How to Troubleshoot HomePod not Answering to Some Shortcuts

by Rian

iOS Shortcuts is one of the main reason why I recommend iOS as a platform. Not only you can pull different apps together to automate ‘smart’ behaviors, it brings GUI accessibility for BASIC-like programming experience to iOS devices. I often find apps without a proper implementation are usually the one with makeshift ideas and scripts, overhauling annually, can technically do anything but just a bit worse.

What makes Shortcuts a troublesome beast for HomePods are two things: a. HomePod is not truly an independent smart device that can pull data from other sources, b. HomePod will pull the necessary data randomly from random host device. As far as I know, there isn’t a support document or logs for users to truly debug a shortcut. Not to mention Apple seems to have conflicting internal memo on what to call HomePod’s operating system (homeOS, audioOS, tvOS, HomePod Software, etc.).

Symptoms

Shortcuts created on iOS or macOS can be triggered from HomePod via saying the name of the Shortcut. The problem is when HomePod refuses to dictate the same word that would work on different devices.

For example, I have few shortcuts to keep track of my medications intake. Popular over-the-counter medicine like Allegra (for allergies) are already recognized on iOS and macOS, but HomePod had problems understanding the word ‘Allegra’. So when I said something along the line of ‘record allegra’, it only worked on a Mac and on an iPhone, but not on a HomePod. I was quite baffled because I assumed Siri, at least the dictation of it, not be so different.

Workaround

From my experience, if a shortcut can be properly called from Siri on iOS devices, but only HomePod refuses to cooperate, it’s usually the fault of the version (or due to HomePod’s hardware limitation) of the Siri on the HomePod. With the introduction of Apple Intelligence, the gap between Siri on HomePod and Siri on any Apple Silicon device has become greater.

The easiest and safest bet to remedy the problem is to rename a shortcut, especially if it contains any product names that older version of Siri may not recognize. It could be the latest Apple product, or it could be another IoT device hooked up to HomeKit. Rename it to something more generic for the time being.