Apple HomePod now has voice recognition for multiple users

HomePod is taking a page from tvOS 13

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Starting soon,Apple HomePodwill be able to pick up on who’s speaking and give them personalized recommendations and notifications forAppleMusic, Messages, Notes, Reminders and more, all part of Apple HomePod’s new multi-user feature.

The feature was announced during theWWDC2019 keynote and is just one of many updates coming to the smart speaker later this year.

Some other features coming our way are Handoff, the feature that allows you to share an audio stream from an iOS device just by holding it close to the speaker. HomePod will also be getting live radio support for over 100,000 stations from all around the world.

Many of these features were also announced for the new version of iOS (iOS 13) and the new version of tvOS (tvOS 13).

A HomePod for everyone in the house

Apple made a big deal out of personalized results at this year’s WWDC keynote - in fact, it’s a cornerstone of both iOS and tvOS. The HomePod features are really an extension of that - i.e. while it makes a ton of sense to see personalized TV show recommendations, it also makes sense for the HomePod to be able to know who’s talking and tailor results to that person.

It’s also the kind of thingGoogleAssistant has been able to do for the last year, so it’s high-time that Apple catches up.

So when can we expect our HomePods to be a bit more personal? Expect to see these new features land with the full release of iOS 13 which, based on previous launches, is likely to land in September 2019.

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Nick Pino is Managing Editor, TV and AV for TechRadar’s sister site, Tom’s Guide. Previously, he was the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar, covering TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He’s also written for GamesRadar+, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he’s not using if anyone wants it.

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