Siri Will Soon Ignore “Hey Siri” Commands From TV Commercials

Key Takeaways

• Apple's upcoming 18.2 update might finally stop Siri from picking up Hey Siri" commands from commercials.
• Apple is yet to make an official announcement but this feature may roll out in December.
• It looks like Apple's HomePod smart speakers will be the first Apple device to get this update.

Apple's Siri will soon stop responding to the Hey Siri" command from TV commercials. Most voice assistants are great at picking up commands, even if it's a soft command - as long as it is within their range, they'll pick it.

While this might seem like a good feature on the surface, it can mistake TV voices for real commands as well and activate them unnecessarily.

This has been an issue for a long time. But thankfully, Apple has finally taken notice and decided to fix it in its upcoming tvOS 18.2 update.

The company has already released the beta version of tvOS 18.2 where we spotted a new framework called AdBlocker". The name indicates that it might be something related to an ad blocker but a deeper investigation revealed that it is associated with ShazamKit.

ShazamKit is an API for apps that want to use the Shazam platform for song identification but Apple is using it to manage the processing of the Hey Siri" command.

The new framework will download audio fingerprints from Apple's servers and compare them with the audio it will get from the device's microphone. If there's a match, the command will be labeled as invalid and it'll ignore it. Also, Siri will be disabled temporarily.

When Can We Expect This Update?

This is all independent research. Apple is yet to release an official confirmation but we think these updates will roll out with the tvOS 18.2 version which is scheduled to come out this December. It's currently in beta mode.

Also, since we only spotted this framework in the tvOS, it looks like the Apple HomePod speakers will be the first to get the update.

Apple isn't the only one trying to fix this issue. Amazon has been working on something similar. Alexa too has a habit of activating when it hears the command on TV or other audio platforms which is quite inconvenient (and even annoying) for some users.

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