they won’t fit an Android phone?

 

[goobot]

FFS, the HomePod is an accessory to the Apple Ecosystem—it’s not a stand-alone product. If they wanted to sell more units, they could have made it a bluetooth speaker for all instead of catering to the existing ecosystem.

The HomePod will never sell iPhones, iPads, Macs or Apple TV’s. It is merely an accessory catering to those items.

What’s next? Apple silicone iPhone cases are an example of greed because they won’t fit an Android phone?

Nah but it’s greedy when an iPad with the same body and design needs a new Smart Cover. But nice try comparing apples to oranges.

 

[anonymous13579]

Music handoff just does not work with my iPhone X on latest update. I hope they fix it...

it works with mine🤔 iPhone X as well... when the new update installed mine didn’t work either. Try removing the HomePod from the home app in HomePod setting, click remove accessory. Then add it again, it was easy and it worked

 

[KrispE00]

My guess is that WiFi is going to be more reliable than Bluetooth if streaming from your phone, even with Bluetooth 5. HomePod stays in one place while the person streaming the music from their phone can move around the house - there’s a good chance that the connection will drop via Bluetooth, and not via WiFi.

 

[anonymous13579]

When I try to set up multiple users they recognize my voice toggle is greyed out so I can’t turn it on, anyone know why that is?? I’m in Canada so does it not work here? 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[allenvanhellen]

Can we add music to scenes without having a HomePod?

 

[TheMountainLife]

I'm with @goobot on bluetooth should be accessed by the user. Funny how my guests and their partners can come to my house and cast whatever they want to my Sony TV or Apple TV. But homepod? Nope. Bose with the Alexa/Google integration solved that issue for me.

I never understood the disdain for having options and then when somethings clearly missing, uninformed unofficial answers are made to why instead of saying..."Yeah why not have both options as there are many users out there with different setups".

The excuses made for bluetooth range are ridiculous. I've been to many events, holiday and house parties where a tablet or phone was playing music over bluetooth and was never a problem.

 

[puggsly]

Open up Bluetooth already Apple. It’s funny how they think Bluetooth is the future for iPhone but somehow not for HomePod. Just like usb c being the future on Mac but somehow not on iPhone. So much greed.

What is greedy about using Wifi (Airplay 2 uncompressed audio) instead of lower quality bluetooth?
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I'm with @goobot on bluetooth should be accessed by the user. Funny how my guests and their partners can come to my house and cast whatever they want to my Sony TV or Apple TV. But homepod? Nope. Bose with the Alexa/Google integration solved that issue for me.

I never understood the disdain for having options and then when somethings clearly missing, uninformed unofficial answers are made to why instead of saying..."Yeah why not have both options as there are many users out there with different setups".

Why not have RCA audio plugs into it as well (some people would love it!) And digital optical inputs?
The reason is because it focuses the product to only use the higher quality WiFi Airplay2 transmission system. If it doesn't have the feature set you want. Find a product that does but don't re-design Apples products for them.

 

[zhenya]

I'm with @goobot on bluetooth should be accessed by the user. Funny how my guests and their partners can come to my house and cast whatever they want to my Sony TV or Apple TV. But homepod? Nope. Bose with the Alexa/Google integration solved that issue for me.

I never understood the disdain for having options and then when somethings clearly missing, uninformed unofficial answers are made to why instead of saying..."Yeah why not have both options as there are many users out there with different setups".

The excuses made for bluetooth range are ridiculous. I've been to many events, holiday and house parties where a tablet or phone was playing music over bluetooth and was never a problem.

Apple’s path to success has long been to make devices simple through the relentless subtraction of features. They always get a huge amount of grief from a small segment of users over this policy, but it’s precisely their willingness to do this in face of criticism that has allowed them to become one of the most successful companies in the world. I can only hope they continue to ignore advice from the peanut gallery because it allows them to make products that are demonstrably better than the competitors who listen and pack every last feature in whether it works or not.

 

[puggsly]

I'm with @goobot on bluetooth should be accessed by the user. Funny how my guests and their partners can come to my house and cast whatever they want to my Sony TV or Apple TV. But homepod? Nope.

I'm confused? Apple TV doesn't support Bluetooth streaming. It uses the same Airplay 2 streaming that the HomePod does, so how do your guests stream to AppleTV and not to your HomePod? I get that you want bluetooth streaming, but Apple choose to only support the higher quality wifi method through Airplay2. Want something else, look for something other than a HomePod or continue to ask apple to support bluetooth.
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A pretty terrible choice. Why would I want to connect someone to my personal WiFi to let them play music. What reason would they have to lock out Bluetooth other than to prevent other devices from using it? How is that a design choice. A design choice is the notch housing face-ID. There is literally no reason for them to do this other than pressuring people to only use Apple devices. Sounds like greed to me.

You don't own a HomePod do you! HomePod supports peer to peer wifi for airplay support. No need to let anyone on your network and Wifi Airplay is uncompressed audio transmission which keeps audio quality up. You may not think this is a worthwhile compromise but they do. They also don't hide the fact that it is not a bluetooth speaker so it would seem like if this is a desired feature for their audience it would just deter sales by not supporting it (opposite of greed?).
You want bluetooth, others want 3.5mm jack and probably someone wanted digital optical inputs and others would like an ethernet port. But you pick your features based on what you think will sell.

