The Apple Home Pod: A Smart Addition to Your Home Kit Setup?

If you're a HomeKit user, the Apple Home Pod could be an intriguing addition to your smart home setup. In this video, we'll take a look at just how well the Apple Home Pod interacts with HomeKit.

After setting up your Home Pod, the smart speaker is automatically added to your HomeKit setup. It can be found within the Home app, and a simple tap on the Home Pod tile will play or pause your music. If you 3D touch or long-press, you'll find all of your settings for your Home Pod. These settings are broken up into a couple of different sections, like music and podcasts, and a section dedicated to Siri.

The main way to operate or interact with your Home Pod is by using the Siri voice commands. For example, if you have Lifx bulbs or a Nano Leaf Aurora like I do here in the studio, you can say things like "Hey Siri, turn on the lights." If you have different scenes set up within the HomeKit app, you can ask Siri to turn on those scenes.

For those who have used Siri with their iPhone 4 HomeKit accessories in the past, this is no different. You can say "Hey Siri, turn on color her scene waaaaaah," and most products will operate normally. However, with smart locks, you're limited to locking or checking the status of your lock, and if you wish to unlock, you'll need an iOS device for further authentication via Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode.

The Home Pod has six microphones that are strategically placed around the speaker in order to accurately pick up your voice from anywhere in the room. This feature is actually very impressive. I can't recall a time where the Home Pod has yet to hear my Siri voice command called out from anywhere in the office. The Home Pod despite its small size can't get very loud, but the really impressive part about those microphones is that the Home Pod is still able to hear my commands clearly from across the room while playing loud music.

This obviously comes in handy when you're trying to ask Siri to control your HomeKit accessory and you might be in another room or in a loud environment. The Home Pod also lacks voice recognition, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you want to look at it. The good news is that if you have multiple family members throughout your house who want to use the Home Pod, they don't need to train their voice with the Home Pod. It just automatically picks up the Siri voice commands.

However, the bad thing is that means anyone who comes into your house could mess with your Home Pod and your HomeKit accessories whether you want them to or not. This lack of voice recognition can be a security concern, but it also gives users more flexibility when it comes to controlling their smart home devices.

Finally, your Home Pod will also act as a Home Hub. For those who are unfamiliar with the Home Hub, it allows you to control your HomeKit devices or scenes using the Home app while you're away. You can also trigger accessories based on the time of day, location, or the actions of another device. Having a Home Pod in the studio has definitely helped me interact with my HomeKit accessories more easily and efficiently.

So, do you use your HomePod for HomeKit? Let us know in the comment section below!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enif you're a homekit user then the Apple home pod could be an intriguing addition to your smart home setup hey everyone dan with MacRumors and in this video we're gonna take a look at just how well the Apple home pod interacts with home kit after setting up your home pod the smart speaker is automatically added to your home kit setup it can be found within the home app a simple tap on the home pod tile will play or pause your music and if you 3d touch or long-press you'll find all of your settings for your home pod these settings are broken up into a couple of different sections like music and podcasts and a section dedicated to Siri now of course the main way to operate or interact with your home pod is by the Siri voice commands so for example if you have lifx bulbs or a nano leaf Aurora like I do here in the studio you can say things like hey Siri turn on the lights if you have different scenes set up within the home kit app you can ask Siri to turn on those scenes for those of you who have used Siri with their iPhone 4 home kit accessories in the past this is no different hey Siri turn on color her scene waaaaaah most products will operate normally however with smart locks you're limited to locking or checking the status of your lock and if you wish to unlock you will need an iOS device for further authentication via face ID touch ID or a passcode the home pod has six microphones that are strategically placed around the speaker in order to accurately pick up your voice from anywhere in the room this feature is actually very impressive I can't recall time where the home pod has yet to hear my Siri voice command called out from anywhere in the office the home pod despite that small size can't get very loud the really impressive part about those microphones is that the home pod is still able to hear my commands clearly from across the room while playing loud music it's kind of amazing so this obviously comes in handy when you're trying to ask Siri to control the home kit accessory and you might be in another room or in a loud environment the home pod also lacks voice recognition which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you want to look at it the good news is if you have multiple family members throughout your house that want to use the home pod they don't need to train their voice with the home pod it just automatically picks up the Siri voice commands the bad thing is that means anyone who comes into your house could mess with your home pod and your home kit accessories whether you want them to or not finally you're home pod will also act as a home hub so for those of you who are unfamiliar with home hub the hub allows you to control your home kit devices or scenes using the home app while you are away you can also trigger accessories based on the time of day location or the actions of another device so having a home pod in the studio has definitely helped the way I've interacted with my home kit accessories do you use your home pod for home kit in your house let me know in the comment section down below this has been down with MacRumors thanks for watching and I will see you next timeif you're a homekit user then the Apple home pod could be an intriguing addition to your smart home setup hey everyone dan with MacRumors and in this video we're gonna take a look at just how well the Apple home pod interacts with home kit after setting up your home pod the smart speaker is automatically added to your home kit setup it can be found within the home app a simple tap on the home pod tile will play or pause your music and if you 3d touch or long-press you'll find all of your settings for your home pod these settings are broken up into a couple of different sections like music and podcasts and a section dedicated to Siri now of course the main way to operate or interact with your home pod is by the Siri voice commands so for example if you have lifx bulbs or a nano leaf Aurora like I do here in the studio you can say things like hey Siri turn on the lights if you have different scenes set up within the home kit app you can ask Siri to turn on those scenes for those of you who have used Siri with their iPhone 4 home kit accessories in the past this is no different hey Siri turn on color her scene waaaaaah most products will operate normally however with smart locks you're limited to locking or checking the status of your lock and if you wish to unlock you will need an iOS device for further authentication via face ID touch ID or a passcode the home pod has six microphones that are strategically placed around the speaker in order to accurately pick up your voice from anywhere in the room this feature is actually very impressive I can't recall time where the home pod has yet to hear my Siri voice command called out from anywhere in the office the home pod despite that small size can't get very loud the really impressive part about those microphones is that the home pod is still able to hear my commands clearly from across the room while playing loud music it's kind of amazing so this obviously comes in handy when you're trying to ask Siri to control the home kit accessory and you might be in another room or in a loud environment the home pod also lacks voice recognition which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you want to look at it the good news is if you have multiple family members throughout your house that want to use the home pod they don't need to train their voice with the home pod it just automatically picks up the Siri voice commands the bad thing is that means anyone who comes into your house could mess with your home pod and your home kit accessories whether you want them to or not finally you're home pod will also act as a home hub so for those of you who are unfamiliar with home hub the hub allows you to control your home kit devices or scenes using the home app while you are away you can also trigger accessories based on the time of day location or the actions of another device so having a home pod in the studio has definitely helped the way I've interacted with my home kit accessories do you use your home pod for home kit in your house let me know in the comment section down below this has been down with MacRumors thanks for watching and I will see you next time\n"