HomePod software is generally tied to iOS, and after the release of iOS 14.4 we also saw the arrival of a new version of Apple speaker software. And the new version includes a major upgrade to one of the best features of HomePod.
If you’ve been in the Apple ecosystem for a long time, you’ll know Discount, one of the functions of what Apple calls continuity. What Handoff essentially allows is continue tasks on other devicesIf you are viewing a website on the iPhone you can continue from your Mac, if you edit a note on the iPad you can continue on the iPhone.
With Handoff, you can start working on one device, switch to another, and pick up where you left off.
AND between the iPhone and the HomePod there is also a continuity, so that by simply closing one device to another, what is being read goes from one to the other. If we are playing a song or podcast on the iPhone, we just need to bring it closer to the HomePod and the content will start playing on the speaker, and the same in reverse.
The Handoff Upgrade on the HomePod mini
he HomePod mini and iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models have Apple’s U1 Ultra-Wideband chip, which allows devices to locate and track each other more precisely with enhanced indoor positioning capabilities.
And thanks to this chip, Apple has improved the transfer of content between the iPhone and the HomePod mini with the arrival of iOS 14.4. Now we have richer experience than before, when we only had a little notification.
The first thing you need to know is that now, just by being near the HomePod mini, your iPhone will display a notification than to see the content that you can play on the speaker. Tap it to show the controls and the music will start playing.
You used to have to get really close to the HomePod mini, but now you can do this from a distance of about 30 to 40 centimeters. In addition, the iPhone will start to vibrate and blur the screen, the closer it is, the more the effect will intensify.
Another novelty is that Playback controls will appear on your iPhone when you play content from HomePod mini, even if we don’t send it from the iPhone.
A very interesting improvement that you will surely appreciate if you have the small Apple speaker. This stuff is what only Apple can do, and what enhance their ecosystem of devices and software.
