How to use the intercom on Apple HomePod and HomePod Mini

One of the great but often overlooked features of the best smart speakers is the ability to use them as an intercom. Assuming you have multiple speakers throughout the house, this is an effective way of communicating without shouting at the top of your lungs or ringing someone’s phone. An intercom is no longer just for executives in huge offices to call their next meeting; You can use it to effectively invite your kids to dinner.

This also applies to the HomePod and HomePod Mini. It is perfectly possible to carry on conversations (to a certain extent) and to transmit messages to other areas of the house via the loudspeakers. Whether you want to tell the kids that dinner is ready, do their homework, tell everyone to get up in the morning, or whatever other message you have, here’s how to do it on HomePod do.

before you start

Before using your HomePod as an intercom, there are a few things you need to do to make sure you’ve got everything covered. The first is to make sure your iPhone or iPad is running regardless of the latest update. This also applies to any other iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or HomePod you might want to use to send Intercom messages.

Especially since iOS 16 and the other associated OS versions are scheduled to roll out from September 2022, it’s a good idea to make sure you don’t have a mix of different versions.

How to set up and control intercom access

One of the nice things about the intercom feature on HomePod is that you have complete control over who gets to use it. For example, if you don’t want your kids to text you all the time, you can exclude them if you have their profiles in your home setup. The people panel is especially important because you can use iOS devices to send messages using the intercom feature. You can also exclude individual HomePods from receiving messages at any time.

It’s a good idea to set all this up before you start using the intercom. Open the Home app on your iPhone or iPad and follow these steps.

1. Open Home Settings. In iOS 15, that’s behind the house shaped Symbol. In iOS 16 you can find it behind the three points menu icon.
2. Tap on intercom.
3. Choose your preferred notifications.
4. Choose which members of your household you can send Intercom messages to.
5. Choose which speakers you want to be able to send and receive intercom messages.

You are now set up and ready to start sending intercom messages.

How to send intercom messages

There are a number of methods you can use to send Intercom messages to your HomePod speakers. In addition to HomePod speakers, you can send messages using iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, and even CarPlay to announce a message from the car.

How to use each.

How to send intercom messages from HomePod, HomePod Mini, AirPods and Beats headphones

To use your speakers or headphones to send messages to your other speakers, simply use your voice to invoke the feature by saying:

• “Hey Siri, intercom “

This will automatically stream to every enabled HomePod speaker in your home. If you want to target a specific speaker or group, you can do that too:

• “Hey Siri, ask “

This then targets those specific speakers or groups without having to disable others in the Home app.

If you’re using your AirPods or Beats headphones, you have to remember that they need to be connected to an iPhone or iPad to use the two-way talk feature.

How to Send Intercom Messages from iPhone and iPad

If you’re using an iPhone or iPad, there are two different methods you can use to send Intercom messages. One of them is certainly more convenient than the other.

Assuming you have “Hey Siri” enabled on your device, you can do it the same way you would on your HomePod. This also applies when using CarPlay.

• “Hey Siri, intercom “

Alternatively, you can use the Home app to send Intercom messages if you spend a lot of time in it.

1. Tap the waveform icon in the upper right corner.
2. Speak your message. You can use the same principles outlined above to dictate specific speakers or groups.
3. Beat those stop button when you are done to send the message.

How to Send Intercom Messages from Apple Watch

You can also use your Apple Watch to send Intercom messages to your various HomePod speakers. There are two methods and both are very similar to using other devices. To send an intercom message using voice only, just say:

• “Hey Siri, intercom “

As with the other devices, you can specify a specific speaker or group of speakers to send the message to.

Alternatively, like on iPhone, you can use the Home app on Apple Watch to send Intercom messages.

1. open that home app on your Apple Watch.
2. Wipe Low.
3. Tap on intercom.
4. Speak your message, remembering again that you can tailor it to specific speakers or groups.

How to reply to HomePod intercom messages

Intercom is good, but it wouldn’t be as useful if it was just a one-way street. Luckily, those in rooms you’ve delivered messages to can reply through these HomePod speakers. By default, if a message has been sent to all HomePods, it will also be sent back to all of them. If the original message was addressed to a specific location, the response is sent back only to the origin of the message.

To send a reply, just say:

• “Hey Siri, reply “

Or you can dictate a location for your answer by saying:

• “Hey Siri, reply “ followed by your message.

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Intercom is a simple yet incredibly useful feature on HomePod and HomePod Mini. The ease of setup and use of Apple’s various devices makes it something the whole family can use and certainly reduces the need to yell between rooms!