Now that I am finally about to be ale set up HomeKit, I'm starting to look into what else can I do with it? Near as I can figure once HomeKit it set up I should be able to use Siri for voice control, similar to how we used to use Alexa, is that correct? lack of voice control has caused a reduction in WAF points, but that minor compared to the damage "hunches" did.
My home hub will be set up on Apple TV boxes. If my understanding is correct about voice control, then my next question is do I need home pods for voice control? or will the Siri on our phones work for that? Is there anything else I should know? or any other neat uses? thanks!
Once setup you will need to "share" the home to your SO. It works sort of like a shared dashboard so if you make all the changes on your Home app, it will sync to everyone who it is shared to.
For voice control, anything with Siri that is connected to the same account (or an account the home is shared to) should be able use voice control on the device. I use it on my watch all the time which is great for when you are outside. Some basic commands are even processed locally so they are super quick.
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The iPhones and Apple Watches do work for voice control, but you can’t just say “Siri, turn on the lights”, you have to specify the room and device for the most part if there’s more than one with that name. With HomePod minis, you assign them to a room, just like the Echo devices. This makes it easier (less wordy) to turn on lights, TV, etc for the room the HPM is in since you don’t need to specify the room you wish to control (unless you want to control devices in another room). The Siri Remote can also be used for this purpose. I have Echo dots and HPMs (slowly moving to HPMs) for voice control and find the HPMs to be 100% reliable for controlling the correct devices, whereas the Echos will generally turn on/off everything in a room when I ask it to turn on/off the lights. You will find that controlling devices with Siri on your iPhone (or Series 9 watch I’m told) is instantaneous, whereas the HPMs are about as fast as Alexa. That’s the difference local voice recognition that @jtp10181 mentioned makes.
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Just to add, you can also use Siri on your AppleTV to control your devices.
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