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Apple's HomePod was updated this week to version 12, which debuted alongside iOS 12 for iPhones and iPads. The HomePod update brings about a handful of new abilities for Apple's smart speaker, including support for multiple timers, lyric search, find my iPhone, making and receiving phone calls, and more.

Because of all the useful and handy new additions arriving on HomePod this week, we've written this guide to provide quick steps that can help you figure out each new feature, and added in some tips as well.


Multiple Timers

On previous HomePod software you could only make one timer and not name it, but with the new software Apple is letting you create and name as many as over 20 timers at once (our testing reached about 23). This should greatly help out HomePod owners, especially those who have placed the speaker in their kitchen.

Note: Because HomePod relies entirely on voice controls for timers (and other features in this guide), there may be other sentence patterns that result in the same responses as the ones we've discovered. With that being said, below you'll find a few examples of Siri commands for multiple timers on HomePod. To create multiple timers, simply begin listing one timer after the other to Siri:

Setting Timers
[*]"Hey Siri, set a 15 minute timer for food."
[*]"Hey Siri, set a burger timer for 20 minutes."
[*]"Hey Siri, set a 25 minute french fries timer."
[*]"Hey Siri, set a 45 minute timer for the laundry."
[*]"Hey Siri, set a 3 hour timer for the sprinklers."
Checking Individual Timers
[*]"Hey Siri, what's left on the food timer?"
[*]"Hey Siri, how's the french fries timer?"
[*]"Hey Siri, what's the sprinklers timer at?"
[*]"Hey Siri, how long until the laundry is done?"
[*]"Hey Siri, is the burger timer almost done?"
Checking All Timers
[*]"Hey Siri, where are the timers at?"
[*]"Hey Siri, how much time is left?"
[*]"Hey Siri, list the timers." The limit of any timer is a maximum of 23 hours (as it was previously). If you create a timer but don't give it a name, Siri will name the timer by its original length, saying something like "There is 1 minute left on the 10 minute timer."

When you have multiple timers running and one ends, the usual timer ending chime will sound, but it will now be interspersed with Siri stating which timer is completed. As usual, you can tap the top of HomePod to silence the timer, or ask Siri to shut it off. If you have numerous timers running simultaneously and want to end them all, you can say "Hey Siri, stop/cancel all of the timers."


Click here to read more...

Article Link: HomePod Guide: How to Create Multiple Timers, Search for Lyrics, Find Your iPhone, and Make Calls
 
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OldSchoolMacGuy

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Gonna go out on a limb here but the entire point of Siri is that you can tell it what you want to do. So we should be able to assume that you simply ask it to do any of the things this guide includes.

If you want it to set a 15 minute timer, you ask it to set a 15 minute timer?! NO WAY!!
 

keysofanxiety

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Nov 23, 2011
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Gonna go out on a limb here but the entire point of Siri is that you can tell it what you want to do. So we should be able to assume that you simply ask it to do any of the things this guide includes.

If you want it to set a 15 minute timer, you ask it to set a 15 minute timer?! NO WAY!!

Yes but before you could just say "Set a timer for x minutes" and it would only have the one timer. It'll then prompt you to amend the existing timer if you set another.

Now you can say "Set 15 minutes for the cuttlefish, set 3 minutes for the asparagus, set 50 minutes for the inevitable toilet break", and it'll have a separate timer for each, which you can also check by saying "How long on the cuttlefish?"

Seems like a reasonable article IMHO; I wouldn't have known this otherwise.
 
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cknibbs

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Dec 12, 2012
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I love that our homepods are useful for only me in our household. Come on Apple... it’s not an iPhone, it’s a multi-user device! Let it support multiple users!!
 

Mac Fly (film)

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Yes but before you could just say "Set a timer for x minutes" and it would only have the one timer. It'll then prompt you to amend the existing timer if you set another.

