HomePods and Siri after iOS 17

TidBITS Talk
1

Hey all,

In the past, the Home Pods would respond to my saying “Hey Siri”, and they would play the requested music. However, since updating my iPhone to iOS 17, whenever I tell Siri to play some music it begins playing through my iPhone instead of my Home Pod minis. My speakers no longer seem to respond to me. Any ideas on how to reactivate the speakers so that I’m not having to use Airplay from my iPhone to the speakers?

Cheers and thanks!

2

Have you applied the Home Pods update?

3

Hi Lisa, I haven’t not personally done it, as it’s set to automatic updates. I confirmed that it has been updated.

4

Are you certain that your iPhone is not the active device? Test by intentionally putting the iPhone in sleep mode and then placing it face down on the table or putting it your pocket. Then try talking to Siri on the HomePod.

I will say that since updating to iOS 17 and HomePod Software 17, I’ve found that Siri is missing commands more often, forcing me to repeat myself. My current thinking is that it might be related to the new option to allow Siri to respond to either “Hey Siri” or just “Siri” but I haven’t had time to test yet.

1 Like
5

This has been my experience since updating to 17.x. Moreover, text commands which were flawless are now erratic, on any device attempting to interact with Home Pod Minis

6

Adam, you were spot on. My iPhone was picking up my Siri requests, instead of the Home Pods. What’s most interesting about this is that the only thing that’s changed is the update to iOS 17 and whatever version of the OS the Home Pods are running. My iPhone is always in my office with me and next to me when I address the speakers, and yet they’ve known that I was talking to them and not the iPhone.

Now going forward, how do I address the speakers and not the iPhone, without having to put the phone in sleep mode?

7

I’m not sure what would have changed, but the best I can suggest is to make sure your iPhone is set to Auto-Lock quickly in Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock. That way it will be in sleep more often.

Apple has to do a lot of device status checking and communication to figure out which device should respond to Siri requests and play alarms and that sort of thing, so it’s possible that logic got updated (for the worse) in iOS 17. With luck, it will get better.