Apple HomePod mini » Smart speaker with impressive sound
Updated: 10/31/2023 | Reading time: 9 minutes
The HomePod mini from Apple combines impressive sound with the artificial intelligence of Siri and offers the option of controlling smart home devices easily and conveniently.
It connects wirelessly via Wi-Fi and can be used to stream music, podcasts and radio plays as well as a digital assistant at home to help with everyday tasks.
Thanks to its appealing design, Apple's Siri speaker blends harmoniously into any living or working environment.
Brilliant, room-filling sound on demand - the Apple HomePod mini makes it possible. As the successor to the first-generation Apple HomePod, the small smart speaker impresses with rich 360° audio that reaches every corner of the room. It scores with excellent bass reproduction and produces a perfectly tuned, balanced sound at any volume. The speaker can be conveniently controlled by voice command using Apple's own Siri voice assistant. Thanks to noise filtering, the integrated microphones pick up the human voice even when the speaker is playing music at maximum volume.
The Apple HomePod mini is not just a sound specialist, it also takes care of everyday tasks. From lighting to blinds, the intelligent speaker can be used to control all HomeKit-compatible devices in the smart home. It connects wirelessly via Wi-Fi to other network components and the internet, for example to use streaming services such as Apple Music. Regular software updates make the speaker even smarter.
The HomePod mini is just 10 cm wide and 8 cm high, making it about the size of an orange. This means that it not only looks stylish, but also fits easily anywhere. Whether on the living room shelf, on the desk or on the worktop in the kitchen - thanks to its compact design, it fits easily into any environment. Thanks to the time announcement, alarm function, sleep timer and sleep aid sounds, the smart Apple speaker also performs well in the bedroom.
The Apple HomePod mini produces room-filling 360° sound that is evenly distributed throughout the room and can be heard from any angle. The brilliant sound can be attributed to a driver developed by Apple, which works with a neodymium magnet and reproduces both low and high tones in excellent quality. Apple's own passive woofer brings out the bass even more. Thanks to computational audio, the sound appears balanced and harmonious at any volume. In order to always find the optimum setting, the Apple S5 chip processes all relevant algorithms in real time - however complex they may be.
Even with the volume set to maximum, the HomePod mini hears the human voice. Four microphones permanently filter out ambient noise and are always ready to receive voice commands via the “Hey Siri!” command. This means you don't have to turn the speaker down or move towards it when speaking. The Apple HomePod mini can be combined with other HomePod minis via AirPlay 2 to form a multi-room system so that you can listen to different or the same music in different rooms. If two speakers are combined within a room, it is possible to create true stereo sound by using one HomePod mini as the right channel and the second HomePod mini as the left channel. In combination with Apple TV, this ensures an outstanding sound backdrop in the home theater.
Being able to communicate and stay informed at all times - this is possible with the HomePod mini. If there is more than one smart speaker in the house, you can use Intercom to get in touch with other family members or roommates and exchange information. Intercom allows you to send and receive messages between two HomePod minis and have them forwarded to your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods and CarPlay - so you're always up to date, whether you're at work, at the gym or in the car. To send or reply to a message, you can either use Siri or call up the Intercom function in the Home app.
Apple's voice assistant Siri is the perfect everyday companion. It performs all the tasks involved in organizing your household, work and leisure time simply by calling you. Siri starts music playback, provides information about the weather and the latest news, manages the calendar, reads out personal messages, writes shopping lists, calls contacts from the phone book and answers any questions you ask her. Siri makes operating the HomePod mini convenient and also ensures a personalized experience by remembering six different human voices and assigning them to the respective people and their profiles. If person A asks for music, Siri delivers tracks tailored precisely to their individual preferences. As a result, person A hears something different than if person B were to ask for music.
