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Problem with “Hey, Siri?” and nearest device

I have a HomePod located on one side of my house, and I’m with my iPhone on the other side. When I say “Hey Siri” the first time, my iPhone responds. However, from that point forward, when I say “Hey, Siri?”my HomePod on the other side of the house answers and I can’t hear it. What’s up?

Posted on Jun 20, 2020 9:12 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 20, 2020 9:46 PM

Hello,


You are welcome to share your feedback with Apple using the following link.


Product Feedback - Apple

4 replies

Jun 21, 2020 12:24 PM in response to QuickPost

Sorry, I hit “resolved” by mistake. I followed the link and provided feedback to Apple, but this has not resolved the issue I’m having right now. What would be helpful is a link to an Apple article or answer to post by someone who experienced the same issue I’m having (although that may come in the future as a result of the feedback I provided).


Best regards.

Jun 21, 2020 11:08 PM in response to Tdavismsw1

The Homepod is a very good listener (most of the time) and will detect your voice in other rooms but it won''t recognise when you are intending to address another Apple device with "hey siri". So at this stage the only Solution is to require a keypress (home button) in order to activate siri on your iphone. I prefer this anyway as it prevents siri from unintentionally activating at other times.

Otherwise you could disable "hey siri" on the Homepod but that defeats its main purpose.

My suggestion to Apple has been to allow users to modify the "hey siri" phrase to, say, "hey Homepod siri" - but don't hold your breath on that one.

Jun 22, 2020 12:34 AM in response to Michael Paine

Thanks for your response. I don’t understand, if the main purpose of the HomePod (And I agree with you) is to respond to “Hey Siri” commands (I.e., to play a song, answer a call, send a text), why would it be developed to hear my command from the other side of a 3,000 sq ft house where I can’t hear it at all? Makes no sense.


I believe, however, that something else is happening. The Apple Support Page (below) says that Bluetooth is used to determine which device heard me best and was used or raised last to determine which device to use. I can hold my iPhone (which was the last device I used “Hey Siri” on) on the other side of the house and softly speak “Hey Siri,” see the Siri app open on my iPhone, but then shut down (It certainly heard me best, and heard me first). The first time that happened I thought there was something wrong with my iPhone because I couldn’t hear HomePod answering the command. Surely the HomePod didn’t hear me from the other side of the house. I’m guessing it’s something to do with the Bluetooth communication between devices, and maybe geolocation issues for each device (on Find my iPhone, sometimes my devices are plotted on the house next door when they’re right in front of me).


At any rate, your suggestion to Apple to allow modification of the “Hey Siri” command to “Hey HomePod” or “Hey IPad” would be a GREAT fix for this issue. Sometimes I want to see the results I get from my command (like a web search or text message), and HomePod, obviously, doesn’t have a display like iPhone and iPad.


Thanks again,

Terry


The Apple Support Page on this issue says the following:


“Which device responds to ”Hey Siri”

When you say ”Hey Siri” near multiple devices that support ”Hey Siri,” the devices use Bluetooth to quickly communicate with each other and determine which one should respond to the request. The device that responds is the one that heard you best or was recently raised or used.


HomePod responds to most Siri requests, even when other devices that support ”Hey Siri” are nearby. To use Siri on a specific device, raise to wake that device or press the button to use Siri, then make your request.“

Problem with “Hey, Siri?” and nearest device

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