HomePod Siri doesn’t reply to every request! ❤️

[russell_314]

I don’t know if this is a bug, a patch that Apple did, or something to do with me switching my power off and on to repair a light fixture, but this is awesome!

Before if I said “Hey Siri turn on the Bathroom light”, she would say “The bathroom light is on” after she turned it on. Now she just makes a subtle chime indicating she did something. I can see my bathroom from where I’m standing so it was really annoying. If it was the bedroom light where the HomePod is she would not reply. I guess assuming that I can see if the light is on or off.

She still replies to confirm before sending text messages, which is what I want but I don’t need her to tell me every time she did something I tell her to do especially after she did it, because if it was the wrong thing it’s too late and completely useless for me.

I think at least should be an option for each specific command or maybe types of commands. If it’s something new, then that’s fine but I don’t need to hear her reply ten times a day she turned on the light.

Whoever made this change at Apple I want to buy them dinner or something! 🥰

 

[sparky672]

Now she just makes a subtle chime indicating she did something.

She still responds by saying "setting the scene" to some of my scene requests and by chime to other scene requests. Good luck trying to figure out the rules.

Right now, with my limited number of HK accessories, it appears that any scene or accessory that just toggles lights/lamps is a chime... everything else gets spoken.

 

[StumpyBloke]

She still responds by saying "setting the scene" to some of my scene requests and by chime to other scene requests. Good luck trying to figure out the rules.

Right now, with my limited number of HK accessories, it appears that any scene or accessory that just toggles lights/lamps is a chime... everything else gets spoken.

There are no rules. Mine is exactly the same. My scenes can elicit either response at any time... more crap-fest software from Apple. It gets worse.

 

[sparky672]

My scenes can elicit either response at any time... more crap-fest software from Apple. It gets worse.

Disappointing. So far, I am seeing consistency in this regard with chimes on certain scenes all the time. Otherwise, cursing at Siri is fairly routine over here.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Same here. I despise Siri almost as much as I despise Apple... just my opinion, but they are only interested in money these days. The quality of the software is no longer a priority.

With Apple's resources, literally unlimited potentially, they could make Siri the best assistant on the planet by far. Yet it is retarded, backwards, slow, unreliable, inefficient, ineffectual, and pretty much useless. Coupled with the instabilities of HomeKit which seems to be getting worse for many people, I really don't know where all this ends.

I think I have to count myself pretty lucky that HomeKit for me, certainly at the moment, seems reasonably okay and credit where credit is due, on the last two updates the responsiveness of scenes through HomePods is much much better. Maybe I am one of the few lucky ones. I feel very sorry for the people with continued issues.

 

[russell_314]

She still responds by saying "setting the scene" to some of my scene requests and by chime to other scene requests. Good luck trying to figure out the rules.

Right now, with my limited number of HK accessories, it appears that any scene or accessory that just toggles lights/lamps is a chime... everything else gets spoken.

Well, I’m hoping that Apple will invest more money and time into Siri. Even what would seem to be a minor change like this is a significant improvement in usability.


Sure Google has Siri beat by a mile but I would prefer to use Siri whenever possible for privacy reasons. I think with a little effort, Apple could get Siri working so much better.

I really think voice is going to be one of the main methods we interact with devices in the future. I hope Apple realizes this and pushes hard in this area. They don’t want to be caught like Blackberry, holding onto out of date technology when the iPhone came out.

Overall, I’m satisfied with Apple products but Siri is the one thing where they are lacking severely

 

[sparky672]

I think I have to count myself pretty lucky that HomeKit for me, certainly at the moment, seems reasonably okay

Me too... it's getting better/faster in certain areas and for the most part has been trouble-free. However, the HomeKit debacle starting with 16.2 last December that climaxed with 16.3.x pretty much killed my ability to remote control a $250 deadbolt for nearly two months; then fixed with 16.4. This is inexcusable from a company with the "it just works" tagline.

Whatever hot garbage was introduced in 16.2 and 16.3 should have been held off until it worked. Otherwise, when problems manifested, could have been quickly and quietly pulled back instead of leaving us hanging for so long.

Apple Home hub for remote control of that lock was my primary excuse for buying an Apple TV 4K that I really didn't need... then after it works great for over a year, I practically lost my most important HomeKit functionality for 7 weeks.

 

[russell_314]

Me too... it's getting better/faster in certain areas and for the most part has been trouble-free. However, the HomeKit debacle starting with 16.2 last December that climaxed with 16.3.x pretty much killed my ability to remote control a $250 deadbolt for nearly two months; then fixed with 16.4. This is inexcusable from a company with the "it just works" tagline.

Whatever hot garbage was introduced in 16.2 and 16.3 should have been held off until it worked. Otherwise, when problems manifested, could have been quickly and quietly pulled back instead of leaving us hanging for so long.

Remote control of that lock was my primary excuse for buying an Apple TV that I really didn't need... then after it works great for over a year, I completely lost that functionality for 7 weeks.

