HomePod Is there really no way to allow my wife to use siri on the HomePod?

[yalag]

I want her to be able to use Siri on the homepod to add reminders, check calendars etc.

But according to Apple, the "allow personal assistant" option is only available to the "owner" of the HomeKit account. Is there no way to get around this? It makes no sense.

 

[afir93]

The HomePod is not able to differentiate between different voices yet; it‘s not out of question that this will come in the future (seeing as some other home speakers are able to do that) but I wouldn‘t hold my breath for it. Therefore it can‘t differentiate between your voice and your wife‘s.

What your wife can do is set reminders etc. on your account (which I assume is the Apple ID the HomePod is set up with), but I presume you mean for her to set these things on her own Apple/iCloud account which is not possible as long as the HomePod is paired with your Apple ID. Just like iOS devices in general, the HomePod is meant mainly for the use/ownership of a single person and his/her iCloud account.

 

[tarsins]

Our HomePod (two actually) was set up with my iCloud but my wife and children can use Siri on it no problem. They can add things to shopping lists, etc., but they are added as if they were me. If they sent an iMessage, it's from me. Siri doesn't differentiate between different voices (yet).

 

[Krayzkat]

I think Apple want you and your wife and kids to have a HomePod each all sitting on the same table. You can sync any music being played by all saying "hey Siri, play Mysterious Ways by U2" at the same time.

 

[Arran]

I think Apple want you and your wife and kids to have a HomePod each all sitting on the same table. You can sync any music being played by all saying "hey Siri, play Mysterious Ways by U2" at the same time.

I smiled at your image of a cute little pack of HomePods, all huddled together, each waiting for their owner to say something.

Like this:

That said, it seems like the concept of ‘shared devices’ is something Apple simply can’t get their head around.

 

[yalag]

No let me to be clear. I don't need it to recognize both voice. I need it to only work with her voice and her account not mine. How do I do that?

 

[afir93]

No let me to be clear. I don't need it to recognize both voice. I need it to only work with her voice and her account not mine. How do I do that?

In that case, just reset it back to factory settings and set it up again but with her iPhone. That should make it bound to her Apple/iCloud ID.

 

[yalag]

In that case, just reset it back to factory settings and set it up again but with her iPhone. That should make it bound to her Apple/iCloud ID.

That's what Im trying to say, you cant set it up with anyones apple id EXCEPT the home owner of home kit

 

[JBaby]

That's what Im trying to say, you cant set it up with anyones apple id EXCEPT the home owner of home kit

Then reset all of your HomeKit to her iCloud account. Then set up the HomePod.

 

[yalag]

Then reset all of your HomeKit to her iCloud account. Then set up the HomePod.

no thats exactly what I'm trying to avoid, resetting up all my homekit just to have this one feature

 

[Arran]

no thats exactly what I'm trying to avoid, resetting up all my homekit just to have this one feature

Ugh. I returned my HomePod because of a similar HomeKit issue. Try as I might, over three weekends, I couldn’t get it set up as a HomeKit hub (setup is supposed automatic and transparent, haha).

Anyway, i’ve been trying to set up an old spare iPad as a HomeKit hub today and now everything is locked up! I can’t get into the home app on any of my devices. They all just hang.

This is so frustrating.

 

[afir93]

no thats exactly what I'm trying to avoid, resetting up all my homekit just to have this one feature

I don‘t think there‘s currently another way than what JBaby suggested, but you might always highlight the issue (if one wants to call it that) to Apple via their feedback page. The HomePod is still in its early days, there‘s a good chance of such features added later at some point, especially with enough people voicing their opinions.

 

[JBaby]

no thats exactly what I'm trying to avoid, resetting up all my homekit just to have this one feature

Then I guess she won’t be using your HomePod in the way you want her to.

ETA: To be fair I do think it’s stupid that it works this way.

 

[mangopango]

I want her to be able to use Siri on the homepod to add reminders, check calendars etc.

But according to Apple, the "allow personal assistant" option is only available to the "owner" of the HomeKit account. Is there no way to get around this? It makes no sense.

