I run a fully local voice stack behind Home Assistant: qwen3:8b on Ollama as the conversation agent, mlx-whisper for STT and Kokoro for TTS, all on an M4 Mac mini, with four Voice PE units as the front end. It works, but the Voice PE firmware has a 2 s playback timeout that reopens the mic mid-reply and causes echo loops, and whisper struggles with my kids’ voices.

With HomeView shipping to AU next month, I want to try Apple hardware as the ears and mouth and keep the brain local. The plan:

1. Use the Companion app’s “Assist prompt” App Intent instead. Siri does on-device STT, a Shortcut hands the transcript to a dedicated HA pipeline (no STT or TTS stage, same Ollama agent), the text reply comes back and Siri speaks it. Works on iPhone and Watch today, and on HomePod via Personal Requests.
2. Test whether HomeView runs that Shortcut by voice. It has no App Store and projects apps from a paired iPhone CarPlay-style, so Personal Requests is the only likely path.
3. Watch the iOS 27 Siri Extensions story. It is partner-gated (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) with no custom endpoint reported. If Apple ever allows an OpenAI-compatible URL, a local proxy is already the right shape to receive it.

What I expect to gain: Siri owns barge-in so the echo problem disappears, and Apple’s far-field recognition for the kids. What it will not fix: the LLM stage itself, which is still my mini.

Questions for anyone who has gone down this road:

• Has anyone got “Hey Siri, Assist” working without the invocation-phrase dance, with or without the AppShortcutsProvider PR?
• Real-world latency for the Assist prompt action via HomePod Personal Requests, as opposed to directly on the phone?
• Any way to keep a multi-turn conversation going, given the Shortcut has no continue_conversation equivalent?
• Per-user voice recognition mapping to the right phone for kids, how painful is it in practice?

Happy to share numbers once the HomeView arrives.

Anyone have any experiences with Kanos speaker stands? Or other regular bookshelf speaker stands with a flat surface.

Currently have vebos stands with a ring, but wanted to see some other set ups.

I have them on stands to gain further separation as my tv stand is only 63 inches wide.

First time AppleTV owner, I was waiting for the Dolby Surround update and here it arrived, so I went all in.

Now, I wonder if I should add a Subwoofer or not, my room is relatively small, but I do want it to sound as best as possible; I will see how it sounds without it first and decide then. Any feedback is anyway appreciated.

Hi there,

Do you think someone will come up with a solution (a profile maybe) enabling HomePod mini 1 as default speakers for Macs with wifi 6E when 27.2 is released?

If it was only possible with the mini 2, I would buy Apple's position that you need wifi 6E for this to work. The thing is that it will also work with HomePod 2 which has the same wifi generation than the mini 1 (wifi 4) so this should be possible one way or another or amI missing something?

Hey guys
Really want to be able to stream music across 4-5 rooms of my house. Initially tried the echo dots and they were so glitchy.

Was going to go with Sonos, but have read the app is awful.

Was thinking about doing some HomePod mini’s, knowing usually apples tech is easy to use.

Not huge audio snobs, just want simple and effective.

So I guess the question is, home pod minis vs Sonos?

Hi all,
I am looking to connect HomePod gen2 via earc and the issue is that I cannot select my HomePod pair as audio output in the Apple TV app and the iPhone home app.

Here is my setup:
-Apple TV 4K 2nd gen connected to TV via earc hdmj port and hard wired internet
-SONY Z8h tv with enhanced data enabled on earc port
-2 HomePod gen 2 paired on a 5g wifi network
-ASUS gt-ax11000 router (can post 5g wifi settings as needed)

All devices are within 2 meters of the router

Issue: it just spins when I select the HomePod as audio output

I have tried deleting and recreating the stereo pair, selecting one HomePod and completely resetting my HomePods and even putting my Apple TV on the same 5g network. Any other idea

Same track, both apps say they’re playing 24bit 44.1khz, I make sure not to AirPlay Apple Music but rather stream direct from the HomePods (gen 1’s if it matters, HomePodOS 26.5). AirPlaying Tidal iPhone Air to HomePod pair.

Tidal’s mids and highs are just crisp, even room filling in my little bedroom….. Apple Music sounds… just bad man almost like some sort of volume levelling. (Sound check off in home settings)

My one and only wifi 6e AP is 2 metres from one HomePod and maybe 5 from the other, sound check turned off in home settings as well as Atmos.

I read HomePods ‘seamlessly switch to AAC’ and I suspect they’re doing this and lying in the music app… either that or Tidal’s masters just genuinely sounds that much better??? Even though so many say they can’t hear a difference?

I’m considering buying the new Apple TV 4K (4th generation) with its built-in microphones, but I have a few questions before pulling the trigger.

I currently have an original HomePod in my living room, which I use for hands-free Siri and HomeKit control. My main frustration is that Siri takes several seconds to respond to commands. For example, when I say “Hey Siri, turn off the lights,” there’s a noticeable delay before she says “On it,” but the lights turn off almost immediately after that.

I’m wondering whether the new Apple TV could improve this experience.

1. Can the new Apple TV 4K listen for “Hey Siri” and respond to smart-home commands when the TV itself is off or in standby?
2. If the Apple TV and original HomePod are in the same room, which device actually picks up and responds to “Hey Siri”? Does Apple intelligently choose between them, or does the HomePod usually take priority?
3. Is there a way to make the Apple TV handle hands-free Siri commands while keeping the original HomePod for music and audio?
4. Could the new Apple TV’s hardware and Siri capabilities meaningfully reduce the delay before Siri acknowledges HomeKit commands, or is that delay likely caused by something else?
5. Would I be better off replacing the original HomePod with the new HomePod mini 2 instead?

