HomePod will pass Siri queries beyond music playback to linked iPhone or iPad for processing

A delve into the new HomePod firmware, and developer documentation shows that Apple's forthcoming smart speaker will process full Siri queries on a synchronized iPhone or iPad rather than refusing them, or processing them on-device.

Alongside the iOS 11.2 beta and HomePod firmware update, Apple noted that full SiriKit requests, such as those involving contacts, Messaging, Lists, and Notes will be handed off to a connected iPhone or iPad for processing. Looking further at developer documentation, music-related requests look to be handled independently on the device, and won't require handoff to a linked device.

Developers can test app compatibility for voice-only Siri requests by connecting headphones into an iPhone or iPad running iOS 11.2.

Apple's $349 HomePod was revealed at the 2017 WWDC and will ship in December. The HomePod is powered by an Apple A8 chip featuring realtime acoustic modeling, audio beam-forming, and multi-channel echo cancelation. It also features a subset of Siri, optimized for music consumption.

Apple has been forthcoming about what the device will be capable of at launch since it was announced at the 2017 WWDC. The developer's notes surrounding iOS 11.2 are the first indication of how the HomePod would handle more conventional Siri requests.

"One of the advantages that we have is that there are a lot of things that Siri knows to do from the cloud," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview shortly after the debut of the device. "We'll start with a batch of those as (marketing chief) Phil (Schiller) showed you today during the keynote, and then you can bet that there's a nice follow-on activity as well."

Earlier firmware examinations suggested that the A8-powered HomePod will boast 1GB of RAM and a 272-by-340 pixel screen, suggesting that rudimentary app support will be possible for the hardware in the future.

20 Comments

anantksundaram 20391 comments · 18 Years

About 7 years ago

It won't be very good, in other words.

Soli 9981 comments · 9 Years

I hope there's some miscommunication or understanding of the findings because if it's not as good as the Echo and Alexa I think that's going to be a problem.

Mike Wuerthele 6901 comments · 8 Years

Soli said:

I hope there's some miscommunication or understanding of the findings because if it's not as good as the Echo and Alexa I think that's going to be a problem.

Seems pretty clear.

From Apple, linked in the article: "With the intelligence of Siri, users control HomePod through natural voice interaction and can conveniently access iOS apps that support SiriKit Messaging, Lists, and Notes. Siri recognizes SiriKit requests made on HomePod and sends those requests to the user’s iOS device for processing. To prepare your app, make sure that your SiriKit integration is up to date and that you’ve adopted all of the appropriate intents."

xzu 139 comments · 19 Years

Me: "Siri, Play the song Lola by The Kinks"
Siri: "I don't understand 'Play the song Lola by The Kinks"

Me thumbing through my music library to find the song, hit play.....

With the HomePod... that entire interaction just takes a few milliseconds longer and I have to stay later at work to help pay for the HomePod.

eightzero 3145 comments · 14 Years

Ummm...so in other words, for full functionality, you need another device. Like Apple Watch is essentially an iPhone accessory. So too apparently is HomePod. I guess that's not a surprise. Seems like maybe it could go fetch things like messaging, lists, contacts and notes via iCloud though.

I'm not buying one, so I guess I don't have any skin in the game. And I'm not a home assistant user (Alexa or Googly) either. YMMV.