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HomePod 16.3 Software Beta Adds Humidity and Temperature Sensing to HomePod mini, Find My, Audio Tuning and More
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Great to see temperature and humidity on the mini too.
So I had a friend pass away and he left me 2 of the original Homepod speakers. I was excited, and immediately started playing with them to see what they could do for me.
They performed wonderfully in a TV room as a sort of mini-home theater setup, and they also provided great music in that room. I didn't really need them to do this though, so I started sort of "remixing" what else I could do with them.
They were interesting as a sort of home intercom system (placing one upstairs and one downstairs). They also would allow me to announce things to the whole house, or play the same music throughout the house.
Next I had an interesting thought. Could I take them in my car and use them as a sort of ultimate mobile sound system? This is where they fell short. VERY SHORT. I had sufficient battery power to run the speakers using a jump starter module, but the Homepods insisted that they needed to be on the internet at all times. So I turned on the hotspot in my iphone and tried to get them up and running. All I really wanted was the Homepods to sort of function like a pair of bluetooth speakers, and play the music locally off of my mac or iphone. The Homepods seemed to be HOOKED on internet connection, and Apple music. They would not properly allow themselves to be setup this way without wiping their memory, and re-establishing them as sort of a "home setup" in the car. I tried a few times battling with the Apple Home software, and it never ended up working. I just had to give up.
I understand that the HOMEpod might not be well suited to be used in a mobile fashion, but this really left a bad taste in my mouth how the devices seemed to be HOOKED ON INTERNET CONNECTION when my application really was a totally local setup. Wouldn't it be great to be able to use these in a cabin in the woods. Or maybe take one along on a road trip to have good music in a hotel room?
The Homepod wasn't having ANY of that sort of thing, and at that point, I went to ebay and sold the damned things. Maybe I am an idiot to feel this way, but I felt like they were way too hooked on internet access, and an Apple Music subscription.
They performed wonderfully in a TV room as a sort of mini-home theater setup, and they also provided great music in that room. I didn't really need them to do this though, so I started sort of "remixing" what else I could do with them.
They were interesting as a sort of home intercom system (placing one upstairs and one downstairs). They also would allow me to announce things to the whole house, or play the same music throughout the house.
Next I had an interesting thought. Could I take them in my car and use them as a sort of ultimate mobile sound system? This is where they fell short. VERY SHORT. I had sufficient battery power to run the speakers using a jump starter module, but the Homepods insisted that they needed to be on the internet at all times. So I turned on the hotspot in my iphone and tried to get them up and running. All I really wanted was the Homepods to sort of function like a pair of bluetooth speakers, and play the music locally off of my mac or iphone. The Homepods seemed to be HOOKED on internet connection, and Apple music. They would not properly allow themselves to be setup this way without wiping their memory, and re-establishing them as sort of a "home setup" in the car. I tried a few times battling with the Apple Home software, and it never ended up working. I just had to give up.
I understand that the HOMEpod might not be well suited to be used in a mobile fashion, but this really left a bad taste in my mouth how the devices seemed to be HOOKED ON INTERNET CONNECTION when my application really was a totally local setup. Wouldn't it be great to be able to use these in a cabin in the woods. Or maybe take one along on a road trip to have good music in a hotel room?
The Homepod wasn't having ANY of that sort of thing, and at that point, I went to ebay and sold the damned things. Maybe I am an idiot to feel this way, but I felt like they were way too hooked on internet access, and an Apple Music subscription.
No. When you ask Siri to control a device that’s not in the current room it will just make that sound as opposed to Siri saying like “Okay, I’ve set the temperature to 18 degrees.”
Actually a welcomed feature at least here, I don’t need a whole response to confirm the request went through.
Hmmm yeah, using full-sized HomePods in a car is probably not a use-case for many. As for hotel rooms, HomePod supports captive networks and most hotels offer free wifi.
Have you updated your iOS beta as well? Can confirm that both temperature and humidity sensors on the HomePod mini’s are accessible for automations. (HomePod Mini in Christopher’s Room.)
This is honestly shocking to me. I had no idea this feature was built in to miniPods. I’m sure there was a tear down, but I missed that. I also use Eve Rooms in a couple of places in my house. So having my mini provide this feature is (A) a nice thing and (B) a reason to buy more miniPods which are basically not much more expensive than an Eve Room. Of course the Eve Room will run off of its own battery power for weeks or even months. So it isn’t like they are exactly the same device. But still this seems like a powerful feature to have been tucked away and unused for years.
mine took a while before it showed the temperature
anyone able to get the new find my features to work? mine just says it "can't location people here sorry about that"
I think a speaker that dials 911 when it’s dropped by a passive-aggressive feline might be pushing it in the current climate of AI rights 😀
I wonder how accurate the sensors are. I now have 3 temperature sensors in my home office that are showing very different readings - Tado smart TRV (20.0 degrees), Hue motion sensor (23 degrees) and HomePod Mini (18.5 degrees). Admittedly, they're all positioned differently, but that's still a wide range!
A temperature and humidity sensor, finally my mini will find some use. As a hub, it sometimes worked. But ultimately had to be replaced by ATV for hub. What a piece of fancy ball ever since I set my phone and iPad to respond to Hey Siri. And then I have Watch, always with me…
I’m really excited that Apple isn’t abandoning the HomePod. New features for my old HomePods look great. The tone playing as a confirmation is a great upgrade. The current announcement seems like overkill. Let’s hope we continue to see more upgrades to the HomePods!
