I am a Mac Fanboy, but Siri and Homepod really is bad. Now, when my wife and I ask to add a simple request to our shopping list or turn on Hue lights, it asks who is speaking. Who cares who is speaking just do it. I thought Siri was smart enough to recognize our voices? It was before the latest iOS update. Very frustrating, as it should just work like Alexa does....
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
HomePod HomePod says Who is Speaking
- Thread starter GDF
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
...and send your voice recordings back to Amazon data centers to be saved in perpetuity, to be shared with anyone including law enforcement without the need for a pesky warrant?
The reason Siri asks who is speaking is precisely because it needs to recognize your voice, so your wife can't mess with your stuff and you can't mess with hers--intentional or not. If Siri can't tell who is speaking, she will ask to clarify and improve her voice recognition.
I agree with you in privacy, but Siri should work as well as Alexa - so you missed my point. It has never done that before since I owned it, only since ios13.
One of my HomePods was having this issue. I reset it and it worked after that. It shouldn’t need voice recognition for stuff like smart lights though.
My only issue with voice recognition is that it should be able to lock/unlock doors without having to authenticate on the iPhone, especially since my setting for Require Authentication in Personal Requests is set to Never.
My only issue with voice recognition is that it should be able to lock/unlock doors without having to authenticate on the iPhone, especially since my setting for Require Authentication in Personal Requests is set to Never.
Thanks - I tried that too and keeps asking for authentication. Can't figure out why it started doing that. Just trying to turn on Hue lights and add stuff to the shopping list. Really don't even want this authentication. Who is going to anything in my house anyhow.... LOL
The latest update to the HomePod is a real step-back in usability. I sent a complaint to Apple about it as it has become so complicated to do things that used to be simple.
I totally agree. No matter what I do, it asks me to authenticate who I am everytime I want to add something to my shopping list. Apple - why would I change? The Homepod is sitting in my house, not in some public place. No way should be that much authentication. It is making it useless.
I think Siri in the iPhone, iPad, Homepod, Carplay, Airpod has taken a step back and it confuses Siri. When driving now and using Carplay or Airpods, Siri seems slower to react. For a billion dollar company, Siri is regressing and not becoming a smoother.
I think Siri in the iPhone, iPad, Homepod, Carplay, Airpod has taken a step back and it confuses Siri. When driving now and using Carplay or Airpods, Siri seems slower to react. For a billion dollar company, Siri is regressing and not becoming a smoother.
These might be silly questions, but do you have both "recognize my voice" and "personal requests" turned on? Do you have "require authentication" set to "never?"
There are numerous threads here complaining about how this feature is such a pain to setup. Hopefully it will work out for you. It did for me eventually.
There are numerous threads here complaining about how this feature is such a pain to setup. Hopefully it will work out for you. It did for me eventually.
Like @chino-rican mentioned you'll need to make sure all your settings are correct. Your shopping list might not be sensitive data to you but it could be something else that is...
The function you are having difficulty with seems to work fine for me but I'm single and the only person on invited to my Home.
I'm not knocking Amazon Alexa because its a fine piece of tech but when it ask you "How was that answer?" it is asking you to share your data with Amazon. And the security of your private data isn't as clear. At least that is what I find when using it. I'll take the little bit of a hassle in setting up the HomePod then Alexa accessing my data all willy nilly and being very vague when its about to share my specific request with Amazon. That said, if Apple didn't put effort into protecting your data Siri would be immensely more powerful. Its a double edge sword really.
I'm really struggling - Can you tell me exactly how to get to these settings please.
In the Home app, long press on your HomePod. Scroll down or touch the gear icon at the bottom right, which will take you to the Setting page.
Thanks, that's one of the places I've already looked but I don't have recognise my voice as an option. This is iOS 13.3 and the HomePod is also on 13.3.
On the "Home" tab in the Home app on iOS (The one that displays your favorites) press Edit at the top right of the screen, then the arrow that appears next to the "My Home" heading. On the next screen are "people" - Choose your profile and that next screen should show you "Recognize My Voice" and "Personal Requests"
I have "Recognize My Voice" turned on, then when I click "Personal Requests" every HomePod is enabled, and "Never" is set for "Require Authentication"
If your settings match these and the HomePod still doesn't know who you are, then try turning Siri OFF on your iPhone, wait a few moments, then turn it back on and you should be asked to re-train Siri to recognize your voice. Recognition on the iPhone is required in order for it to work on the HomePods, I believe.
If you walk up to a HomePod, say "Hey Siri, Who Am I?" and she gets your name correct, you should be good to go. Hope this helps.
It can lock but it can't unlock for fear that it could be fooled. I could see people wanting to turn this off, but I get the security concern. You can use your Apple watch to issue the command because it is already authenticated and it would be nice if they extended the mask style security so that if you have an authenticated watch in proximity to your phone and you issue the unlock command to your phone it still works.
Yeah I understand but what good is voice recognition if it can’t be used to authenticate security measures? Means they don’t really trust their voice recognition software.
And to the best of my knowledge, nobody does. Voice print authentication just isn't there yet even for specific passphrase, but definitely not for general commands. I mean they do some ok voice rejection, but nothing to the level of "security" the way we see it for touchID or FaceID.
New on device AI may get us there, but I don't think it is there yet.
New on device AI may get us there, but I don't think it is there yet.
Then why even offer it at all for messages, calendars, reminders, etc… Security with your own devices should be optional IMO.
I guess it is levels of security. Physical security is more of a concern than wether or not someone could yell through your door and hear your calendar entries, but even that they allow you to turn off. I get what you are talking about and understand the concern on both sides. Apple probably should give you an option to allow less security and perform secure operations with out verification, but until they feel that voice is approaching the security of touchID they are not going to do it.
There may be numerous other options that simplify this as UWB gives us far more accurate locations. That might make it safer?
There may be numerous other options that simplify this as UWB gives us far more accurate locations. That might make it safer?
I tested the voice recognition on the HomePod with a few of my friends. I thought it was a very reliable actually and probably more so when someone is trying to yell at it through a door or siding, insulation and dry wall of a house. Sometimes Siri even asks me who I am lol. Maybe a feature like having Siri listening disable when nobody is home.
I have a HomePod in my garage. Very convenient to ask Siri to close the garage door(s) when my hands are full. Would be nice to open them in the same manner and when it’s difficult to bring the Apple Watch up to my mouth.
There is a workaround though using a smart plug.
It's August 2022 and it's still beyond useless it's positively infuriating. When *ANYONE* in my house says "Hey Siri add eggs to my shopping list" for example then I want ****ing eggs on the shopping list, ****ing now. ESPECIALLY cos there's only 1 person in this home anyway.