Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Zonck

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 27, 2020
77
117
Before I launch it out of the window, does anyone else have an issue with their HomePod mini ‘playing’ music just to stay silent. I’ve checked the obvious things like volume, Siri responded to requests then just sits there silently whilst music doesn’t start, albeit shows on my iPhone.

The only way I can get it to work is by turning it off and on at the wall.
 

waw74

macrumors 601
May 27, 2008
4,767
1,001
what service are you using? Apple Music or something else.

how are you playing music....
on the phone, and then air playing to the HomePod?​
or​
directly on the HomePod? (only available w/Apple Music)​

which Siri are you asking to play music? phone or HomePod?

in the now playing tile on your phone's Lock Screen if it says "iPhone --> homepod name" then it's airplaying
if it says "HomePod name" then it's playing on the speaker.

if you're playing music your phone, it's highly possible that music is indeed playing on the phone, but failing in the airplay step that makes the music come out of the HomePod.

if you're using Apple Music, try asking Siri on the HomePod to play something, or use hand off, get something playing on your phone, and hold the phone over the homepod (you need a recent-ish phone to do this, think it's an 11 or newer)

for Apple Music, hand off transfers the music to the player in the homepod
for other services, hand off will start airplay from your phone,

for any other services, the music plays on your phone, and the airplays to the HomePod.

for airplay issues, the first step is rebooting your router.

If you're using airplay, and your HomePod is at the far end of your house from your wifi, you may have issues. Airplay needs a fairly stable connection to work, since the stream is basically live, it can't buffer too much, so is affected by drop outs. Playing music directly on the HomePod can sort this out, since the file already exists, the hompod can buffer the entire song, and possibly the next.


if you're using Apple Music.
open the airplay menu, and at the bottom of the screen hit "control other speakers and TVs". You'll see the HomePod listed there, if you select that, the music app is now a remote for the player in the HomePod.
 

Zonck

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 27, 2020
77
117
what service are you using? Apple Music or something else.

how are you playing music....
on the phone, and then air playing to the HomePod?​
or​
directly on the HomePod? (only available w/Apple Music)​

which Siri are you asking to play music? phone or HomePod?

in the now playing tile on your phone's Lock Screen if it says "iPhone --> homepod name" then it's airplaying
if it says "HomePod name" then it's playing on the speaker.

if you're playing music your phone, it's highly possible that music is indeed playing on the phone, but failing in the airplay step that makes the music come out of the HomePod.

if you're using Apple Music, try asking Siri on the HomePod to play something, or use hand off, get something playing on your phone, and hold the phone over the homepod (you need a recent-ish phone to do this, think it's an 11 or newer)

for Apple Music, hand off transfers the music to the player in the homepod
for other services, hand off will start airplay from your phone,

for any other services, the music plays on your phone, and the airplays to the HomePod.

for airplay issues, the first step is rebooting your router.

If you're using airplay, and your HomePod is at the far end of your house from your wifi, you may have issues. Airplay needs a fairly stable connection to work, since the stream is basically live, it can't buffer too much, so is affected by drop outs. Playing music directly on the HomePod can sort this out, since the file already exists, the hompod can buffer the entire song, and possibly the next.


if you're using Apple Music.
open the airplay menu, and at the bottom of the screen hit "control other speakers and TVs". You'll see the HomePod listed there, if you select that, the music app is now a remote for the player in the HomePod.
Using Apple Music via Siri.

“Hey Siri, play X”
“Now playing X”
*Silence*

It’s a HomePod Mini, using Siri on the HomePod.

The artist/playmenu thing appears on my phone so I can see she’s understood, just nothing plays.
 

Zonck

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 27, 2020
77
117



This f***ing issue. As of loading MacRumors, finding this thread, uploading this video and typing this message. The music still isn’t bast*rd playing.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: diego.caraballo

Matt T

macrumors regular
Dec 1, 2005
212
44
Australia
Just chiming in to say yes, this is happening for me too as of this week.

I have 2 HomePod minis in a stereo pair. I typically play music through them by setting them as the device to control in Control Centre and then playing something from Apple Music through the music app (not AirPlaying but controlling music directly on the speakers) - but this also happens if I ask Siri to play something. Music appears as if it’s playing in the music app and both HomePods are glowing to indicate “something is playing”, but no sound actually comes out.

Sometimes if I wait a few minutes the music will suddenly appear. Sometimes skipping to the next song fixes it. Sometimes I’ve had to reboot both of them, sometimes I’ve had to reboot both of them and my iPhone at the same time. Sometimes it just doesn’t work so I stop and try again later.

Generally they have been ok until recently so perhaps this is some sort of bug in 15.2? But Apple should still be embarrassed. Apple speakers using an Apple music service controlled from an Apple device can’t play music. Ridiculous.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TVreporter

Bogstandard

macrumors regular
Aug 24, 2018
208
228
Mid West
This has been happening to mine since iOS 14.
iOS 15 has introduced even more drop outs with the homepods sitting there silent but with the leds illuminated.
The source screen shows a pause button(ie, it is on play), but the time counter is stopped.
So buggy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kagharaht

Zonck

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 27, 2020
77
117
This has been happening to mine since iOS 14.
iOS 15 has introduced even more drop outs with the homepods sitting there silent but with the leds illuminated.
The source screen shows a pause button(ie, it is on play), but the time counter is stopped.
So buggy.
Exactly the same experience. I am so, so close to giving up and moving to Google Nest. Especially as Apple Music can be set as the music provider.
 

kagharaht

macrumors 68000
Oct 7, 2007
1,697
1,393
I get this a lot. I say Hey siri play "playlist" everywhere and sometimes one HP will not play despite showing the minus and plus on the top. Then one of the stereo pairs only play on one speaker. I have to say play next song or ask to play the list again directly on the non working HP. Also occasionally, random HP would ask me to sign in my apple id account.... I got sick and tired of this for weeks and decide to just RESET them all and start from scratch. Right off the bat asking to play everywhere one HP ignores it.... I had to request it again an it finally played. The last update royally screwed the reliability, so Reset them all and set them back up again. It may help.
 

Zonck

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 27, 2020
77
117
I get this a lot. I say Hey siri play "playlist" everywhere and sometimes one HP will not play despite showing the minus and plus on the top. Then one of the stereo pairs only play on one speaker. I have to say play next song or ask to play the list again directly on the non working HP. Also occasionally, random HP would ask me to sign in my apple id account.... I got sick and tired of this for weeks and decide to just RESET them all and start from scratch. Right off the bat asking to play everywhere one HP ignores it.... I had to request it again an it finally played. The last update royally screwed the reliability, so Reset them all and set them back up again. It may help.

This is after a hard reset. She’s just on drugs now.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.