Siri finally jumps into your shower with upcoming U by Moen showerhead update

AppleInsider

At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Moen showed off an iOS-connected leak detector to save money and protect your home -- and announced that the U by Moen shower head finally will be receiving its long-awaited Siri and HomeKit update in early 2019.

U by Moen showerhead

The U by Moen saw its debut at CES 2017. During the show in 2018, we saw new features such as integration with Alexa and Siri, but Siri never came. Moen is now following through that promise, delivering full Siri and HomeKit support in the first quarter of the year.

Using Siri, you can ask Apple's virtual assistant to turn on the shower or start one of your presets. Perhaps you prefer a cool shower after a workout or a hot one after a long day. Using Alexa or Google Assistant you can also specify the exact temperature you'd like the water to reach. It works via an iOS app as well as 5-inch LED display which will even change colors as the water heats to temperature.

A new matte black finish is also available, allowing for more tailoring to your bathroom's aesthetics.

Flo by Moen

The second announcement from Moen during CES this year was the introduction of Flo by Moen. This small controller sits on the houses main water supply to monitor the water going into the house. Thanks to a partnership with Flo Technologies, this device can detect leaks as small as a drop per minute, anywhere in the home. Including the foundation or behind walls.

By detecting leaks, it can potentially save money on water, as well as preventing your home from being badly damaged. A built-in temperature sensor can alert you if your water is approaching freezing, potentially saving you from a burst pipe.

Optionally, customers can subscribe to FloProtect for $5 a month which offers an extended 3-year warranty, $2,500 deductible guarantee, proactive monitoring, and enhanced analysis.

AppleInsider will be attending the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show starting on January 8 through January 11 where we're expecting 5G devices, HomeKit, 8K monitors and more. Keep up with our coverage by downloading the AppleInsider app, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos throughout the event.

chasm

The Siri and HomeKit-compatible showerhead has been photobombed by the Google Home Wiretap. Nice job, Moen.

entropys

For some reason the thought of Siri and a shower reminded me of that Big Bang Theory episode where Koothrappali fell in love with Siri.

sigh, so much promise back then.

franklinjackcon

chasm said:

The Siri and HomeKit-compatible showerhead has been photobombed by the Google Home Wiretap. Nice job, Moen.

It's also Assistant-enabled so it's not really a photo bomb so much as intentionally placed there. Maybe they figure more people have a Google Home than a HomePod

ireland

Next up, Siri enabled bum detector. Hey Siri, is my ass clean? "Why don't you wipe it yourself and see?"

Back in my day we used our hands. These inventions are a sad use of our creative and engineering talent. Showers have knobs that you reach out and twist. There's nothing to solve.

smcarter

Showers do have knobs. They can also cause serious bodily injury to children and adults because the temperature was too high. If a Siri enable showerhead can prevent that, I call that progress.

ireland said:

Next up, Siri enabled bum detector. Hey Siri, is my ass clean? "Why don't you wipe it yourself and see?"

Back in my day we used our hands. These inventions are a sad use of our creative and engineering talent. Showers have knobs that you reach out and twist. There's nothing to solve.

fastasleep

ireland said:

Next up, Siri enabled bum detector. Hey Siri, is my ass clean? "Why don't you wipe it yourself and see?"

Back in my day we used our hands. These inventions are a sad use of our creative and engineering talent. Showers have knobs that you reach out and twist. There's nothing to solve.

Did you say the same thing when televisions gained remotes, car windows became motorized, garage doors no longer required manual lifting, etc?

ireland

fastasleep said:

ireland said:

Next up, Siri enabled bum detector. Hey Siri, is my ass clean? "Why don't you wipe it yourself and see?"

Back in my day we used our hands. These inventions are a sad use of our creative and engineering talent. Showers have knobs that you reach out and twist. There's nothing to solve.

Did you say the same thing when televisions gained remotes, car windows became motorized, garage doors no longer required manual lifting, etc?

I just knew someone would bring up points such as these to convince themselves this is innaovation. It’s not. It’s an expensive solution to a problem that does not exist. A fool and their money is soon parted.

I’ll knock your pins down one buy one:

Car windows became motorised because manual windowing in a car, espically while driving, was a pain to do and even cost lives: it needed solving. TVs needed remotes because you had to get up from the sofa and cross the room every time you needed to adjust the set. And motorise garage doors solved similar issues to both electric car windows and TV remotes for similar reasons in both cases.

None of this applies to a shower the vast majority of people use on perhaps two settings throughout the whole year, and which already have temperature knobs conveniently placed where you are standing, which require a simple twist to access your desired setting. Needing a smartphone to achieve this is a complete overzealous, convoluted and stupid waste of technology and human ingenuity for nothing but people’s money. But by all means give them your money and prove to them you are as dumb as they consider you to be.

FrijolesNegros

ireland said:

fastasleep said:

ireland said:

Next up, Siri enabled bum detector. Hey Siri, is my ass clean? "Why don't you wipe it yourself and see?"

Back in my day we used our hands. These inventions are a sad use of our creative and engineering talent. Showers have knobs that you reach out and twist. There's nothing to solve.

Did you say the same thing when televisions gained remotes, car windows became motorized, garage doors no longer required manual lifting, etc?

I just knew someone would bring up points such as these to convince themselves this is innaovation. It’s not. It’s an expensive solution to a problem that does not exist. A fool and their money is soon parted.

I’ll knock your pins down one buy one:

Car windows became motorised because manual windowing in a car, espically while driving, was a pain to do and even cost lives: it needed solving. TVs needed remotes because you had to get up from the sofa and cross the room every time you needed to adjust the set. And motorise garage doors solved similar issues to both electric car windows and TV remotes for similar reasons in both cases.

None of this applies to a shower the vast majority of people use on perhaps two settings throughout the whole year, and which already have temperature knobs conveniently placed where you are standing, which require a simple twist to access your desired setting. Needing a smartphone to achieve this is a complete overzealous, convoluted and stupid waste of technology and human ingenuity for nothing but people’s money. But by all means give them your money and prove to them you are as dumb as they consider you to be.

Hmm, interesting points. I looked up more details on the U by Moen shower..
I think an important feature of the U by Moen shower is the fact that it helps reduce shower times by keeping that information top of mind and alerting the user, and its more precise control of water mixing (compared to standard cartridge tech) helps eliminate wasted water as you wait for it to get up to temp. I think water conservation is something I can get behind. I agree, Its probably out of my price range. 
Also I think that Flo product is pretty cool. The idea of stopping leaks in your home.. I sure would like to know if I got a hidden leak behind the wall before it gets out of hand.