This hasn’t been a great year for the HomePod, but Apple’s finally showing its smart speaker some love. Today’s HomePod 18.2 software update brings a key upgrade to what’s surely the device’s most used Siri feature: Apple Music requests.
Siri now understands natural language Apple Music requests
It’s been a big year for AI, but unfortunately the device built entirely around Apple’s ‘intelligent assistant’ has largely been overlooked in 2024.
What might have been a big moment for HomePod has resulted in…a very minuscule color change that most people couldn’t tell apart from what it replaced. Oh, and several software updates that have done nothing but, purportedly, fix bugs.
But all is not lost for HomePod fans. Today Apple has a treat coming via the first noteworthy software update of 2024.
HomePod 18.2 is shipping today with a significant improvement.
Here are Apple’s release notes:
If you own a HomePod, you undoubtedly use it to make Apple Music requests often.
Now, Siri can understand those requests even when you use natural language.
Most of us have gotten used to the strict diction that we know Siri will understand, but with HomePod 18.2 we can apparently loosen up with what we say.
Siri should, in theory, now understand requests like, “Play some pop hits from the 90s, but keep it chill.”
I’ve been unable to test this yet, but if it works well, natural language support for Apple Music requests could make for a much improved Siri experience. Even without Apple Intelligence.
Have you tried natural language search in HomePod 18.2? How is it working for you? Let us know in the comments.
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