Now you can say "Set 15 minutes for the cuttlefish, set 3 minutes for the asparagus, set 50 minutes for the inevitable toilet break", and it'll have a separate timer for each, which you can also check by saying "How long on the cuttlefish?"

Seems like a reasonable article IMHO; I wouldn't have known this otherwise.
Siri finally has a cuttlefish timer.
 

Kaibelf

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Yes but before you could just say "Set a timer for x minutes" and it would only have the one timer. It'll then prompt you to amend the existing timer if you set another.

Now you can say "Set 15 minutes for the cuttlefish, set 3 minutes for the asparagus, set 50 minutes for the inevitable toilet break", and it'll have a separate timer for each, which you can also check by saying "How long on the cuttlefish?"

Seems like a reasonable article IMHO; I wouldn't have known this otherwise.

Cuttlefish, asparagus and a toilet break? Isn’t this part of the plot from the iPad episode of South Park?
 
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Aston441

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Sep 16, 2014
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I love that our homepods are useful for only me in our household. Come on Apple... it’s not an iPhone, it’s a multi-user device! Let it support multiple users!!


Seriously?!? I have Alexas all over the place and everyone has used them for years.

Is that really a thing with HomePod?
 

Duncan-UK

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Sep 17, 2006
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I just wish you didn’t have to day hey Siri, it’s so childish and embarrassing. Although that said I just want to be able to address it as “Orac”
 

BSben

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May 16, 2012
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Ok, I love having multiple timers, but how can you tell which timer is ringing (making a sound) they all sound the same and Siri doesn't say: The ..... timer is up. It is good to have multiple timers, but without a confirmation which timer is ringing it is not that much more helpful I think.
 

ThatGuyInLa

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Oct 26, 2012
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Still bummed you can’t tell HP to transfer call to another HomePod. It doesn’t auto switch based on your voice level and cannot be explicitly told to. Sort of a half-implemented phone support.
 

UltimaKilo

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I have been having all sorts of problems with Siri on my HomePod locking the front door, turning down the AC and even turning on certain lights since the update...
 

cknibbs

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Dec 12, 2012
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Seriously?!? I have Alexas all over the place and everyone has used them for years.

Is that really a thing with HomePod?

Well everyone can use them - but it’s all tied to one user so you can only send messages/make phone calls/use calendars from one user
 

Zimmy68

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Jul 23, 2008
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Can't get the search-by-lyrics function to work, at all.
I just did one test and it worked perfect.
Hey Siri, play the song that goes, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog".
Voilà, Joy To The World started playing.
She replied with the lyrics as the song being played. It would be cool if she corrected you, like...
"I think the song you mean is, Joy to the World by Three Dog Night, let me play it for you".

As for your issue, check to make sure your Homepod is up to date, as soon as my iPhone was on ios12, both of my HPs had an update.
 

Aston441

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Sep 16, 2014
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Well everyone can use them - but it’s all tied to one user so you can only send messages/make phone calls/use calendars from one user


Ah, I see. Alexa is more or less the same then regarding those things.
 

ThatGuyInLa

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Oct 26, 2012
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“Hey Siri, play the song that goes, So Much Blood For Such A Tiny Hole.”

She played a version of it. NiN has many. I consider that a success!
 

Tonewheel

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Sep 28, 2007
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I just did one test and it worked perfect.
Hey Siri, play the song that goes, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog".
Voilà, Joy To The World started playing.
She replied with the lyrics as the song being played. It would be cool if she corrected you, like...
"I think the song you mean is, Joy to the World by Three Dog Night, let me play it for you".

As for your issue, check to make sure your Homepod is up to date, as soon as my iPhone was on ios12, both of my HPs had an update.

On latest verion of 12. All lyric request does is have Siri play my entire music library.
 

Zimmy68

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Jul 23, 2008
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On latest verion of 12. All lyric request does is have Siri play my entire music library.
Can you give us an example of what you are saying? I'd like to test it out on mine and see if I get a different result.
If we both have Apple Music, it should be the same.
 
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