Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
Original poster
May 3, 2009
74,485
44,762
So we now have Macs that will be listening to Hey Siri, I'm starting to think this could be a problem.
Here's why:
I have my homepod in my office, and I usually have my iPhone and if I'm charging up my iPad, that means I'll have 4 devices that will be listening for the phrase hey siri.

I can no longer say hey siri "call ma" in the office because the homepod will tell me it can't make calls. I can think having a listening laptop will only complicate this matter more.

Even when I travel, I'll have my phone with me, and when I say hey siri give me directions to xyz...
 
While I don't have a Mac that can listen for 'Hey Siri' I have the iPhone, iPad and HomePod. I only have 'Hey Siri' enabled on the iPhone and HomePod. I don't use it with the iPad.

Apple's technology is working quite well for me when I say 'Hey Siri' and the iPhone and HomePod are next to me. It always knows that I mean the HomePod and it responds. The iPhone will light up and then, if necessary, divert to the HomePod automatically.

I read somewhere that this is a thing Apple did to ensure that confusion among its devices when using 'Hey Siri' is kept to a minimum.

So, I just pick and choose which devices I have the feature enabled on.
 
While I don't have a Mac that can listen for 'Hey Siri'
Me too, but I was thinking about this feature as I was watching a review on engadget. I had to turn off Hey Siri on my phone, because I'm use Siri more for my homepod then my phone, but I do miss the feature of hey siri call or hey siri give me directions.

So, I just pick and choose which devices I have the feature enabled on.
That's what I'm getting at, with the same call phrase across products and many of those products will be coexisting together I think apple made a mistake. I hate bringing up Steve Jobs but I do wonder if he'd see the issue I'm raising and force the engineers to go back and find an elegant solution.

If I buy a MBP, will I have Hey Siri enabled, probably not, when I had a windows machine, I turned off cortana, and even now with my iMac I don't have siri enabled. I'm just thinking with the voice activated feature, it seems odd that we would need to turn off that feature on one or some devices to make them live together.
 
  • Like
Reactions: canhaz
We have officially entered the age of "Getting listening devices to have pecking order".

It could be handled through bluetooth or wifi, but it should be handled with the dominant Siri closest to the voice saying, "SHUDDAP! HE'S TALKING TO MEEEE!"
 
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208472
When you say "Hey Siri" near multiple devices that support "Hey Siri," the devices quickly communicate to each other using Bluetooth to determine which one should respond to the request. The device that heard you best or was recently raised will respond.

HomePod responds to most Siri requests, even if there are other devices that support "Hey Siri" nearby. If you want to use Siri on a specific device, raise to wake that device or press the button to use Siri, then make your request.
There is more in the Apple Support link on how this all works.
 
If we could change the catch phrase that would make life easier.
While I understand the problem, I don't think that would be an elegant solution because we'd then have to remember multiple phrases.

A better solution would be for devices to understand which one you're trying to address and seamlessly transfer the request to the correct device. For example, it should never happen for the HomePod to tell you that it can't make a phone call, it should just redirect the request to the iPhone if it's nearby.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HenryDJP and afir93
I don't think that would be an elegant solution because we'd then have to remember multiple phrases.
I never said that's an elegant solution just one my feeble brain came up with :)

I'm sure smarter people at Apple could definitely come up with something that works better
 
  • Like
Reactions: Glmnet1
While I understand the problem, I don't think that would be an elegant solution because we'd then have to remember multiple phrases.

A better solution would be for devices to understand which one you're trying to address and seamlessly transfer the request to the correct device. For example, it should never happen for the HomePod to tell you that it can't make a phone call, it should just redirect the request to the iPhone if it's nearby.
I see no reason why we shouldn‘t or couldn‘t fundamentally have both.

Have something like „Hey Siri-iPhone“, „Hey Siri-Mac“ and so on be a command that enforces Siri to listen from a device of our choice. Or more elegantly, allow us to tell Siri what device we want a command executed, i.e. „Hey Siri, search the web for XX on my iPad“ would automatically have that command be executed on that device. Mind you, this is already possible for music playback thanks to AirPlay 2, so there‘s no reason why we shouldn‘t be able to direct any command to any compatible device at will.

Meanwhile device-specific requests are handled and transferred to the correct device automatically. For example „Hey Siri, call x“ Gould automatically transfer the command to the iPhone like you said, „open the documents folder“, „show all documents last edited on the 1st of June“ or any other Mac-specific command would always transfer to the Mac, have music-specific commands always be executed on the HomePod if in reach, and so on. Nevertheless, there will always be commands that can be executed on multiple devices, so having the ability to enforce which device receives a command on-the-fly would be necessary.

The current situation is just messy and un-Apple-like. I don‘t need my HomePods reminding me that they cannot search the web or define a word or open a folder or make a Spotlight search or show photos from a specific date. At first I was excited about the Hey Siri-catchphrase coming to the Mac, but now that I‘ve ordered a new MBP, I realized that when I‘m at home, I‘m mostly gonna use it in the same room my HomePods are in, and I don‘t want to turn off their Hey Siri-trigger either as I often control them with voice. So I‘ll probably end up not really using Hey Siri on the MacBook Pro.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Glmnet1
My girlfriend and I both have this problem as well. With our plethora of Apple products we have accumulated, saying “Hey Siri” actually can be more frustrating now than just holding down a button to summon Siri.

For example, I often use my watch to say “Hey Siri” to set a timer while cooking, and it instead of my watch responding, my phone that is charging 10 feet away is trying to respond and of course it can’t hear my request clearly. Or worse it activates my girlfriend’s phone.

Personally I don’t use Siri often enough on the MacBook Pro (if ever really), so I wouldn’t want this feature turned on anyways. And I am excited to see how the new watchOS works with not having to say “Hey Siri”, instead you just have to raise your wrist and say your command, but at the same time I’m worried about the watch taking accidental command from conversations
 
I have an iPhone X and an iPad Pro 2nd gen both with Hey Siri enabled. iPhone will always take over when in range as long as both devices got Bluetooth turned on (I am guessing they communicate over Bluetooth).

If the iPad is much closer to me (and the iPhone still hears me too) that is not an issue because the iPad can utilize the iPhone for calls if needed.

The same can be done with Mac but HomePod is what will be causing trouble. I don’t have one personally due it lacking... everything but yea since it can’t do a lot of things it can only make using Hey Siri worse. This shouldn’t be an issue on Macs at all.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.