HomePod is a breakthrough speaker that adapts to its location and delivers high-fidelity audio wherever it’s playing. Together with Apple Music and Siri, it creates an entirely new way for you to discover and interact with music at home. And it can help you and your whole family with everyday tasks — and control your smart home — all with just your voice.
Now I'm going to be up even longer administering the Voight-Kampff Test to all of these sheep. Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac Siri is a handy virtual assistant. It’ll fetch information. Kegan shows us how to use Siri in the MacBook Pro to get the most out of our favorite virtual assistant. Using Siri on the Mac Book Pro. Changing from Windows to Mac - First Impressions.
Major sound,
minor scale.
This purposefully designed speaker creates rich, nuanced sound that defies its size. HomePod combines custom Apple-engineered audio technology and advanced software to deliver precision sound that fills the room. And at just under seven inches tall, HomePod fits anywhere in your home.
Deep bass with
range you can feel.
The Apple-designed high-excursion woofer is positioned at the top of the speaker facing upward, creating a wide range of deep bass that surpasses any traditional speaker. A six-microphone array, along with an internal bass-EQ microphone, analyzes and compensates for the effect of the room on the bass response, providing rich, consistent sound. And a powerful motor drives the diaphragm a remarkable 20 mm, so the bass shines through even when the volume is low.
Far and away
an incredible listener.
Six microphones positioned around HomePod allow it to pick up all the sound in a room. When you say “Hey Siri,” advanced signal processing, together with echo and noise cancellation, allows HomePod to hear you without the need to raise your voice — even if you’re across the room with loud music playing. After HomePod recognizes the words “Hey Siri,” what you say is encrypted and sent anonymously to Apple servers without being tied to your Apple ID.
High-fidelity audio
that’s all around you.
A custom-designed array of seven beamforming tweeters, each with its own amplifier, creates tremendous directional control. Placed around the base and using a folded-horn design, they send the flow of music toward the center and then out the bottom in a 360-degree pattern, resulting in an all-encompassing sense of space. This virtually eliminates early table reflections and allows for consistent high-definition sound.
The biggest brain
ever in a speaker.
An Apple-designed A8 chip orchestrates all the remarkable audio innovations inside HomePod. Like advanced signal processing so Siri can hear you over the music. Real-time studio-level processing that maximizes the bass while minimizing distortion. Buffering that’s even faster than real time. And upmixing of both direct and ambient audio. You get amazing sound, every single time.
Designed to be
seen and heard.
HomePod is wrapped in a seamless mesh fabric designed for aesthetics and acoustic performance. Available in white and space gray, it’s gorgeous from every angle — yet virtually transparent to the sound waves passing through it.
Knows how to
work a room. Automatically.
Setting up HomePod is quick and magical. Simply plug it in and your iOS or iPadOS device will detect it. Equipped with spatial awareness, HomePod automatically tunes itself to give you optimal sound — wherever it’s placed. Pair it with a second HomePod to create an unmatched stereo experience. And bring multiroom audio to your whole home with AirPlay 2.
Wall-to-wall.
Ceiling-to-floor.
It’s room-filling sound.
Place HomePod anywhere in the room. With spatial awareness, it automatically analyzes the acoustics and adjusts the sound based on its location. Direct sound, including the main vocals and instruments, is beamed to the middle of the room, while ambient sound is diffused into left and right channels and bounced off the wall. So the entire space is filled with rich, well-defined tones.
Control music throughout the home.
And experience a new dimension of stereo sound.
When you add HomePod to multiple rooms, the speakers communicate with each other through AirPlay. So you can ask Siri to play jazz in the living room and the Moana soundtrack in the kids’ room — or to play the same song everywhere in the house — all from where you’re standing. And for a wider, more immersive soundstage, put two HomePod speakers in a single room to create a stereo pair. Each HomePod automatically detects its placement and adjusts the music in balance with the other.
Keep listening.
Without missing a beat.
Whether you’re halfway through a phone call or listening to a song or podcast on your iPhone, you can easily hand it off to HomePod. Just hold your iOS device next to HomePod and whatever you’re listening to will continue to play seamlessly on HomePod.
The ultimate music authority.
HomePod is built to bring out the best in Apple Music.1 With the intelligence of Siri and access to over 50 million songs, it learns what you like and helps you discover more music you’ll love. And that takes the listening experience to a whole new level.
