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How to Use Apple's New Intercom Feature
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So...........things the Echo and others have had for ages now. Way to innovate Apple lol
Seems like you do need a HomePod in your home setup to be able to enable the feature.
Amazon has provided intercom for well over a year with much less expensive devices, better audio in their top Echo Studio at less than half the cost of the HomePod, and the Alexa AI which is excellent.
Apple is several generations behind Amazon with this technology-Alexa 4th gen speakers out this month.
Amazon Echo devices accept Bluetooth from Apple IOS devices as well.
Apple is several generations behind Amazon with this technology-Alexa 4th gen speakers out this month.
Amazon Echo devices accept Bluetooth from Apple IOS devices as well.
I’ll be sure to do that as I’m driving home to tell the kids to get washed up for the dinner I’m bringing home, to tell them to go to the bathroom and put their shoes on to hop in the car because I’m almost home, or to come help me carry in groceries. Not to mention that my house is big enough that I can’t even yell at the top of my lungs from one end to the other. Or you could use it between different buildings on your property like an external garage or workshop. Not everybody lives in a $3000/mo 400sqft studio apartment in some huge city.
That's a really good question. My wife and I enabled the walkie talkie feature on our Apple Watches and found it to be lacking. It often doesn't work... Says it can't complete the process or something to that effect. I don't really know why, as everything else seems to work. I'd be curious if this feature is a little more stable and reliable. Also, I'm still not sure if it'll work where there's no HomePod in play anyway. Not sure if I could say go from CarPlay when I'm on my way home to my wife's iPhone for example.
Doesn’t the article say you must be on iOS 14.2? Which is in beta right now. That’s my understanding.
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Are you on 14.2 beta?
On the settings page for each HomePod is a new Intercom option that enables/disables Intercom for that HomePod. However, as you've discovered with 14.1 there is no Intercom setting in Home Settings. If I try to intercom from my phone, it tells me I must intercom from a HomePod. What? I thought I could intercom from a phone.
Then if I try to intercom using a HomePod, Siri appears to accept the message but then doesn't forward to the other HomePod we have.
I dunno, Intercom doesn't appear to be ready for prime time.
Then if I try to intercom using a HomePod, Siri appears to accept the message but then doesn't forward to the other HomePod we have.
I dunno, Intercom doesn't appear to be ready for prime time.
I guess I misunderstood and thought 14.1 brings the intercom feature. This would obviously explain why if it’s only a 14.2 beta thing currently.
so you say intercom doesn’t work on homepod stereo pair, but on one of the images i guess its from the apple, where its says “intercom to the living room, has the game started?” clearly shows a stereo pair in the living room..
Intercom Requirements
Intercom works with the HomePod after installing the HomePod 14.1 update, and it is functional on the iPhone and iPad after installing the iOS 14.2/iPadOS 14.2 updates. On Apple Watch, it appears to work with watchOS 7.1 and later.
There may be some Intercom features reserved for HomePod 14.2 as Intercom does not function seamlessly yet, so for the best possible Intercom results, make sure all of your devices have the most recent operating system updates that are available. Note that if two HomePods are set up in stereo mode, Intercom is not available.
Yes, I'm probably going to buy one of the HomePod Minis next month, but that's probably driven by curiosity more than anything else. I really don't see what this is going to offer me beyond the 4 Echo Dots we've got dotted around the house. I've invested heavily into the Apple ecosystem and if Homekit had taken off in the way I'd hoped then probably I'd be rushing to replace my Echos with these, but the reality is with Homekit adoption still being 'meh' Alexa is tending to become my default home automation platform as it opens up a much wider range of compatible products, and I've long learned that manufacturer's promises of "HomeKit support coming soon" are worthless.
I'm just going to pop in my AirPods and listen to some relaxing music to temporarily get away from the stress of lockdown family living...
Son of a b....! They're in my head now!
Son of a b....! They're in my head now!
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Thanks for the great article. Looking forward to getting the HomePod mini and trying this feature.
Siri existed long before Amazon created Alexa to do its data mining from people who are willing to put practically free wire taps in their house. Way to innovate, Amazon.
What is your point? if Apple is behind on the capabilities they should just never bother implementing it?
HomePods and iPhone are all on 14.1. And yes, intercom works using Siri from the HomePods (I have to run from 1 room to the other to hear the message get delivered).
But there's no 'Intercom' option in the iPhone Home app. And when I tell Siri on the iPhone to intercom, it tells me I can only do that from 1 HomePod to another.
I don't think this feature is fully baked yet.
But there's no 'Intercom' option in the iPhone Home app. And when I tell Siri on the iPhone to intercom, it tells me I can only do that from 1 HomePod to another.
I don't think this feature is fully baked yet.