"Hey Siri" is useless when you're in earshot of a HomePod and have multiple family members with Apple devices.
I have not seen an issue with this. HomePod is the only device that responds to anyone who says “Hey Siri”. You won’t activate other people’s iPhones or Apple devices.
Potentially if people are using Hey Siri to try to interact with their own iPhones or Apple devices, it might activate the HomePod, but not really sure what issues that might cause aside from temporarily pausing the music.
With that said, Apple could easily tweak this in a future software update. By using the technology they have to distinguish user voices (iPhone Siri only activates for phone owner) and integration with Family Sharing and other Apple devices, they could allow the HomePod to go quiet (which you’d want if someone is trying to specify something to Siri on any device anyway) and take no action if a phone or another Apple device is responding to the inquiry (essentially set up primary / secondary Siri hierarchy for devices). They could also add another layer to this and improve Apple Ecosystem integration by allowing for users to specify which device they want the inquiry to go to. Either by allowing “Hey iPhone”, “Hey iMac”, “Hey MacBook”, “Hey HomePod”, etc. or keep “Hey Siri” and allow user to specify device to utilize within request. Such as “Hey Siri, send message to X from iPhone”. Could potentially also automatically determine which device handles the request based on the request type, or if proper cross device integration, wouldn’t matter which device handles the request as long as it gets done. Like using your HomePod to send a message and determine Which iPhone or user it is based on unique voice, etc. Could even manage level of permissions by voice, such as limiting who can control HomeKit functions by family member or known user vs guest.
Apple could do so much more with the HomePod, and really be innovative if they improve integration across their ecosystem. I was hoping they would announce Homepod 2 at this event. They really need a portable version, similar to UE Boom vs UE Megaboom and allow for integrated battery usage and/or plugged in usage. They also need better integration across Apple Devices and full Siri functionality on all devices using smart inquiry routing mentioned above. Allowing all devices to know who is speaking and handling requests across devices really opens the door to possibilities and improves usability of smart assistants.
I would love to use Siri to do things I need to do manually now, such as “Hey Siri, connect MacBook to iPhone hotspot”. Like “Hey Siri, send link to current webpage on iPhone to John Appleseed” (for sharing Zillow listings), or take a screenshot and send to someone, or send a photo or video viewing on phone to open on iMac or MacBook to view or edit. Or changing device music or video is playing on from
iPhone to iMac / iPad / MacBook / HomePod / Apple TV.
Potential is basically endless and all of the above should be within realm of possibility given current technology. I’m just not sure why they haven’t done this yet.
To anyone at Apple reading this, I’d happily accept a paid part-time consulting position for ideas like this and plenty of others. Your innovation has really been lacking lately, I can help you here. Not even looking for much, just some side cash and maybe some free Apple products to assist with further testing and product / service development.