50 million songs never sounded so good.
Apple Music unlocks virtually every song you can imagine.1 Stream anything in our catalog along with music from your existing library. And friends connected to your Wi-Fi network can stream their music right to your HomePod. Don’t have Apple Music? Try it free for three months and cancel anytime.
Learns the music you like, plays the
music you’ll love.
When you’re really into a song, say “Hey Siri, I like this.” Or, if a particular song or genre isn’t your thing, you can say things like “Hey Siri, I don’t like electronic music.” The more you tell HomePod, the more Apple Music learns your taste in music. Which means you can also just say “Hey Siri, play something I’d like” to hear your favorite songs, as well as new tracks similar to the ones you like.
Listen live to local radio stations.
Tune in just by asking Siri.2
Stream audio from more sources with AirPlay.
With over 700,000 shows, Apple Podcasts helps you discover powerful new stories and catch up on all your favorites.
Relax with Ambient Sounds — featuring the soothing sounds of ocean waves, forest birds, rainstorms, and more.
Hey Siri, what’s the song that goes “I travel the world and the seven seas”
Search for music by lyrics.
Hey Siri, play the new album by Daniel Caesar
Play music by artist, song, or album.
Hey Siri, play something chill
Play music by mood or genre.
Hey Siri, play the Fitness playlist
Play Apple Music playlists or your own.
Hey Siri, play the latest Oprah podcast
Listen to your favorite podcasts and radio stations.
Hey Siri, play the sound of ocean waves
Relax with Ambient Sounds.
A helping hand is just a “Hey Siri” away.
HomePod is great at the things you want to know, and do, in your home. From getting the latest weather to sending messages and controlling your smart home accessories,3 Siri makes it easy to multitask with just your voice — and customizes the listening experience for everyone in your family.4
Home to an intelligent assistant.
Whether you need the latest traffic, news, and sports or want to set multiple timers for different tasks, Siri is ready to help. You can also make and receive calls right on HomePod — just ask Siri to call a friend, dial a phone number, or answer an incoming call by saying “Hey Siri, answer my iPhone.” HomePod can even help you schedule and stay up to date with your Calendar appointments.
A personalized experience.
For each person in the family.
Together with Siri, HomePod can learn and recognize up to six different voices and create a personalized listening experience for everybody at home. So when they say “Hey Siri, play some music” they’ll get a mix of songs customized just for them — picked from Apple Music based on their listening history and personal preferences. And with Personal Requests, they can access their own messages, reminders, lists, and calendars, and make and receive phone calls.4
This is how you command a room.
Siri Commands For Macbook Pro
Just say “Hey Siri, turn on the lights” or “Hey Siri, make the room cooler.” You can even ask Siri to set scenes, like “Good morning,” that put multiple smart home accessories to work — all at once. Just add an accessory to the Home app, then control it with your voice on HomePod.
Hey Siri, set a 30‑minute sleep timer
Set and control multiple timers.
Hey Siri, where’s my iPhone?
Locate your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook with a ping.
Hey Siri, text Sofia “I’m running late”
Send and listen to messages.
Hey Siri, turn on the kitchen lights
Control your HomeKit accessories.
Hey Siri, what’s my first meeting today?
Manage your Calendar events.
Siri is Apple's voice-controlled personal assistant and she, or he, has been around for several years now. The assistant first appeared on the iPhone 4S but Siri is also available on iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod and the Mac (macOS Sierra and later) - check out our guide to Siri on macOS.
Siri has developed with age. Her intelligence has grown and her abilities have expanded. She has also had to keep up with Microsoft's Cortana, Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant.
So what is special about Siri? What is she able to do, how does she do it and what can she help you with if you are an Apple user? Here is everything there is to know about Siri.
What is Siri?
As we mentioned, Siri is a built-in, voice-controlled personal assistant available for Apple users. The idea is that you talk to her as you would a friend and she aims to help you get things done, whether that be making a dinner reservation or sending a message.
Siri is designed to offer you a seamless way of interacting with your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Apple Watch, HomePod or Mac by you speaking to her and her speaking back to you to find or do what you need. You can ask her questions, tell her to show you something or issue her with commands for her to execute on your behalf, hands-free.
