Apple’s smart speaker finally hits store shelves this week. Early reviews say the sound quality is amazing–yet the Siri assistant leaves something to be desired. As the New York Times noted: “Apple’s speaker is certainly an impressive piece of hardware. Audiophiles will appreciate that it has a woofer with a custom amplifier and seven tweeters. The result is a speaker with a deep bass and rich treble that is loud enough to fill a large room with superb sound. HomePod makes the Amazon Echo and Google’s Home sound muffled and tinny in comparison.”
However, the Times went on: “But Siri on HomePod is embarrassingly inadequate, even though that is the primary way you interact with it. Siri is sorely lacking in capabilities compared with Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant. Siri doesn’t even work as well on HomePod as it does on the iPhone.”
Regardless, the HomePod is definitely an early-adopter purchase. Those that want one want it no matter what the reviews say. And if that’s you–and you just snagged yourself a shiny new HomePod–here’s what you need to do to get it up and running.
Apple HomePod: What You Need
Before you can set up your HomePod you’ll need a few things. The first, obviously, is the HomePod. After that, you’ll need an iPhone or iPad running iOS 11.2.5 or higher. Finally, you’ll need to make sure you are signed up for an iCloud account and that two-factor authentication and iCloud Keychain are both enabled on the account.
Apple HomePod: Set Up
The cool thing about the HomePod is that its setup process is fairly straightforward. After plugging in your HomePod hold your iPhone or iPad near it and you should see a HomePod show up on the device's display.
- Tap the Setup button that appears.
- If you are a HomeKit user you’ll see an extra screen here that asks you which HomeKit Room you want to use for your HomePod. If you aren’t a HomeKit user you won’t see this step. If you do, select the room from the list.
- Next, choose if you want to enable Personal Requests. This feature allows Siri to read your messages and access your notes and reminders so it can tell you what events or things to do you have coming up. If you don’t enable this, you’ll be missing much of the functionality of the HomePod.
- The next step is simply agreeing to the HomePod’s terms and conditions.
- Now tap Transfer Settings. This will allow the HomePod to talk to your device you are using the setup process on and it will let it grab your iCloud account, Wi-Fi network, and other settings right from your device.
- You might now be asked to enter your Apple ID password. If so, enter it.
After that, you are done. Now Siri on the HomePod will take over and say hello and offer you a quick audio guide about the types of voice commands you can use with HomePod. After that, your HomePod is all done with the setup feature and you’re good to start using it. Enjoy!
by michaelg via Featured Articles
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