In this article, we’ll go over how to use this new feature and show you how to use it with Apple Home smart home automations.
With the new temperature and humidity sensor in HomePod, you can easily check what the temperature is in the room your smart speaker is in just by asking Siri. Say, “Hey Siri, what’s the temperature in here?” and the voice assistant will respond with your current reading. The same goes for humidity control.
You can also use the Apple Home app on an iPad or iPhone to view current readings. Here’s how to view the temperature or humidity in your home; this also works when you are away from home.
With Apple’s Home app, you can put HomePod’s new sensors to work by creating automations that make other smart home devices respond to temperature or humidity that rises or falls below a certain threshold.
This could be used to turn on a fan connected to a smart plug when the temperature in your bedroom rises, or to turn on a humidifier when the humidity drops below a comfortable level. If you have smart blinds, you can set them to go down if the temperature rises in a room between noon and 7 p.m.
apple warns that the sensors are optimized for ambient temperatures between 69 degrees Fahrenheit and 86 degrees Fahrenheit and a relative humidity of around 30 to 70 percent, and that accuracy is not guaranteed if the speaker is playing music for long periods of time at a volume high, so keep that in mind when you trust any automation you set up.
