Apple HomePod
Ranked 5 of 19 smart speakers by recommenders
People recommend it for good sound and tight integration with Apple devices and home automation. The most common caveat is that Siri is weak and the speaker can misbehave.
People recommend it for good sound and tight integration with Apple devices and home automation. The most common caveat is that Siri is weak and the speaker can misbehave.
75 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 30
- criticize it
- 45
- approval share
- 40%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 30 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good sound that fills rooms
“It's a really nice speaker if I set it on something sturdy that won't rattle”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “Apple HomeView” “I really like my big HomePods and find they fill the room quite well”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “New Apple TV 4K” “Still pretty happy with my Homepods in Stereo”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “AirPods Max 2” - Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings”
Fits Apple ecosystem and Siri
“I think their privacy is good enough, and it would be instantly integrated into my ecosystem.”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page” “Designed my entire house around Siri with HomePods in every room.”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Apple's Latest Attempt to Launch the New Siri Runs into Snags” “Integration with HomePods is ... well, if you have HomePods.”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “New Apple TV 4K” - Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “New Apple TV 4K”
Home automation hub
“So an Apple Homepod or a Home Assistant instance with a Thread stick will do as well!”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “IKEA launches new smart home range with 21 Matter-compatible products” “my 10 HomePods are able to turn off 80% of my lights at night, 80% of the time!”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “John Giannandrea to retire from Apple” “This includes being the hub of all of my home automation.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Dell's CES 2026 chat was the most pleasingly un-AI briefing I've had in 5 years” - Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell”
Reliable hardware and long updates
“I can’t remember having problems with the hardware or setup.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Last Week on My Mac: Losing confidence” “Still daily driving my two 8-year old OG HomePods.”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Killed by Apple” “mine is still receiving updates regularly”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Killed by Apple”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Siri is weak at multi-turn
“Siri is still pretty awful and useless though.”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 on Hacker News “HomePods steals the show and says "I found some results on the web, do you wanna check them on your iPhone?"”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Opus 5.5 agents discover two room-temperature magnetic semiconductor candidates” “iOS Shortcuts + Apple HomePod just make it so difficult to handle multi-turn voice interactions”
Comment from 18 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Alexa-like voice interface for OpenClaw” Glitches, false triggers and disconnects
“my HomePod tells my wife it's having trouble connecting to iPhone every 5th time she adds something to the grocery list”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “The AI coding divide: craft lovers vs. result chasers” “they acknowledge it's a known hardware defect to start registering non-existent touches, and they refuse to fix it”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “AirPods Max 2” “It can no longer play one song after another without glitching and repeating a little bit of the previous song.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “John Giannandrea to retire from Apple” - Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “Apple HomeView”
Expensive for the features
“expensive for what they are, thoughtfully designed, and conservative in their approach to adopting new trends”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Apple's slow AI pace becomes a strength as market grows weary of spending” “Some of the price increases seem disconnected from the component cost increases.”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Apple announces significant price increases for MacBooks, iPads, more” Weak smart home control
“the divisions that built those smart speakers have been reduced to almost nothing, because the monetization capabilities were minimal”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Tim Cook's Impeccable Timing” “which died an agonizing death despite the people who were certain that the smart home was Apple's final frontier”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “Apple HomeView” “The previous iterations of HomePod and Apple TV acting as a home hub really wasn't a credible threat”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “Apple HomeView” - Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “Apple HomeView”
Other smart speakers people recommend
The four most recommended other smart speakers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siri | 165 | 715 | 19% | 12 | 7 yrs23 owners | — |
| Amazon Alexa | 45 | 131 | 26% | 11 | — | — |
| Bose SoundTouch smart speakers | 37 | 18 | 67% | 1 | — | — |
| Google Assistant | 33 | 64 | 34% | 10 | — | — |
| Apple HomePodThis page | 30 | 45 | 40% | 10 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 84 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“why on earth would i buy a homepad if i can't even meaningfully control my hue smart lights”
“they've developed a mind of their own & will randomly turn on the TV or play music themselves”
“Integration with HomePods is ... well, if you have HomePods.”
“Pretty cool. I didn't know it existed until it happened.”
“It's a really nice speaker if I set it on something sturdy that won't rattle”
“which died an agonizing death despite the people who were certain that the smart home was Apple's final frontier”
“using eARC with ATV and HomePods, and it just works”
“I really like my big HomePods and find they fill the room quite well”
“I couldn't find a reason to choose them over Alexa or Google Home”
“The previous iterations of HomePod and Apple TV acting as a home hub really wasn't a credible threat”
“Maybe not good to do HomePods in the living room where we have the Switch, but fine to use them in the bedroom”
“HomePods steals the show and says "I found some results on the web, do you wanna check them on your iPhone?"”
“I think their privacy is good enough, and it would be instantly integrated into my ecosystem.”
“Siri is still pretty awful and useless though.”
“well-received (if not always breakout) 1st-gen releases”
“audio can be controlled from any device and any rooms audio can be synced to another”
“works alright with just Homebridge + HomePods”
“Mine of course had false alarms while I was abroad”
“Some of the price increases seem disconnected from the component cost increases.”
“Everything works locally, even the internet is down.”
“I find it great for my HomePod for very narrow use cases”
“Still daily driving my two 8-year old OG HomePods.”
“mine is still receiving updates regularly”
“the divisions that built those smart speakers have been reduced to almost nothing, because the monetization capabilities were minimal”
“Still pretty happy with my Homepods in Stereo”
“they acknowledge it's a known hardware defect to start registering non-existent touches, and they refuse to fix it”
“my HomePod tells my wife it's having trouble connecting to iPhone every 5th time she adds something to the grocery list”
“iOS Shortcuts + Apple HomePod just make it so difficult to handle multi-turn voice interactions”
“Designed my entire house around Siri with HomePods in every room.”
“I rely on HomePod speakers to interface with it, that makes a lot more sense for me.”
“They are simple and dumb, but they have become part of our lives.”
“This includes being the hub of all of my home automation.”
“I prefer the audio from the HomePods.”
“expensive for what they are, thoughtfully designed, and conservative in their approach to adopting new trends”
“I can’t remember having problems with the hardware or setup.”
“It can no longer play one song after another without glitching and repeating a little bit of the previous song.”
“They look like neat little devices for music and HA stuff, but I've read similar stuff to your comment.”
“my 10 HomePods are able to turn off 80% of my lights at night, 80% of the time!”
“Lowkey, but HomePod plays news over radio every morning 8AM.”
“So an Apple Homepod or a Home Assistant instance with a Thread stick will do as well!”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.