HomePod HomePod Future

[boltjames]

I really have no idea how the HomePod ever got released in the first place. They tried to enter a market that was already saturated with products so much better and cheaper that it was just never going to work.

That's the ignorant narrative that says HomePod is a personal assistant.

HomePod isn't a weak personal assistant. Siri is a voice remote for handsfree Apple Music. We buy these for their tremendous sound quality, not to learn how to make a meatloaf.

HomePod is the world's only audiophile-caliber streaming speaker. We buy these for their tremendous sound quality, not to turn on a lightbulb.

 

[BobRey77]

That's the ignorant narrative that says HomePod is a personal assistant.

HomePod isn't a weak personal assistant. Siri is a voice remote for handsfree Apple Music. We buy these for their tremendous sound quality, not to learn how to make a meatloaf.

HomePod is the world's only audiophile-caliber streaming speaker. We buy these for their tremendous sound quality, not to turn on a lightbulb.

All that said, like many others, I do use my HomePods to turn on my lights and lower my blinds and they work flawlessly for this as well as sounding absolutely terrific for music and home theatre. The product is a gem. Reading posts like the one from Segnerd above makes me wonder if he has ever actually owned a HomePod.

 

[turbineseaplane]

We buy these for their tremendous sound quality, not to turn on a lightbulb.

You might want to tell Apple that.

 

[Phil77354]

Well, individuals purchase a product for different reasons, and what Apple thought the product might be used for is not necessarily what every user considers their main use of it once they have it in their home and experience what it does for their situation and interests.

My two HomePods in my office are used solely as speakers for my iTunes library and Apple Music, and for those times when I will use my iMac for Apple TV or another video source and want good quality audio to go with it. I have rarely, almost never, used these HomePods for Siri or the personal assistant capabilities.

On the other hand the HomePods in my living room and bedroom are used in almost the opposite way, to ask Siri to play something (& then the audio quality is also appreciated) or to control lighting.

When Apple brought out the HomePod mini then those personal assistant capabilities were just as well accomplished by using that much less expensive version of the HomePod, but someone who wanted the audio quality of the original HomePod still had that choice.

Both points of view and uses for the two HomePod models are legitimate and although I consider the original HomePod to be far superior to the HomePod mini, for obvious reasons, I also appreciate that Apple has introduced a more affordable speaker that provides the personal assistant features that seem to have the greatest market today.

 

[jimkingwood]

I think those software updates just come down to the TVos team not being in the loop about the HomePod fate until it was announced. A decision like that will be kept within the small circle of the leadership team until the announcement. If you start telling software teams to stop working on HomePod integration, then the news will be in the press the next day.

As for the future, who's to say at this point. It will depend on the success of the mini and what their plans may be to grow the market if the mini sales meet expectations. The original one certainly didn't. I think it's too early to make any assumptions about mini sales at this point - supposedly people were pretty excited about them at launch time, but we're already seeing them sold at 20% off, which is never a good sign for an Apple product.

I've said from the beginning that to me, for Apple to succeed in that market, they've got to abandon their one product philosophy and make an entire range of speakers to create an ecosystem. Or just straight up buy Sonos, which is really what they should do.

I was surprised that my first mini bricked out of the box, and my second- the replacement for the first- had to be restored from my MacBook after a couple days. I've done two or three soft resets where you unplug the mini and then plug in while touching the top. I'm not part of the kumbayah club. The mini and apple home both stink.

 

[macaronie]

I'm curious as to why the Homepods don't announce incoming phone calls or messages as the iOS/ipadOS with headphones and carplay are capable of doing so.

 

[Itinj24]

I'm curious as to why the Homepods don't announce incoming phone calls or messages as the iOS/ipadOS with headphones and carplay are capable of doing so.

I would love this feature and always wanted it but with the option to mute it of course (time based so it doesn’t wake anyone up in the middle of the night).

If you get a text, you can always ask the HomePod to read back your last text or unread messages and if the other person replies within (I think) a minute, the HomePod will ding that you have a new message.

If you get a call, you can ask the HomePod to answer it but it would be nice to be able to screen it first. I wear my Apple Watch all day pretty much so I can use that to screen calls and texts then use the HomePod as the main source of communication to answer/reply and talk.

 

[B/D]

A lot of homepods seem to be dying these last weeks... fried logic board apparently. There is thread in reddit where people are measuring the temperatures of their units and they are quite high.


I am afraid for my Homepods.

 

[turbineseaplane]

A lot of homepods seem to be dying these last weeks... fried logic board apparently. There is thread in reddit where people are measuring the temperatures of their units and they are quite high.


I am afraid for my Homepods.

My god -- is there anything we should be doing to monitor them and hopefully help prevent issues?

 

[B/D]

There is a Macrumors article about it right now. It seems to only affect the OG Homepod and not the Mini.

 

[Itinj24]

A lot of homepods seem to be dying these last weeks... fried logic board apparently. There is thread in reddit where people are measuring the temperatures of their units and they are quite high.


I am afraid for my Homepods.

I think I read that this has to do with the new beta update though, not current 14.6 OS.

 

[B/D]

I think I read that this has to do with the new beta update though, not current 14.6 OS.

Homepods on 14.6 are dying too. Seems to be affecting a lot of units, Macrumors has an article on it now, and it has an ongoing discussion.

 

[ouimetnick]

I think I read that this has to do with the new beta update though, not current 14.6 OS.

Some people are experiencing failures even on 14.6.

 

[Itinj24]

Homepods on 14.6 are dying too. Seems to be affecting a lot of units, Macrumors has an article on it now, and it has an ongoing discussion.

FML, I have nine of them and most are out of warranty.

As you were… Must be a very new article I haven’t come across yet.

 

[B/D]

FML, I have nine of them and most are out of warranty.

As you were… Must be a very new article I haven’t come across yet.

Here. Join the discussion there.


What is FML?.

 

[Itinj24]

Here. Join the discussion there.


What is FML?.

Thanks…

It’s a fairly common social media acronym for “f**k my life” usually used when something isn’t going right lol.

 

[B/D]

Ah, sorry. You see, English is not my native language. 😅😂

 

[Shanghaichica]

A lot of homepods seem to be dying these last weeks... fried logic board apparently. There is thread in reddit where people are measuring the temperatures of their units and they are quite high.


I am afraid for my Homepods.

Yes I’m very afraid for mine. One of my OGs has warranty and the other does not. All the minis have warranty. I’ve turned off automatic updates. I don’t know if I should just unplug the OGs and wait this out. I love my OGs so much and they are difficult to find these days and there is no guarantee that any OG HomePod you purchase now won’t face the same issue.

 

[macaronie]

I would love this feature and always wanted it but with the option to mute it of course (time based so it doesn’t wake anyone up in the middle of the night).

If you get a text, you can always ask the HomePod to read back your last text or unread messages and if the other person replies within (I think) a minute, the HomePod will ding that you have a new message.

If you get a call, you can ask the HomePod to answer it but it would be nice to be able to screen it first. I wear my Apple Watch all day pretty much so I can use that to screen calls and texts then use the HomePod as the main source of communication to answer/reply and talk.

It would be a cool feature. Of course, with the option not to enable it. As for it to be time based, it would work with or like iOS set up where there is sleep option, etc.