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.
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.
