4 HomePod Mini automations to optimize your day
I’ve been exploring this orange-sized gizmo for the past 3 months, to automate and optimize every minute of my day. These are 4 practical automations to ACTUALLY save you time. At the end of the article, you’ll also see what is NOT possible, so you don’t waste your time trying to do it (I speak from 3 months of experience surfing Reddit threads and specialized Facebook groups).
Disclaimer : you’ll need a music service for most of these. The only compatible app ACTUALLY works was Apple Music. I got the 3 month demo version to use it free and I’ll add other options soon (I really don’t want to pay for Apple Music).
1. Wake up automation (home automation)
If you don’t want to sleep with your phone next to your bed, put your Homepod in the other room and use this automation.
I’ve grown fond of waking up telling my homepod to “stop the music”.
Benefits:
a) you avoid the pitfall of checking social media when you first open your eyes, but you can also
b) you actually wake up because you have to speak to your homepod (works even better if your pod is in the other room so you have to shout at it).
Pro Tip: it’s crucial that you choose a song that you like and inspires you.
Personal favourite: Edward Grieg: Morning (Peer Gynt Suite no.1, op.46)
You can also set up : a random song if you like to be surprised, a radio station or a podcast. BUT if you want a one-off chime for example, you can’t do it, unless you have an audio file that contains only that.
Pro Tip: create a duplicate automation where you choose a different song for the weekend ( I recommend “Easy like Sunday morning”) to condition your brain to switch to the weekend mood. The pavlovian effect is always a safe bet !
2. Wake up update (personal automation)
After enjoying 2 minutes of heavenly classical morning music (see previous recommendation), you can transition into the real world with a personal update.
For this, you’ll need to either be patient and create this from scratch or download it. Personally, I prefered to see an example of how others did it and then create my own.
You can see here an example where i start by telling my phone to change the playback destination to the homepod, then I ask it to tell me the weather and the news. If you choose the news of the Google assistant, you can choose the source of the news. It comes with Reuters by default, but it’s interesting to choose a regional one and get the news in your local language.
3. Sleep automation (personal & home automation)
This one’s for those who like to look at their phone during the night and goes across the full panoply of Apple gadgets.
This automation changes the settings to minimize the screen disruption coming from your phone, AirPods or Apple Watch, and it will protect you from harmful radiation from your phone.
How to build
Step 1
Create a new automation on your phone at a set time every day and ask it to do the following: reduce the brightness to 0%, set the volume to 6% (if you want to sleep while listening to something), turn on airplane mode (because the Iphone generates a LOT of radiation; protect your health!), turn on do not disturb on your phone and set cinema mode on your watch.
Step 2
Create a home automation that starts 1 minute later than the first, and have it play sounds every weekday. I recommend “Night Sounds”, for a duration of 30 minutes. You will feel like you’re sleeping in a lavender field in the French Provence.
Pro tip: you might want to duplicate this one and create a different one for the weekends, so that it starts later. Skip the music part, so it doesn’t bother you if you watch a movie late into the night.
4. Welcome home ! (home automation)
I admit… this one is just for kicks! it takes a second to set up, and the Homepod will recognize when you (your phone) gets home (where your Homepod is) and it plays music. It’s a small thing, but it’s very nice to come home to some nice music. It also “warns” everyone else that you’ll be home soon, approx 200 meters range.
If you have multiple users set up, you can choose to apply this for any person coming home, or for a specific person.
Pro tip: You can make this more useful if you want, by scheduling a podcast instead of a random song, or a news station from TuneIn Radio.
Bonus: you can do the reverse of this, so the HomePod stops playing when you or everyone leaves the house. I didn’t need this, since I don’t listen to music that much.
If you prefer to have it run sounds or white noise in the background, this can also be a time saver.
What the Homepod can’t do (but it should)
- Read your mails / announce your messages
2. Handle your business calendar- yes, i know on paper it can, but most companies lock Siri’s access to corporate data, so bye bye dictation or voice control.
3. Write any emails : personal or private. You can create an automation that will take what you dictate and send to your email, but the automation will generate an error.
4. Automate interphone : it would be cool to have your Homepod track when you leave the office and announce to your family that you’re on your way. It can’t do it
5. Understand foreign names: although it speaks languages like French or German, it always pronounces anything with an english accent. Good luck guessing how Siri think Joe Dassin is pronounced (the French in me is revolted).
Conclusion: overall the homepod can automate a lot of things on the long term after more software enhancements. For now, it still remains a basic level of programming and has limited use cases in real life.