Thanks a lot!

Have been thinking of adding some speakers to my Mac mini (2024 M4 chip) and was initially thinking go going to ERA 100's or now I'm thinking of the HomePod mini 2's. What do you all think maybe better? I have sonos throughout my house already and this would add sonos to my library/computer room.

Here’s the splash screen for Home Theater on iPhone.

You’ll use Apple TV to set up and calibrate your surround setup. iPhone will offer to open Apple TV Remote to continue.

When paired with HomePod (2nd generation), HomePod mini 2 speakers can only serve as rear speakers.

This screen doesn’t ship in iOS 27.2 beta 4, but was added by Apple in an iPhone Duo simulator.

I’m considering buying the new Apple TV 4K (4th generation) with its built-in microphones, but I have a few questions before pulling the trigger.

I currently have an original HomePod in my living room, which I use for hands-free Siri and HomeKit control. My main frustration is that Siri takes several seconds to respond to commands. For example, when I say “Hey Siri, turn off the lights,” there’s a noticeable delay before she says “On it,” but the lights turn off almost immediately after that.

I’m wondering whether the new Apple TV could improve this experience.

1. Can the new Apple TV 4K listen for “Hey Siri” and respond to smart-home commands when the TV itself is off or in standby?
2. If the Apple TV and original HomePod are in the same room, which device actually picks up and responds to “Hey Siri”? Does Apple intelligently choose between them, or does the HomePod usually take priority?
3. Is there a way to make the Apple TV handle hands-free Siri commands while keeping the original HomePod for music and audio?
4. Could the new Apple TV’s hardware and Siri capabilities meaningfully reduce the delay before Siri acknowledges HomeKit commands, or is that delay likely caused by something else?
5. Would I be better off replacing the original HomePod with the new HomePod mini 2 instead?

Thanks!

Hello,

for some reason since some time my Homepod gen2 (1 large, 1 mini) will SHOW they play a spotfiy song, but there is no actual sound.

Apple music, Podcasts (NOT from spotify), Siri... everything works and puts out sound.

Ive reinstalled spotify, cleared the cache, adjusted the streaming quality, turned homepods on and off, the same with the router..

I am at the end of my wits - any explanation or fix for that available?

All of the above was proposed by chat GPT.

Now I am asking here - thank you!

Using HomePods as your TV for everything you connect to via ARC is great and all

But why should the TV go to sleep when it knows sending Audio to the console 😎

I know i can just switch to never sleep but i feel it should just know 😅

Or I'm missing something?

Has Apple made any statement regarding a hardware-based solution for the "ghost touch" issue for the new HomePod mini 2?

Because there’s no way I’m buying these new HomePods if I end up having to disable the feature two years down the line—once the warranty has expired—and lose that functionality altogether...

They’ve come up with a software fix in the upcoming 27.2 update, but surely we want it to work perfectly on the new units, right?!

My HomePod Minis used to reliably pick up smoke alarms in my house. Just had one go off the other day and noticed the Minis did nothing. Anyone else notice this, or have any other idea what it could be related to? All are running OS 27.

I have a PS5 Pro hooked up to my LG C4 through HDMI 1. I want to buy the new Apple TV 4K because my TV UI is getting more and more sluggish.

I know the Apple TV box gets connected with HDMI eARC to the TV but how exactly do I hook up the PS5 with the Homepods? I feel like there will be some kind of lag, no?

I'm wanting to get a HomePod for my bedroom, just for music and podcasts, and also phone calls.

Initially I thought the new mini, but then I saw you can do 2 in stereo! But at that point I'm only £50 off a HomePod.

If I just cared about sound quality does 1 HomePod beat stereo HomePod Mini 2's?

Or should I just get a normal Bluetooth speaker really?

Thank you.

Apple just released the HomeView, new HomePod mini 2nd gen and Apple TV 4K 4th.

All of a sudden my Apple TV 4K and 2 HomePods stop working for different reasons. 1 HomePod is having a ghost touch issue, the other stop working after an update and the volume buttons just keep flashing. My Apple TV 4k froze in the middle of an update and is not able to be updated or reset because there’s no USB input. Now I need to replace these products.

Coincidence? Maybe? Maybe not especially since we know they were slowing down the iPhones. Smh 🤦‍♂️

Just me or are your home products tweaking lately?

...But maybe offering a wall-mount version with less-audio fidelity is why they didn't actually name it HomePod touch.. But man, that makes so much more sense in an Apple ecosystem than HomeView. Someone at apple is starting to humor the letter V.

Either way, I don’t know if this has already been posted, recently or ever before. I didn't even search. I just made this image and thought "I must share this now and ask opinions on what everyone else thinks a better name would be"

Is the Home Pod ideal for a home office scenario? My home office is in a small apartment bedroom. I would use it as a speaker for video calls and to play Apple Music. And check the temperature (however you do that).

And do I need two of them to get the most out of it? I have an L-shaped desk and when I sit at it, I face the corner of the wall (the desk is against the wall). Wondering if one is enough?

What else can this thing do?

edit: Can I also make calls from my MacBook Pro (that's connected to my iPhone) from the Home Pod and if so how does that work exactly?

Hi, I intended to purchase a HomePod mini 2 for my room, but I am uncertain whether it will include any artificial intelligence in Europe, like the one with ChatGPT integration currently on iPhones. Thanks