Today, alongside iOS 12, watchOS 5 and tvOS 12 Apple has released a new update for the HomePod, Apple’s Siri based smart speaker. At the iPhone event last week, Tim Cook revealed at the end of the keynote that a new update would be coming to the HomePod, and today is that day.

What’s new?

This is one of the HomePod’s first major updates, it now includes the ability to search by song lyrics, this is very useful as sometimes you do just remember snippets of a song but can’t recall anything else. Simply ask Siri “play the song that goes like this….”

HomePod now supports phone calls, as long as you have Personal Requests enabled in Settings, you can now make and answer calls on your HomePod. A much requested feature is the ability to make and set multiple timers, this is something the Amazon Echo speakers have supported for a long time and can be very useful for cooking.

Like in iOS 12 that was released today, the HomePod now supports Siri Shortcuts. You could ask “Hey Siri, good morning” then Siri would run through a pre-programmed set of automated tasks.

With the new update, HomePod also supports Fine My iPhone so you can ask Siri when you iPhone or iPad is.

How do I update?

After a short period of time, HomePods will update automatically. But if you do want to update manually, Open the Home app > Tap the arrow in the top left hand corner > Click on the Software Update > Then press the Install button