The HomePod is back from the dead, and luckily it’s not just a zombie version of the original HomePod. Among the novelties, there is one that is hidden in the HomePod mini but not really active: a temperature and humidity sensor.
In March 2021, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported on the inactive temperature sensor in the HomePod mini’s outer shell. The new second-gen HomePod appears to have a similar sensor that actually works. On the HomePod website, Apple describes the features of the smart home hub and there is a section for “Temperature and humidity”. Here’s Apple’s description of the feature:
With its built-in sensor, HomePod can detect and tell you the room temperature and humidity. And you can set it in the automations so that the blinds close if the temperature reaches 80 degrees.
There’s a footnote to that first sentence that further explains how it works:
Temperature and humidity sensing is optimized for indoor and home environments, where ambient temperatures are approximately 15°C to 30°C and relative humidity is approximately 30% to 70%. Accuracy may decrease in some situations where sound is played for an extended period of time at high volume levels. HomePod requires some time to calibrate the sensors immediately after startup before results are displayed.
The HomePod mini’s tech specs have been updated to reflect the existence of the temperature and humidity sensor, so Apple will likely release a software or firmware update to enable it, though it’s likely to won’t arrive until February 3, the day the new HomePod starts shipping.