The HomePod is not set to release until December of this year, however Apple did push out a firmware for it yesterday. Since the firmware’s release developers such as Steve Troughton-Smith have been looking at its different components in order to find more information about the device itself.
After looking at the firmware code developer found a few interesting tidbits about the upcoming Apple gadget. According to Steve, HomePod runs a full iOS stick, which means it is essentially an iPhone without a screen. It runs on a shell app called the ‘SoundBoard’ and carries the ‘AudioAccessory1,1’ identifier.
The developer further revealed stock HomePod apps such as Music and Podcasts that are part of the firmware have the ‘Air’ prefix. So they are named AirMusic and AirPodcast. There also appears to be no provision for installing third-party extensions or applications in this release, however that can change in the future.
Looks like the 'shell' app on HomePod is called SoundBoard. It runs a full iOS stack, unsurprisingly. Its apps are prefixed with 'Air' pic.twitter.com/IPFF0vV3UT
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) July 28, 2017
Other details revealed through the firmware include the device will have accessibility features like VoiceOver. There are references to 32×32 LED matrix, that might be related to the display found at the top of the device.