Have you added her Apple ID to HomeKit via invite? Go to the home app, select the upper left location arrow, scroll down to People section. This is sometimes buggy, so if she never sees the invite you might need to delete and start over. Not sure if this will solve your problem, but at least she would be able to control HomeKit accessories

 

[Black Tiger]

This seems like a ridiculous limitation and a huge oversight. Do the other smart speakers allow for different users?

 

[Phil A.]

This seems like a ridiculous limitation and a huge oversight. Do the other smart speakers allow for different users?

Amazon Echo and Google Home both offer recognition of multiple users but do have limitations: for example, the echo only links to a single spotify account (that of the primary user)

 

[mangopango]

You could set up family sharing that will allow you and your wife to share a family reminders list that she can add to using the HomePod.

Unfortunately HomePod cannot recognize individual users and interact with those users accounts. I am not sure why Apple approached a whole household appliance like this restricting HomePod to essentially one user for account related smart assistant functions. It does seem an odd choice.

 

[jclardy]

no thats exactly what I'm trying to avoid, resetting up all my homekit just to have this one feature

Unfortunately HomePod software is still half-baked and this is not possible. Apple's shared speaker is still designed for a single user and Apple doesn't yet have a solution for shared iOS devices.

My expectation is that a lot of updates for HomePod will be coming around October, with them being announced at WWDC in June.

 

[TrueBlou]

Unfortunately HomePod software is still half-baked and this is not possible. Apple's shared speaker is still designed for a single user and Apple doesn't yet have a solution for shared iOS devices.

My expectation is that a lot of updates for HomePod will be coming around October, with them being announced at WWDC in June.

I’m with you. In the last year we’ve seen Apple patent individual voice recognition and make HomeKit support software based.

They’re starting to take it more seriously now and I also think come WWDC we’ll see big improvements announced.....

.... Then delayed for a year while they fix it

 

[Black Tiger]

Amazon Echo and Google Home both offer recognition of multiple users but do have limitations: for example, the echo only links to a single spotify account (that of the primary user)

It seems the only way these speakers are going to become useful is if they can juggle multiple users and distinguish who is speaking. I really want to like these products, particularly the HomePod, but they don’t seem to live up to what they promise. If this were marketed purely as an airplay speaker, it wouldn’t lead to so much disappointment. One other question: can multiple users airplay to the speaker or is it also somehow tied to one account?

 

[TrueBlou]

It seems the only way these speakers are going to become useful is if they can juggle multiple users and distinguish who is speaking. I really want to like these products, particularly the HomePod, but they don’t seem to live up to what they promise. If this were marketed purely as an airplay speaker, it wouldn’t lead to so much disappointment. One other question: can multiple users airplay to the speaker or is it also somehow tied to one account?

You have three options for AirPlay. You can allow "Everyone", "Anyone On the Same Network" or "Only People Sharing this Home". So there's no real limitation there thankfully.
Distinguishing between multiple users will come to the HomePod, hopefully before too long, we know they've been working on it for a while. The patent went in last year, so they've likely been working on it longer than that. So no doubt in typical Apple fashion they'll be "perfecting" it and won't release it until they are happy with it.

 

[vajeff]

Yes, the limitation is irritating. I imagine we will see individual voice recognition in the not too (relative) future.

We have Google Home, and have had it since Christmas 2016. When we first got it, there were many of the same "assistant" limitations on calendar's etc. In fact, initially with GH, you could not even add things to your calendar (this was also when it was limited to just a single account too). Looking at it from this perspective, HomePod has this from the beginning. You could not send and listen to text's either at launch on the GH.

Google was as capable then to allow for these features, and did not have them at launch either. The calendars (being able to add) came in the spring time if I remember correctly. Multi user came in the summer I believe.

I suspect, before Apple (and Google at the time) rolled out more enhanced features, they wanted to make sure kinks on the released problem are worked out.

I will say that the sound is great, and I cannot ever make my GH sound nearly as good. Th HP and HomeKit work great (better than GH) for what is available on HK. Granted, there are many more products available with GH than HP, but Apple is opening up HK more in the near future. In the meantime, running HomeBridge has given my HP access to all home automation that GH has.

Hardware wise, the HP is much better than GH, software will catch it up (and potentially better). I know now, we use "Hey Siri" much more than "OK Google" to control items in our home. IT works faster too.