The HomePod is rumored to have a fairly significant set of updates coming its way.
While the HomePod has gotten positive reviews in terms of its audio capabilities, it’s a bit behind the eight ball when compared with Amazon and Google’s smart speaker offerings. According to a rumor from French web site iGeneration, a beta version of iOS 12 has been distributed to internal Apple testers, adding a few much-needed features.
Some of the features iGeneration says are included in this update include:
– Initiate phone calls (currently, you can only hand off a call from your iPhone to HomePod, but can’t ask HomePod to call someone)
– Listen to voicemail
– Multiple timers
– Find My iPhone
– Change which Wi-Fi network your HomePod is connected to
– Better food and nutrition info for Siri
The HomePod is also said to be due for more international support, thereby extending its feature set beyond English-speaking markets.
HomePod present runs on a customized version of iOS, and is currently on iOS 11.4.1. While iPhones and iPads have a public beta of iOS 12 available, there are public beta tests of tvOS 12, and developers can even test watchOS 5, there’s no way for anyone outside Apple to test the upcoming iOS 12 update for HomePod. Even if you’re running the iOS 12 beta on your iPhone, your HomePod will remain on 11.4.1.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via Macworld and iGeneration