Several new icons unearthed in the latest build of iOS 11.2.5 and shared on Twitter appear to reveal additional functionality included in Apple's upcoming HomePod smart speaker. On Sunday, Filipe Espósito found an image hidden amongst Apple's Home app assets that includes icons which suggest it will be possible to create custom scenes that mute the HomePod speaker's "Hey, Siri" function.
As Espósito notes, the function could be useful in a house party scenario, for example, where the owner might want to control other smart devices like lights and motion sensors while disabling Siri responses for privacy reasons.
Apple has not yet mentioned if HomePod can support more than one user, but Espósito believes there are references that indicate the speaker will distinguish between different voices to service multiple accounts. He also notes that existing assets show support for combining two HomePods for stereo sound, or using two or more HomePods to simultaneously stream music using Apple's AirPlay 2 wireless streaming protocol.
Apple originally announced the HomePod back in June 2017 at the Worldwide Developers Conference, where it demoed the speaker's advanced spatial awareness which intelligently adjusts to the surroundings to deliver the best possible sound. The company initially planned to release the Siri-based speaker in December 2017, but in a subsequent statement said it was pushing back launch to a more non-specific "early 2018" timeframe.
Rumors suggest HomePod supplier Inventec has started shipping the HomePod to Apple, whose historical definition of "early" is January through April, so it's still not entirely clear when it will launch. Supplies of the HomePod could also potentially be limited at launch, based on information shared from Inventec, and Apple has said the $349 speaker will initially only ship in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia.
Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued.
The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models.
In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring.
There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category.
M4...
Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by Juli Clover
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch.
All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19.
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag.
The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle.
Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
Apple today announced its first custom cellular modem with the name "C1," debuting in the all-new iPhone 16e.
The new modem contributes to the iPhone 16e's power efficiency, giving it the longest battery life of any iPhone with a 6.1-inch display, such as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16.
Expanding the benefits of Apple silicon, C1 is the first modem designed by Apple and the most...
Tuesday February 18, 2025 8:46 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is permanently closing its retail store at the Northbrook Court shopping mall in the Chicago area. The company confirmed the upcoming closure today in a statement, but it has yet to provide a closing date for the location.
Apple Northbrook opened in 2005, and the store moved to a larger space in the mall in 2017.
Apple confirmed that affected employees will continue to work for the...
Multiple users via voice recognition is already part of Google Home. Privacy protections if it doesn't recognise your voice as well. It's nice that Apple has these features ready from day one, but this doesn't sound like something special.
While I agree with you on Apple being extremely late to the party and coming in hot at a high price point, they do have at least one other thing going for them: a business model that isn’t centered on advertising.
I am happy that Apple will apparently cater for situations such as ‘wet and windy balloon time’, ‘tiny man in the garden hour’, and ‘fried egg with popcorn day’.
These are surely the hieroglyphics of the present, destined to be uncovered and debated by historians of the future as to their meaning...
‘So when the wifi symbol is blue it means ‘on’... when it’s grey... it means... ‘off’?’ -‘There appears to be conflicting evidence on that actually!’
I get how this is great for homes without HiFi, but what about those of us who don't need Apple's "premium" speaker system? I want a Siri "Dot"...as I'm sure many others do too.... [doublepost=1516612927][/doublepost]ETA, When the heck will Logitech Harmony support homekit!?!
putting on my "jony ive" thinking cap:
if your apple watch is more than capable of doing what an Echo Dot or a "Siri Dot" could do (because of the fact that it's always with you, it has a button to activate, and it has a touchscreen), why would you want to use a smart home speaker to use Siri?
your apple watch however doesn't play music outloud. so that's where Apple figured it can contribute. let a speaker do exactly what it should do and be really good at it: playing audio. making a Siri dot compromises on its number 1 task, so it has no reason to be.
if your apple watch is more than capable of doing what an Echo Dot or a "Siri Dot" could do (because of the fact that it's always with you, it has a button to activate, and it has a touchscreen), why would you want to use a smart home speaker to use Siri?
your apple watch however doesn't play music outloud. so that's where Apple figured it can contribute. let a speaker do exactly what it should do and be really good at it: playing audio. making a Siri dot compromises on its number 1 task, so it has no reason to be.
That's an answer to a question he didn't ask. :p
He's already got a decent hi-fi system and wants to add the Siri functionality from the HomePod to it, Echo Dot style. Your Apple Watch isn't much good (even if it was somehow connected to your hi-fi) if other family members want to use it while you are away from home.
if your apple watch is more than capable of doing what an Echo Dot or a "Siri Dot" could do (because of the fact that it's always with you, it has a button to activate, and it has a touchscreen), why would you want to use a smart home speaker to use Siri?
your apple watch however doesn't play music outloud. so that's where Apple figured it can contribute. let a speaker do exactly what it should do and be really good at it: playing audio. making a Siri dot compromises on its number 1 task, so it has no reason to be.
I have a pair of studio monitors at home that sound far better than the Apple HomePod. I don't need to listen to it to know that. Physics doesn't allow a speaker that big to have a proper range. The problem is they don't have a smart assistant like Siri or bluetooth connectivity. I think the point 'farewelwilliams' was making is that a dot allows people to decouple the smart assistant from the speaker giving you the best of both worlds.
I like the idea of a HomePod but for that kind of money you can buy yourself some really nice bookshelf speakers and an Amazon Dot and end up with far superior sound. For those of us in the Apple ecosystem it would be nice to have a more integrated product but I'm not willing to sacrifice sound quality for it.
Apple originally announced the HomePod back in June 2017 at the Worldwide Developers Conference, where it demoed the speaker's advanced spatial awareness which intelligently adjusts to the surroundings to deliver the best possible sound. The company initially planned to release the Siri-based speaker in December 2017, but in a subsequent statement said it was pushing back launch to a more non-specific "early 2018" timeframe. 