 

[TheMountainLife]

Let me clarify that I'm not looking for anyone to convince on why or how Apple makes its feature decisions. I'm solely speaking to how I'd love to have another product of theirs in my household but does not satisfy most scenarios of my setup. I already have a solution in place but will return to Homepod should things improve.

Why not have RCA audio plugs into it as well (some people would love it!) And digital optical inputs?
The reason is because it focuses the product to only use the higher quality WiFi Airplay2 transmission system. If it doesn't have the feature set you want. Find a product that does but don't re-design Apples products for them.

lol that's extreme. Maybe we can convince auto manufacturers to bring back tape decks since you find bluetooth to be so inferior. I already have a speaker setup that meets my needs, thanks.

Apple’s path to success has long been to make devices simple through the relentless subtraction of features. They always get a huge amount of grief from a small segment of users over this policy, but it’s precisely their willingness to do this in face of criticism that has allowed them to become one of the most successful companies in the world. I can only hope they continue to ignore advice from the peanut gallery because it allows them to make products that are demonstrably better than the competitors who listen and pack every last feature in whether it works or not.

Thanks for the opinionated history lesson.

 

[puggsly]

No worries! There are plenty of things Apple doesn't do that I wish they would (why did you kill back to my mac) but I don't ascribe other motivations beyond their vision is different than mine unless I Know better. Also, you had some misinformation about needing to be on the wifi network to stream to a HomePod. I don't see that changing your mind but don't want to spread bad info ether.
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Two questions:
- does voice recognition prevent someone from having access to personal information like text messages and calendar?

- how do you switch phone calls or music from one HomePod to another, if you move to a different room?

Yes and no! It is not designed as a security feature so if someone can fake the sound of your voice they could still access that data as long as your device was nearby. So practically it does but this is not secure biometrics. As for the calls, you would probably have to pull it back to your phone and drop it to the other HomePod.

 

[TheMountainLife]

Also, you had some misinformation about needing to be on the wifi network to stream to a HomePod. I don't see that changing your mind but don't want to spread bad info ether.

You jumped in in the convo late. My earlier comments were siding with goodbot in regards to needing a Apple device for streaming. Not all of my guests/family members own iPhones. Spreading experience not bad info.

 

[Jbaffoh]

I'm with @goobot on bluetooth should be accessed by the user. Funny how my guests and their partners can come to my house and cast whatever they want to my Sony TV or Apple TV. But homepod? Nope. Bose with the Alexa/Google integration solved that issue for me.

I never understood the disdain for having options and then when somethings clearly missing, uninformed unofficial answers are made to why instead of saying..."Yeah why not have both options as there are many users out there with different setups".

The excuses made for bluetooth range are ridiculous. I've been to many events, holiday and house parties where a tablet or phone was playing music over bluetooth and was never a problem.

The responses addressed the asinine “greed” allegations. Nobody disputes that bluetooth would be a handy, yet inferior, addition. Personally, I have no need for it.

 

[mpainesyd]

I've had to remove and readd mine twice in the two weeks I've had them. Seems to be stable now.

Some people have found that having dual band wifi confuses the Homepods for stereo function. Try disabling the 5Ghz band to test this on your system.

Regarding multi-user support I was not successful setting it up a week or so ago. I thought it might be because I don't enable Hey Siri on my iPhone (although Press Home for Siri is on). Anyway I just tried it again and Homepod Siri knew my voice.

Now to try and get it to recognise other members of the household...

 

[Mick-Mac]

Sometime ago I purchased a HomePod and was so disappointed I couldn’t use Siri to play any of my music that I returned it right away. My music consis of a lifetime of accumulated cds all ripped into iTunes. Do any of the recent updates allow using Siri to play my own music?

 

[Seoras]

Are these Home Pods any good for families with kids? I'm tempted to get one because I want my kids (age's 3, 6, 8 & 10) to be able to play music easily and preferably hands off.
I don't want the little buggers setting up reminders on my iCloud account and doing other things like that.
So does this voice recognition solve that?

 

[dBeats]

When I try to set up multiple users they recognize my voice toggle is greyed out so I can’t turn it on, anyone know why that is?? I’m in Canada so does it not work here? 🤷🏻‍♂️

You have to use English (United States) for the Siri language On both your iPhone and your HomePod. For some reason the language setting was missing on my HomePods so I Had to disable all Siri features on each HomePod, delete Siri history, restart HomePods, enable Hey Siri and other Siri settings again, wait some random amount of seconds, check the settings again and there was the settings for Language again on the HomePods. Once I did that, it FINALLY understood my voice.

 

[xalea]

Wow, the same exact stuff Echos have been doing for ages.

 

[ayale99]

When I try to set up multiple users they recognize my voice toggle is greyed out so I can’t turn it on, anyone know why that is?? I’m in Canada so does it not work here? 🤷🏻‍♂️

I had the same problem. Make sure the user's devices you are inviting are on the latest udpate. Mine worked fine after that.