Regardless of the type of AI, I just wish Siri would work consistently. I’m still having all the problems I mentioned in the first post. Surely I can’t be the only one…?!
And now, Siri on my HomePod mini recognizes my voice, and even calls me by name; in fact, it won’t respond to anyone else’s commands.
But Siri on my iPhone, when I call out to it to “read my last text message” (e.g. while driving or in the shower), responds with “You’ll have to unlock your iPhone first.” Huh?
For your HomePod’s connection issues, turn off any band steering feature in your router (Netgear calls their implementation of this “Smart Connect”). HomePod’s Wi-Fi stack is absurdly brittle and picky.
For your Siri not reading messages issue, I think you have to allow previews on your lock screen; then Siri will (intuitively) read such messages, assuming you already allow Siri when locked in Settings.
Siri’s still rubbish, though. AI can’t come quickly enough, but I still hate, hate, hate the stupid decision Apple made to enable “back-to-back” Siri requests; now I can’t read the response for very long without being infuriatingly quiet. This is often difficult because if VoiceOver is on loudspeaker it will be heard by Siri. Sometimes Siri even hears itself talking and interrupts itself. Quite absurd!
Generally no connection issues with SmartConnect enabled.
Siri & Search/Allow Siri When Locked was already enabled; I don’t see an option to allow previews, but I do get them.
Siri on HomePod recognizes my voice/command. My question is, why does Siri fail to recognize my voice/command on iPhone, and instead compels me to unlock the iPhone?
YMMV, of course, but I’ve found this to be the single biggest reason for connection flakiness with HomePod. I wish Apple would fix it; band steering isn’t going anywhere.
In Notifications settings for each app, check it’s default and that your default is to show previews when locked, or change it per app to show the previews. I think that’s it.
I confess, it’s been a while since I last used my HomePod Mini which is now just resting in my bag, but I did get it working. If it’s working as intended from the phone, and you’ve got all the personalisation stuff turned on, it should be working on the Pod. However, TBH, I had more than enough complaints with its general bugginess and lack of capability that I eventually decided to do without. I might reconsider if they overhaul the functionality and bring it closer to iPhone, but my belief is that the best way to operate Siri is through Bluetooth speakers or headphones, direct to your phone.
Well, my HomePod has a capability that my iPhone lacks: voice recognition (it even calls family members by name). I wish they’d add it to the iPhone so I don’t get the dreaded “You’ll have to unlock your iPhone first” response.
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