Apple HomePod Software Update Adds New Features & Spanish

Search by Lyrics, Set Multiple Timers and Make and Receive Phone Calls

Apple today announced new features for their HomePod wireless smart speaker enabling Siri to search by lyrics, set multiple timers, make and receive phone calls and more. With a free (and automatic) software update, HomePod adds support for Spanish in the US, Spain and Mexico, and expands support in Canada with Canadian French. Siri also has a deep knowledge of music and is a convenient way to send messages, check calendar appointments, control HomeKit accessories and more.

HomePod delivers the high-fidelity audio quality wherever it is placed in the home, and provides the option to combine two units for stereo listening. HomePod works together with an Apple Music subscription to stream over 50 million songs directly to HomePod.

On HomePod, users can also ask Siri to:

• Search by lyrics: In addition to asking Siri to play a particular song, artist or genre, now it’s easy to ask Siri to “play the song that goes like this…” or ask Siri to “play the song that goes ‘I’m a rebel just for kicks now.’”1
• Set multiple timers: HomePod now supports multiple named timers. Set a timer for the cake, another one for lasagna and another one as a reminder to dim the lights — using just your voice.
• Make and receive phone calls: Conveniently use HomePod to make and receive phone calls for crisp and clear audio quality. To make a call, simply ask Siri to call someone from Contacts or say the number to call. Incoming calls are automatically directed from iPhone to HomePod — just ask Siri to answer the phone — and for missed calls, it’s as easy as asking, “Hey Siri, who just called?” Using the audio picker on iPhone, calls can be moved from HomePod to iPhone at any time.
• Find My iPhone: The popular Apple Watch feature comes to HomePod, so users can ping any of their nearby devices to find them.
• Siri Shortcuts: Shortcuts opens up a world of apps to work on HomePod. As Siri learns routines and suggests ‘shortcuts’ on iPhone and iPad, these same shortcuts are now accessible on HomePod. Personalizing shortcuts for HomePod with a series of tasks is easy with a new Shortcuts app. For example, “Hey Siri, good morning” could run a morning routine and order coffee from a coffee shop’s app, turn on the kitchen lights from the Home app and share the first few calendar appointments for the day — all with one simple, customizable command.

HomePod combines Apple-engineered audio technology and advanced software to set a new audio quality standard for a small speaker. Featuring an Apple-designed woofer for deep, clean bass, a custom array of seven beamforming tweeters that provide pure high frequency acoustics with incredible directional control and powerful technologies built right in, HomePod is able to preserve the richness and intent of the original recordings.

HomePod delivers an even more immersive listening experience when two HomePod speakers become stereo pairs, delivering high-fidelity sound with a wide soundstage. Using spatial awareness to sense their location in the room, each HomePod automatically adjusts the audio to sound great wherever it is placed and sound great together. And with AirPlay 2, it’s easy to create a wireless multi-room audio system to play music in any room from any room, move music from one room to another or play the same song everywhere using HomePod, an iOS device, Apple TV or by asking Siri.

HomePod is a convenient way to send messages, set timers and reminders, check calendar appointments and the weather, control a wide range of HomeKit smart home accessories and listen to more than 550,000 podcasts from Apple Podcasts. The latest headlines, entertainment news and sports updates stream directly to HomePod, and Univision Noticias, ESPN Deportes, Telemundo Entretenimiento and others are now available with support for Spanish.

Security and privacy are fundamental to the design of Apple hardware, software and services. With HomePod, information will only be sent to Apple servers after “Hey Siri” is recognized locally on the device, via an encrypted and anonymous Siri identifier.

Without using your voice, Control Center on iPhone provides a quick view of what’s playing in every room and simple controls to adjust volume and more (see top photo).

Pricing and Availability
HomePod is now available for $349 in white and space gray in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany, and will be available in Mexico and Spain starting October 26, 2018.

HomePod is compatible with iPhone 5s or later, iPad Air or later, iPad mini 2 or later, iPad Pro or iPod touch (6th generation). By default, HomePod automatically installs new software updates. For more information on how to manually check for software updates on the Home app on iOS, visit Apple Support. The iOS device used for setup must be updated to the latest version of iOS.