Apple devices may soon learn to ignore the ‘Hey Siri’ command heard on TV ads

2 weeks ago 2

Apple introduced the “Hey Siri” command with iOS 8 to let users easily interact with the virtual assistant without having to press any buttons. However, over the years, this has resulted in Siri being mistakenly triggered when the command is spoken on a TV ad. But Apple is finally working on a fix for this.

Apple ads will no longer trigger Siri

As spotted by 9to5Mac, the latest beta of tvOS 18.2 released this week introduced a new framework called “AdBlocker.” Although at first glance the name suggests that this would be a mere online ad blocker, we went deeper and found something intriguing about this new framework.

The new AdBlocker framework is linked to ShazamKit, which is the API for apps to use Shazam – the song identification platform acquired by Apple in 2018. At the same time, the framework also links to the process responsible for managing the “Siri” and “Hey Siri” voice commands on Apple devices.

Code suggests that “AdBlocker” will download audio fingerprints from Apple’s servers and then use the Shazam API to match them against audio captured by the device’s microphones using the Hey Siri API. When certain audios match, the new framework will temporarily disable Siri’s trigger commands.

Presumably, Apple will use audio fingerprints from its TV ads and keynotes to prevent any mentions of Siri from triggering the virtual assistant on users’ devices.

For now, the AdBlocker framework has only been found in tvOS 18.2, which suggests that Apple wants to implement it on the HomePod first. In 2019, many HomePod owners complained after Apple aired an AirPods ad featuring a person asking Siri to play a song. As a result, people’s HomePods responded to the request as well.

Apple is expected to release tvOS 18.2 in December. The update also enables support for different aspect ratios on Apple TV.