Hey Siri Macbook
Siri has access to every other built-in application on your Apple device - Mail, Contacts, Messages, Maps, Safari and so on - and will call upon those apps to present data or search through their databases whenever she needs to. Ultimately, Siri does all the legwork for you.
How to start Siri
You can ask Siri to carry out a task by just saying 'Hey Siri' to your iPhone, AirPods, connected Bluetooth headsets, Apple Watch or HomePod.
You can invoke Siri by using buttons, too. If you have a Touch ID iPhone (iPhone 6S or later) hold down the Home button, then say what you need. For Face ID iPhones (iPhone X and newer), hold down the side power/wake button. On some devices, you might need to wait for Siri to appear before you make your request.
On HomePod, you can press the home button in the centre of the top of the device.
On Apple Watch, hold down the Digital Crown or say 'Hey Siri' within a few seconds of raising your wrist. From here, you can command Siri to do various tasks and it depends on what you are asking as to how Siri on the Apple Watch responds.
For example, if you ask her to direct you somewhere, she will bring up the map on your Watch and you just press start to get going.
Ask a more complicated question that requires a longer answer however, and Siri will open on your iPhone to complete the task.
Download Siri For Macbook
Things such as opening an app, setting an alarm, calling your mum or finding out the score of your favourite team can all be done from the Watch though and Siri will be enhanced for WatchOS 6 - due out in the next couple of weeks.
What can Siri do?
Siri For Macbook Pro
Siri can do a lot. She's pretty damn clever and sometimes she is quite funny too. If you want to get a giggle out of Siri rather than ask her to do something serious, then check out our guide to the best Siri Easter Eggs.
Otherwise, Siri can help you when you're out and about, with sports and entertainment information, phone calls and messages, getting organised, tips and tricks and of course, giving you answers.
At a glance, she will read your last email, text your friend to tell them you're running late, shuffle your road trip playlist on Apple Music, let you know what films are playing today, find a table for three in London or call your dad at work.
She can also tell you where a good restaurant is nearby, flip a coin, find books by a specific author, set an alarm, give you directions and even set a reminder that will activate only when it recognises that you're in, or have left, a certain location ('pick up dry cleaning', when you leave work, for example).
That's not all though, in fact it probably isn't even half. She'll tell you what the weather is like tomorrow, move meetings, tell you when the next game is for your team and you can even get her to roll a die, along with a series of other things such as teach her how to pronounce your name or tell her which of your contacts are family members. We told you she was pretty smart.
How does Siri work?
Siri is based on the based on the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing, and it is comprised of three components - a conversational interface, personal context awareness and service delegation.
The conversational interface is about how Siri understands you in the first place. The general workings of the straight word-for-word voice recognition have to be good in order to hear what you're saying but deciphering the meaning is all down to statistics and machine learning, which is where the personal context awareness system comes in.
The conversational interface is about how Siri understands you in the first place. The general workings of the straight word-for-word voice recognition have to be good in order to hear what you're saying but deciphering the meaning is all down to statistics and machine learning, which is where the personal context awareness system comes in.
There's a huge amount of work in Siri that can predict what you're getting at based on key words that you use, as well as your general habits and language choice. She is designed to adapt to your individual preferences over time and personalise results.
The service delegation system is the unbridled access to all of the iPhones built-in apps and their inner workings. This access is how Siri does what she does. Without the access, Siri would be a pretty rubbish assistant.
The service delegation system is the unbridled access to all of the iPhones built-in apps and their inner workings. This access is how Siri does what she does. Without the access, Siri would be a pretty rubbish assistant.
Does Siri speak my language?
Siri can speak and understand English (Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, US), Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Norwegian, Cantonese, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Russian, Turkish, Thai and Portuguese.
How do I change Siri's gender and accent?
If you want to change Siri to a man or a woman, you'll need to head into Settings > Siri & Search on iOS or Apple Menu > System Preferences > Siri on macOS Sierra or later. You can change Siri settings on HomePod within the Home app and Apple Watch within the Watch app.
Siri Voice options for gender and dialect depend on the language you pick.
Within these Siri settings is also where you can allow or disallow the 'Hey Siri' command, as well as view Siri Shortcuts, and decide if you want to allow Siri when your device is locked.