The Sound of Music…with a Twist!

Welcome to another story about the joys of being a Hal and saving other people from the myriad of daily frustrations of all kinds with cool “hacks” from the Hal team!

When it comes to assistance of various kinds, the Hal app combines the joy of tech with the ingenuity of human input (yeah…real people…imagine that) to solve problems, deliver solutions and provide the kind of Aha! ideas that really help out.

Recently, I had a customer call with a very common issue that can be maddening for all of us: a misplaced smartphone somewhere in the house! Fortunately, as long as you put one very simple step in place, you will never have this issue in your home.

The chat over the Hal app went something like this:

Hal (aka Me): “Just a sec…I’m here…how can I help you?”

Customer: “Hey Hal! I know this sounds dumb, but I keep losing my phone in my house…like, more than usual lately. I know how to locate it on a map and stuff if it’s left at some outside location, but how about in my own house?”

Hal: “You’ve come to the right place! I have an idea for you that just may do the trick! First of all is it an Android phone or an iPhone?”

Customer: “I have an iPhone 11 Pro. And my partner has a Google Pixel 4a, but they don’t have the issue quite as often as I seem to! Lol”

Hal: “No worries! This solution actually can work for either device. I just wanted to know because the solutions are each slightly different depending on what type of phone you use.”

Customer: “OK, Hal. I am ready for this one, because I’m over trying to figure out where I left it.”

Hal: “Since you have an iPhone, you probably use Siri every so often. If you activated the ‘Hey Siri’ option in Settings, then we’re golden!”

Customer: “Yeah. I did enable it but I admit I don’t really use it that much.”

Hal: “In this case, that won’t matter, as long as it is enabled we can make this happen. Now all you do is literally go from room to room and say ‘Hey Siri! Play Back in Black by AC/DC at full volume’. It is one of the loudest songs ever recorded, so you are more apt to hear it play from your phone even if it’s stuck between the couch cushions.”

Customer: “Hal! That is brilliant! Now I can listen for it and finally stop my exhausting guessing game all over this place. You rock.”

Hal: “Awww, you’re making me blush. Just another day in the life of a Hal.”

Customer: “Hey, before we close out here, how is it different for an Android phone, so I can tell my partner about this trick?”

Hal: “Good question. Basically, they would need to have the ‘Hey Google/OK Google’ feature active on their device to do it, but the request is essentially the same. They just invoke the command with ‘Hey Google…play Back in Black by AC/DC at full volume’. The result will be the same for them.

Customer: “Thanks Hal. You really saved the day with this one!”

Hal: “That’s why we’re here! Glad to be of help today.”