Talk to Siri on Your Smart Thermostat
Soon you won’t need a HomePod mini in every room just to issue voice commands to HomeKit, since Apple has opened the door to allowing third-party accessories to handle Siri requests as well.
Ecobee has already announced that it plans to be first in line to add Siri, which will come in a software update to its SmartThermostat with Voice Control (previously known as the Ecobee4). This is the version that was introduced with Alexa support two years ago, so it already has the necessary hardware to handle Siri — it’s just a matter of enabling it in software.
Other accessories will surely follow suit, as we’ve already seen things like smoke detectors with Alexa and AirPlay 2 support, so it’s not a stretch at all to imagine them gaining Siri as well. This would be even more practical than AirPlay 2 since you could eventually be able to talk to Siri from anywhere in your house, whether or not you had a HomePod nearby.
The only catch to this third-party Siri feature is that you will need at least one HomePod or HomePod mini on your network to power it, as it appears that the Siri requests from third-party devices are still processed by Apple’s smart speakers.