The HomePod mini enables convenient control of smart home components that are compatible with Apple HomeKit. The components are simply set up in the Home app so that Siri can access them and find out their status. It identifies the devices using metadata stored in the Home app and can then make numerous settings. For example, it is possible to switch the lighting on or off. If the mode is available, the brightness and light color (cold/warm/neutral white or RGB) can be changed on demand. It is also possible to turn thermostats up or down to heat more efficiently. Siri is also able to raise or lower the shutters, start or stop fans or check whether the front door is locked. The latter is possible by querying the status of connected accessories. Siri not only reacts in real time, but also performs tasks at a later time if required. The information only needs to be formulated, like this: “Siri, turn off the lights at 10pm.” If devices are grouped into zones or rooms, they can also be controlled collectively via Siri. In this way, for example, the light can be switched off on the entire upper floor.
Apple is known for its ecosystem, in which all components are perfectly coordinated. All Apple devices and the cloud interact with each other and are able to communicate with each other without any loss of time or data. Everything works as if from a single source and the Apple HomePod mini also fits seamlessly into the system. For example, if you are listening to music via the speaker and have to leave the house spontaneously, you can continue listening to the track on your iPhone without interruption and don't have to worry about missing anything. Simply hold the iPhone up to the loudspeaker and the phone knows where to jump in. Music suggestions tailored to your individual taste can also be displayed on your iPhone as soon as you hold it up to the Smart Speaker.
Protecting privacy and personal data is a high priority at Apple. This was also incorporated into the development of the HomePod mini. The smart speaker only responds when you tap it on the touch surface or say the short command “Hey Siri”. The device does not track anything else that is spoken. This means that conversations remain confidential and are not leaked. Furthermore, requests to Siri are not associated with the personal Apple ID. Instead, a random ID is generated. This means that no conclusions can be drawn about your identity and you remain virtually incognito. Apple cannot access the data that the HomePod mini and the iPhone exchange with each other because the information is processed directly on the devices. This also applies, for example, to image and video data that is recorded with a HomeKit-supported surveillance camera and sent to the HomePod mini so that it can check whether a known person has rung the doorbell. Data is only exchanged between the camera and the speaker. Only after processing is the information encrypted and sent to the iCloud.
Siri shortcuts can be divided into three categories: Firstly, there are specific commands for the HomePod mini, which can be used to change the settings of the smart speaker. Secondly, there are general commands that are processed by the HomePod and forwarded if necessary. These include instructions for controlling smart home components. We give you an overview of the most useful shortcuts.
Shortcuts to control the HomePod mini
Hey Siri...
... louder please.
... reduce the volume by 30 percent.
... play the entire album.
... play more songs like this.
... I like this song.
... play a song to relax / from the top ten of 1998 / from the eighties.
... add the song to my media library.
Shortcuts to control the smart home
Hey Siri...
Switch devices on or off:
... switch on the light.
... switch off the fan.
Set the device:
... set the temperature to 20 °C.
... set the light in the living room to full brightness.
Control a room or zone:
... switch off the heating on the upper floor.
... switch off the light in the study.
Control the room in which the HomePod is located:
... switch on the light.
Activate a scene:
... good night.
... activate the 'Read' scene”.
Check the status of the house:
... Is the garage door open?
... Have I left the light on on the first floor?
Remotely control devices with the control center:
... switch off the heating in the living room.
... switch off the light in the whole house.
For Apple fans who already own one or more Apple products, the requirements for using the HomePod mini should not be a problem. An iOS device is required, i.e. an iPhone, an iPad or an iPod Touch that supports the latest iOS version or iPadOS version. This is the only way to use Apple's own voice assistant Siri. This is not possible with Android devices. The HomePod mini can be used with the following Apple devices:
- iPhone SE
- iPhone 6s or newer
- iPad Pro
- iPad of the 5th generation or newer
- iPad Air 2 or newer
- iPad mini 4 or newer
- iPod touch 7th generation
Access to the Apple Music and iTunes streaming services is also recommended, as these provide a wide range of content that the HomePod mini can access - from podcasts and news to audio books, radio plays and live concerts. Furthermore, the HomePod mini requires stable Wi-Fi (802.11n Wi-Fi) in order to connect to the network components and the Internet.