HomePod can now read the news in Canada

HomePod is launching in Canada, France and Germany on June 18

Ahead of HomePod’s scheduled launch in Canada three days from now, Apple’s Siri-driven wireless speaker can already reads the news in the 37 million people country.

MacRumors reader Pedro Marques did a video demoing the feature.

Hey Siri, play some news

Here are a few examples of Siri News queries:

  • “Hey Siri, read me the news.”
  • “Hey Siri, what’s the news today?”
  • “Hey Siri, what’s business news?”
  • “Hey Siri, play music news.”
  • “Hey Siri, tell me sports news.”

These commands will prompt HomePod to stream a news podcast from a relevant source unless you’ve asked for a specific news source, like “Hey Siri, play some news from CBC”.

Other Siri and HomePod updates

Siri News originally arrived to iPhone and iPad in January via the iOS 11.2.5 software update to customers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia with launch support from ABC, SBS and Seven Network in the US and BBC News in the UK, among others.

TUTORIAL: How to have Siri read aloud news

As we reported earlier in the morning, customers in Canada can now enjoy the live sports and live news integration in the TV app on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, just in time for the 2018 FIFA World Cup (additional soccer-themed content is available via Apple News and Apple Books).

HomePod is scheduled to launch in France, Germany and Canada on Monday, June 18. Ahead of the upcoming expansion, Apple recently updated HomePod’s version of the Siri personal assistant with support for French, German and Canadian English languages and dialects.

Canadian French will be added later this year via a software update.

And thanks to the recently-released HomePod software 11.4, customers can now enjoy some long-expected features powered by AirPlay 2, such as multi-room support and stereo pairing.