HomePod HomePod In Canada

[ipedro]

This thread will be an ongoing comprehensive review of HomePod in Canada.

I've had my HomePod in Toronto for about a week now and can report that while HomePod setup was seamless, recognizing my Canadian AppleID and Apple Music account with no issue, Canadians looking to import a HomePod should be aware of limitations.

The very first one that I noticed is that Siri has lost its ability to leverage historical music charts in Canada. If you ask Siri to play the "top song in 1985", she'll tell you that she doesn't know the music charts in Canada. This used to work when AppleMusic launched but with Apple rebuilding Siri's music knowledge for HomePod, countries that don't yet have HomePod don't have that data.

Genius is not available either. If you ask Siri to "Play more songs like this", she'll say "Sorry, Genius is not available".

Since Apple News is not available in Canada, it's not available in HomePod either.

The one that surprised me the most is that none of Personal Requests features like Messages and Reminders will work unless you change your iPhone's language to United States English. When asking HomePod to remember something or to send a message or even just read messages, Siri will say:

Before I can help with that, the Siri language on HomePod and iPhone need to match. To do that, go to Settings, Siri and Search and set the language to English, United States.

To most people, that won't be a problem, but if you rely on correct Canadian spelling of words, you're going to have to do without messaging and reminders on your HomePod.

There was an early restriction for Canadians and even those who live in the UK and Australia where HomePod is officially supported. All temperature on HomePod was read in Fahrenheit and measurements in feet. You'd have to ask Siri to tell you the temperature specifically in °Celsius. That has been corrected. Siri now knows where you are and will tell you the local measurement units.

If you have a HomePod in Canada and notice any other restrictions, feel free to comment below and I'll add it to this first post. I'll continue to update this thread on any other restrictions I find and changes and improvements as they occur.

 

[DeepIn2U]

The very first one that I noticed is that Siri has lost its ability to leverage historical music charts in Canada. If you ask Siri to play the "top song in 1985", she'll tell you that she doesn't know the music charts in Canada. This used to work when AppleMusic launched but with Apple rebuilding Siri's music knowledge for HomePod, countries that don't yet have HomePod don't have that data.

View attachment 752293

Seems to be an issue with iOS as well, I asked the exact same question and got the same result on my iPhone. I tried asking "Play the Top Billboard song in 1985", "Play the top Billboard Music song in 1985", "Play the top Billboard Charts music in 1985" ... the result:

"Sorry, I can't play historical song charts by genre. But I can find the top overall songs form a year, or I can create a billboard Radio Station for you."

- yet it cannot do either anyway.

 

[TigerMSTR]

This thread will be an ongoing comprehensive review of HomePod in Canada.

I've had my HomePod in Toronto for about a week now and can report that while HomePod setup was seamless, recognizing my Canadian AppleID and Apple Music account with no issue, Canadians looking to import a HomePod should be aware of limitations.

The very first one that I noticed is that Siri has lost its ability to leverage historical music charts in Canada. If you ask Siri to play the "top song in 1985", she'll tell you that she doesn't know the music charts in Canada. This used to work when AppleMusic launched but with Apple rebuilding Siri's music knowledge for HomePod, countries that don't yet have HomePod don't have that data.

View attachment 752293

Genius is not available either. If you ask Siri to "Play more songs like this", she'll say "Sorry, Genius is not available".

Since Apple News is not available in Canada, it's not available in HomePod either.

The one that surprised me the most is that none of Personal Requests features like Messages and Reminders will work unless you change your iPhone's language to United States English. When asking HomePod to remember something or to send a message or even just read messages, Siri will say:

Before I can help with that, the Siri language on HomePod and iPhone need to match. To do that, go to Settings, Siri and Search and set the language to English, United States.

To most people, that won't be a problem, but if you rely on correct Canadian spelling of words, you're going to have to do without messaging and reminders on your HomePod.

There was an early restriction for Canadians and even those who live in the UK and Australia where HomePod is officially supported. All temperature on HomePod was read in Fahrenheit and measurements in feet. You'd have to ask Siri to tell you the temperature specifically in °Celsius. That has been corrected. Siri now knows where you are and will tell you the local measurement units.

If you have a HomePod in Canada and notice any other restrictions, feel free to comment below and I'll add it to this first post. I'll continue to update this thread on any other restrictions I find and changes and improvements as they occur.

How did you go about acquiring the HomePod?

 

[ipedro]

How did you go about acquiring the HomePod?

A friend picked one up for me in New York. No problems at the border.

 

[legacyb4]

Seems to be an issue with iOS as well, I asked the exact same question and got the same result on my iPhone. I tried asking "Play the Top Billboard song in 1985", "Play the top Billboard Music song in 1985", "Play the top Billboard Charts music in 1985" ... the result:

"Sorry, I can't play historical song charts by genre. But I can find the top overall songs form a year, or I can create a billboard Radio Station for you."

- yet it cannot do either anyway.

I don't recall if Siri was able to answer any of that prior to the introduction of the Homepod into my ecosystem but even with the iPhone Language & Region still set to 'English (Canada)', none of those queries seem to work now.

 

[jyyz]

Before I can help with that, the Siri language on HomePod and iPhone need to match. To do that, go to Settings, Siri and Search and set the language to English, United States.

To most people, that won't be a problem, but if you rely on correct Canadian spelling of words, you're going to have to do without messaging and reminders on your HomePod.

You can still have your iPhone language as English Canada for spelling etc., it is just the Siri language that needs to be changed to English US for this to work.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I don't recall if Siri was able to answer any of that prior to the introduction of the Homepod into my ecosystem but even with the iPhone Language & Region still set to 'English (Canada)', none of those queries seem to work now.

Exactly ... I didn't even know until another fellow Canadian purchased a HomePod for user here and started a thread last week. I figured maybe it's just the HomePod affected so I gave it a shot on my IP7 as I don't have a HomePod. You're seeing the same results both of us have.

 

[ipedro]

I don't recall if Siri was able to answer any of that prior to the introduction of the Homepod into my ecosystem but even with the iPhone Language & Region still set to 'English (Canada)', none of those queries seem to work now.

Siri was able to answer those questions in Canada. It was one of the launch features of Apple Music. I used to ask it to play hits from specific years because it would help put me in the mood that I felt in those years growing up. It stopped at some point before HomePod was released.

 

[ipedro]

It’s been a little over a month into owning a HomePod and the fact that it’s not officially supported in Canada has turned out to be virtually inconsequential.

Other than the missing Top Charts (which is also missing everywhere else in the Apple ecosystem in Canada, not just HomePod), everything works as expected. I’ve grown to getting used to speaking out into my home to turn on lights, play music, find out the weather before heading out, ask general knowledge questions. I wouldn’t want to live without it.

I totally recommend it. If you want one, go over the border and pick one up.

 

[TigerMSTR]

I can confirm Pedro’s sentiment. The HomePod works excellently in Canada.

 

[MartyCan]

I have 2 here. One bought on a trip to Dallas in Feb and the other on a trip to NY earlier this month. From info in another thread I set my Phone to US Imerial measure, or something so that the set-up would work.

What I want to know is if there is any news whatsoever about a possible actual release date for Canada yet?

 

[Bdub12]

Happy I won't have to drive to Maine to get my next one!