tldr: having “hey siri” enabled on both devises will lead to them getting in each other’s way.
So Siri is pretty much useless. But I really enjoy the sound and size of the HomePod mini, and as useless as Siri is, she worked fine as a light switch/timer setter. That is until I upgraded my phone.
See, before I had a HomePod, I disabled “hey siri” from my phone because I don’t like using a smart assistant while I’m outside my home. But obviously I speak to my HomePod as that is how you control it.
Well, when I upgraded my phone, I left the “hey siri” on because why not. Well lately Siri has been absolutely AWFUL, I mean 100% useless. She would turn on, and immediately turn off, never to respond or do what I asked.
Well as it turns out, when I would say “hey siri”, both my phone and my HomePod were registering the call, but they would both sort of hand over the command to each other. As if they were saying to each other, “oh you handle it”. This would lead to neither taking on my command or request.
So I went back to disabling Siri from my phone to “fix” the issue. But i just wanted to put this out as a warning to the dozens of us who actually use Siri daily on the HomePod, don’t ask her stuff with your phone nearby.