I agree, but I think it will get better as more people adopt, smart home features. Most people I know don’t use any kind of smart devices like lights. Even the ones that have an Alexa or Google use it for timers and such. Much of the hardware for smart homes is really not that good. Smart cameras, or just cameras as we know them now are a privacy nightmare. I have one and honestly the way I look at it is if someone wants to see me in my house naked I feel sorry for them. I would like it to be more secure but that’s just really not possible.

Smart locks is another fiasco that I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole. These companies make locks without a clue as to how to lock should be made. They make it like they’re making a smart toaster or something. I’m not saying your lock is bad because it might be great but I’ve seen so many examples of these smart locks that cost hundreds of dollars can be easily defeated by very simple means. Sure you can buy a $20 mechanical lock that can be defeated easily but if you spend $200 for a mechanical lock it’s going to be pretty secure. Even if you spend $400 for a smart lock, there’s no guarantee that the manufacture did anything to make it secure.

I think once smart devices become the norm it will get better. Just like smart phones are just phones now I think in the future all devices will be smart devices. We won’t say smart locks, we’ll just call them locks. Maybe they will be the occasional dumb lock like we have dumb (feature) phones now

 

[sparky672]

but I think it will get better as more people adopt

Who is going to want to adopt to something this fragile and finicky? But yes, eventually, you are right.

Most people I know don’t use any kind of smart devices like lights.

I agree. I cannot even imagine. Most people I know will not delve into something that requires so much babysitting and tweaking.

I’m not saying your lock is bad because it might be great

It's a Schlage so it's only as good as its SC-01 core. It's the most popular lock core in the US, but that does not mean it's the most secure by any stretch. My point is that my Schlage smart lock is as secure as any standard Schlage residental deadbolt. I don't get too worked up over lock security because I'm in an area where you can just break a window instead and nobody will hear it. That's why I have cameras and dogs; and other means of self-defense.

I think once smart devices become the norm it will get better.

I was once an alpha tester for Apple for the very first OS X. Those days are long behind me.

When the feature is built into my phone and expensive products are advertised to work with it, then I expect those things to keep working, and not take a two-month hiatus because Apple is f***ing around with it again. They have trillions in cash... hire/pay a million beta testers and get this crap worked out before I have to see it.

Two steps forward, one step back, is not how this used to be.

 

[russell_314]

Who is going to want to adopt to something this fragile and finicky? But yes, eventually, you are right.



I agree. I cannot even imagine. Most people I know will not delve into something that requires so much babysitting and tweaking.

You are correct. Right now smart homes are in the nerd phase. Normal people will just get up and flip a light switch. If you ask them they’ll probably tell you this is a solution looking for a problem. Maybe I’m just lazy, but if I have already laid down in bed and I can just tell Siri to turn off my lights, that is amazing 😂

It's a Schlage so it's only as good as its SC-01 core. It's the most popular lock core in the US, but that does not mean it's the most secure by any stretch. My point is that my Schlage smart lock is as secure as any standard Schlage residental deadbolt. I don't get too worked up over lock security because I'm in an area where you can just break a window instead and nobody will hear it. That's why I have cameras and dogs; and other means of self-defense.

I think people overthink the whole picking thing. Most criminals unless they’re targeting something high in value are not going to use some advanced technique the requires skill. I’d say if there’s a widely known exploit and it gets put out on TikTok showing you can take an upside down paper clip and the McDonald’s straw to unlock the lock, sure that it will get use, but other than that it’s just going to be a prybar or even a foot. I just made up the straw thing so don’t worry about your lock. I just mean how they come up with crazy things like this and they get blasted on social media.

I was once an alpha tester for Apple for the very first OS X. Those days are behind me. When the feature is built into my phone and expensive products are advertised to work with it, then I expect those things to keep working, and not take a two month hiatus because Apple is f***ing around with it again. They have trillions in cash... hire/pay a million beta testers and get this crap worked out before I have to see it.

I agree. I don’t think there’s enough effort being put into home automation, or Siri. Right now it feels like Apple is looking at this as sort of a public beta test. They should be looking at this as something of the future so they really need to push it hard because once customers gravitate towards something it’s going to be too late for them to change that. Sure Apple is a multi billion dollar company but technology is very volatile. If someone tomorrow came out with something that replaced the current smartphone as in the flat slab of glass, Apple would likely go out of business. Even if they didn’t go out of business right away, they would take a massive hit. When it comes to technology, companies always have to always be thinking ahead.

 

[sparky672]

because once customers gravitate towards something it’s going to be too late for them to change that

It's ironic since Matter is supposed to be the magic technology that de-couples us from picking one platform over another.

And yet, everything I have previously invested in was never tied to "HK only" or HK at all ... each device had its own app, and if you were lucky, its own server for remote access... never a dependency on HK. HK compatibility was a bonus.

Now that I am being teased into purchasing new devices made specifically for HK, I am becoming more dependent on HK to properly bring these things together in one place.

The two steps forward, three steps back, which was the last few months with HK is unacceptable. We should demand better from Apple.