Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Apple finally activates HomePod Mini’s hidden temperature/humidity sensor

By Jon Bitner January 23, 2023

Apple recently revealed its second-gen HomePod, which is set to become the company’s flagship smart speaker in 2023. Featuring the S7 chipset, spatial audio, Matter compatibility, and tons of fancy room-sensing tech, the device is certain to be a hit when it launches in February. It’ll also feature a temperature and humidity sensor. Oddly enough, so does the existing HomePod Mini — except Apple has only just activated the feature.

Apple has kept the temperature and humidity sensor deactivated for years, although now, with the launch of a new HomePod around the corner, the company has finally gone ahead and turned on the instrument in its existing Home Mini lineup. Once your HomePod Mini receives the update, you’ll be able to use it to track both the temperature and humidity in your home, then use that information to create various automations through Apple Home.

Black HomePod mini on a side table, in front of an Apple TV — John Velasco/Digital Trends

For example, you can have your thermostat or fan automatically kick on when your HomePod detects a certain temperature. It’s a minor feature, but one that should give you a bit more versatility to create automations for your home without needing to buy an external sensor.

The temperature/humidity sensor feature should be unlocked with today’s iOS 16.3 release, which also brings support for the upcoming HomePod, along with various security-minded updates. This includes an update on how Emergency SOS calls work and the use of physical security keys as part of two-factor authentication.

The HomePod Mini is available today for $99, while the newly announced HomePod will launch on February 3 for $299.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Jon Bitner is a freelance journalist whose gaming addiction began with the SEGA Genesis. His work has been published on…

Smart Home

Sorry, there’s no new HomePod on the way

Customers inspect the new Apple HomePod at an Apple Store on February 9, 2018 in San Francisco, California.

Today's Apple event had the rumor mills filing for extra overtime pay in hope that a new HomePod or HomePod Mini would be announced, but HomeKit users once again find themselves out in the cold. Although Apple announced quite a bit of information about upcoming products, no mention was made of its smart home presence.

The original HomePod was discontinued last year around this time, with the idea that Apple would focus all of its future efforts on the HomePod Mini. The latest announcement Apple has made regarding the Mini is the launch of new colors -- yellow, orange, and blue -- but even that was in November of last year. Since then, there's been no news.

Smart Home

Guide to Thread in the smart home

Homepod Mini Lifestyle Shot

You've maybe seen the "Thread" brand on the occasional smart home appliance, like the last Apple HomePod Mini. Understanding what exactly Thread entails and what it can do for your set-up can shape how the rest of your smart home grows.

Thread is a wireless communication standard in the same vein as Zigbee, which is used by Philips Hue lights. The biggest thing that sets Thread apart is that you don't need a separate hardware hub to tie devices together. Thread was originally founded in 2014 by ARM, Qualcomm, NXP, Nest, Samsung, and a smattering of other manufacturers. In 2018, Apple joined the party.

Smart Home

New HomePod Mini colors expose how stale Apple’s smart home lineup has become

Apple HomePod mini on table

Apple excels in many areas, particularly with regard to its computing lineup. The company produces mobile computing solutions miles beyond what its competition has to offer. The same could be said about its iPhone. Despite this, Apple is lagging behind in the smart home space. When the most exciting announcement about Apple's presence in the smart home space is a few new colors for the HomePod Mini, something is wrong.

HomeKit has the potential to be a major name in the smart home field. Given how prevalent iOS technology is in day-to-day life, it honestly should be already. Instead, HomeKit compatibility tends to be an afterthought for most tech. Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant dominate the playing field. HomeKit has fallen so far behind that it's not even in the same stadium anymore. The development of Thread has the potential to change this, but the end result remains to be seen.