The HomePod mini is the key to an Apple smart home

When Apple announced the new Midnight HomePod mini around a month ago, I was in the middle of troubleshooting my Sonos system, so I decided I’d put the Sonos away for a few months while the company fixed its software and try out Apple’s multi-room audio solution instead.

Things have been great, and the small speaker unsurprisingly punches above its weight class in typical Apple fashion. It might be a bit disappointing that Apple Intelligence is likely never coming to the older device, but it’s still more than capable of setting alarms, controlling lights, and starting timers, which are the main things I use digital assistants for anyway.

Plus, it has some great hidden features that help the HomePod mini fit into the Apple ecosystem in unexpected ways. I’ve even used two HomePod minis as stereo speakers for my Apple TV 4K, and it was incredibly easy to set up.

How is it as a smart speaker?

The HomePod mini is unlikely to blow anyone away with its sound quality. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s small, so it can’t compete with larger top-end speakers like the full-sized HomePod. That said, I don’t have any jarring complaints. It was more than enough and had a surprisingly balanced sound, considering its small footprint and price tag ($129). You can even crank it up to be super loud, but as you get above 90 percent, it feels less balanced but still very good.

When you pair two in stereo, things sound much better, and if you really care about sound quality, there is a larger HomePod that sounds excellent and also gets better when paired in stereo. Really, most smart speakers just sound nicer in stereo, but most cost a lot more than the HomePod mini, especially when you want to get two. That said, you can get two minis for less than the cost of a single big HomePod ($399).

Where the HomePod mini shines is more with its smarts. For one, it works extremely well with AirPlay. Sometimes with Sonos speakers or my TV, AirPlay will fail, but every single time I’ve tried to connect wirelessly to the HomePod mini, it just worked. The second awesome smart feature is Apple’s Handoff API. This lets you bring your iPhone or Apple Watch near a HomePod to control what’s playing on it or to change the audio. I have one on my desk, and being able to tap my phone to it in the morning to shift over a podcast or playlist has quickly become part of my routine.

One area that could use some improvement is how Siri reacts when multiple smart speakers are in a home. While I tested the speakers in my living room as TV speakers, we had two HomePod minis in the living room and the other on my desk in our spare room. The kitchen sits between these two spaces, so when my partner or I tried to ask Siri to control the kitchen lights or to start a cooking timer, we could never bank on what HomePod might respond. Technically the one in the office is closer, but I think sound channels more directly from the kitchen to the living room, making that speaker think it should respond.

Even if I raise my wrist with my Apple Watch and accidentally say, “Hey Siri” out of habit, sometimes the HomePods will answer me instead of the watch I’m holding inches from my face. At the end of the day, it should be noted that this problem persists across most smart speakers I’ve tested, and for cooking timers and things with even a medium of importance, I try to use my phone or watch so I can watch the timer actually count down.

Wait, two of these can replace a soundbar?

As I mentioned above, one of the features I was really excited to test was using two HomePod minis as the speakers for my projector. Since the projector sits behind me, it isn’t very aesthetic to run a long HDMI cable across my living room to connect to my soundbar. The HomePod promised to solve this problem, and they’ve been great so far.

Setting up the speakers is pretty much as easy as plugging them in near your Apple TV 4K and agreeing to the on-screen prompts that pop up. You can also pair them together in the Apple Home app and then select that pair from the Apple TV audio settings.

While I think anyone wanting to set up a nice home theatre should probably spend a little more on the audio to go alongside it, the HomePod minis worked better than I could have expected. Just make sure you’re using an HDMI 2.1 cable to the eARC port on your TV or projector, and you shouldn’t have any issues.

You need to use the eARC HDMI port if you want the HomePod minis to also act as your TV speakers for video games or other things that aren’t technically routed through your Apple TV. You can get away without eARC if you only use the Apple TV and not any other devices.

At the end of the day, these speakers work great, and I think anyone who wants to upgrade a bedroom or backup TV with better stereo audio can’t go wrong connecting to two HomePod minis. However, they don’t support modern surround sound formats like Dolby Atmos, so if you want to set up an above-average home cinema, you’ll want large HomePods or a large soundbar.

Other features

Beyond Handoff and using the HomePod mini as a television speaker, there are a few other cool features that help set the Apple smart speaker apart from the competition.

One of the more fun abilities is to use your HomePods as intercoms, which is cool if you have a big house and a large family you need to contact all at once. However, for most people like me, I suspect this feature goes underutilized. Perhaps I would use it more if it was tied to the Apple Watch Walkie-Talkie function, but since you need to use Siri or the Apple Home app, I don’t find myself utilizing it more than regular texting and calls.

One pretty neat feature is that the HomePod mini also has a temperature sensor, so it can work in conjunction with a smart thermostat to help regulate the temperature in your home. It can also sense humidity, which again, can be paired with smart humidifiers or de-humidifiers to help keep your home running automatically.

I’m still not sold on the new HomePod mini being Midnight (the same colour as the MacBook Air).

Other features you might expect as here as well. You can use the HomePod mini as a speakerphone, but you may have to make sure you have ‘Siri personal requests’ turned on in the HomePods settings if you want to be able to start a call from your HomePod. The HomePod can be programmed to recognize up to six voices and if it recognizes your voice you can do things like add reminders, send texts and know who your contacts are.

One final note I should mention is that the HomePod mini can act as a Matter home hub allowing you to connect any Matter enabled accessories to your smart home that can then be controlled via your HomePod.

Who is the HomePod mini for?

Taking a step back from my time with the HomePod mini, I think many people would be happy with this smart speaker. The only issue I see is that during Google and Amazon’s marketing blitz for Alexa and Google Assistant a few years ago, those companies made it really affordable to get their smart speakers so a lot of people already have a basic smart speaker.

I think the HomePod mini is better than comparably priced devices from those other companies, but if you use it to control simple smart home stuff, such as some music, timers, and lights, all the speakers will be about the same.

Where the HomePod, and by proxy, the HomePod mini, excel is with its smart features and interesting software. Being able to use these as TV speakers with my Apple TV is awesome, and the Handoff feature has made its way into my life more than I expected because it just feels so convenient and natural. On top of that, it’s a cheap way to start a Matter smart home and beyond everything, it really is the best-looking smart speaker on the market.

Overall, for $129, the HomePod mini is an impressive unit, and I’ve enjoyed having them around my house instead of Google, Sonos or Alexa speakers. For just playing music the HomePod mini is more than enough for me, and all its smarts make it a really helpful smart home companion for Apple users.