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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1318513
1. Hey Siri, announce “we’re going to go to the movies in five minutes.” 2. Hey Siri, intercom “Lincoln, please clean up your room and then come do your homework.” 3. Hey Siri, intercom Isaac’s bedroom “time for dinner!” 4. Intercom “I’ll be home in five minutes, I’m bringing pizza.” (If not using “Hey Siri” tap the Intercom button or press the Siri/voice control button on your device or CarPlay connected car.) 5. Reply “sounds great! Thanks.” (If using AirPods Pro, you can immediately speak “reply” followed by your message. No need to say “Hey Siri.”) Limitations of Apple’s Intercom The features of Intercom are straightforward and easy to use, and that’s great; but, hopefully, Apple will continue to bring updates to it. Personally, I would like to see the following additions and improvements: 1.Transcription of messages that display on iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, Apple Watches, and other HomeKit supported devices—such as HomeKit-enabled TVs. 2. Word recognition. It would be awesome if Intercom added relative sounds to announcements, similar to Amazon Echo devices. It would also be useful for making suggestions on your iPhone using apps such as Maps; for example, if you were to say “we’re going to Outback Steakhouse in 10 minutes,” it could then display the restaurant location on your iPhone making it easy to hop in your car and press navigate. 3. Walkie-Talkie. Apple already has a Walkie-Talkie app on Apple Watch. I would love to see this come to all Apple devices so you could communicate back-and-forth between rooms and devices directly. Amazon Echo features the Drop-In feature which creates an open channel between two Echo units; I would love to see something like this added to HomePods. 4. U1 proximity support. It would be really useful if Intercom would exclude devices that are next to the device sending the message or within the room the message is coming from or being sent to. This could cut down on the number of notifications you receive. What Are Your Thoughts on Intercom? I personally was surprised by the lack of features introduced with HomePod—and frankly still am. I think Intercom opens the door for lots of improvements in how we communicate, but also for new HomePod features in the future. What do you think? Will you use Intercom or do you think it’s gimmicky? What changes would you make? Let us know in the comments and on social media. Have fun. Stay safe and stay healthy. As always, thank you so much for reading!