The HomePod is back from the dead, and thankfully it’s not just a zombie version of the original HomePod. One of the new features is one that’s hidden in the HomePod mini but isn’t actually active: a temperature and humidity sensor.
In March 2021, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported on the idle temperature sensor in the outer shell of the HomePod mini. The new second-generation HomePod appears to have a similar sensor that actually works. On the HomePod website, Apple describes the features of the smart home hub and there’s a section for “Temperature and Humidity.” Here’s Apple’s description of the feature:
With its built-in sensor, HomePod can detect and communicate the temperature and humidity of the room. And you can set it in automations so that the blinds close when the temperature reaches 80 degrees.
There’s a footnote to that first sentence that goes into more detail on how it works:
The temperature and humidity sensing is optimized for indoor environments, when the ambient temperature is around 15º C to 30º C and the relative humidity is around 30% to 70%. Accuracy may decrease in some situations where audio is played at a high volume level for extended periods of time. HomePod takes some time to calibrate the sensors right after startup before showing the results.
The tech specs for the HomePod mini have been updated to reflect the existence of the temperature and humidity sensor, so Apple will likely release a software or firmware update to enable it, though it probably won’t arrive until February 3 , the day the HomePod mini is activated. new HomePod will be shipped.
