HomePod HomePod Mini is driving me insane (buggy stereo)

[felixen]

Hi everyone,

In my home office I have two HomePod Minis set up as stereo. I've had them for a year or so and they've worked almost perfectly (only rare occasions of the stereo function not working) until the last 1-2 months. Now my left HomePod will often not respond at all or it'll play music for 1-2 seconds and then stop while the right HomePod works just fine.

It drives me insane and I'm supposed to focus when I'm in the office, which is completely impossible with the left HomePod constantly jumping in and out of stereo.

I've tried to power off the HomePods which have fixed similar issues in the past, and I've also tried to reset them in the Home app on my iPhone. Nothing seems to work.

I also have a single HomePod mini in the bathroom which also seems to sometimes not want to play at all, or it'll play for a while > stop > resume playing (similarly to my left HomePod in the office)

Can it be because my router has a 2.4 Ghz and a 5 Ghz network? If so, is there a way I can make the HomePods jump from one network to the other?

 

[hippyeverafter]

Hi,

I have been having the same problem for some time!. I live in a smallish Bungalow but cannot get both the OG HomePods or Mini to behave in either bedroom in stereo paired mode, The left speaker in particular just stops responding, So in the end I just gave up. Set up the OG HomePods as a stereo pair in the front room about 15 feet from the router and just use them with the Apple TV 4K. The Mini's are sitting in a draw while I decide what to do with them, Perhaps I will sell them on?. I did notice though that while setting up the HomePods I got the Message " Your Router does not support peer to peer? and all functions may not work ". In the Master bedroom I have got a pair of Klipsch R41-PM set up and just use Bluetooth, No more Headaches!.

 

[diego.caraballo]

Hi everyone,

In my home office I have two HomePod Minis set up as stereo. I've had them for a year or so and they've worked almost perfectly (only rare occasions of the stereo function not working) until the last 1-2 months. Now my left HomePod will often not respond at all or it'll play music for 1-2 seconds and then stop while the right HomePod works just fine.

It drives me insane and I'm supposed to focus when I'm in the office, which is completely impossible with the left HomePod constantly jumping in and out of stereo.

I've tried to power off the HomePods which have fixed similar issues in the past, and I've also tried to reset them in the Home app on my iPhone. Nothing seems to work.

I also have a single HomePod mini in the bathroom which also seems to sometimes not want to play at all, or it'll play for a while > stop > resume playing (similarly to my left HomePod in the office)

Can it be because my router has a 2.4 Ghz and a 5 Ghz network? If so, is there a way I can make the HomePods jump from one network to the other?

Hi there!
Which one is cutting? The one that respond when you say "Hey Siri" or the other one?

 

[Haribokart]

Mine does this and it's infuriating, but I'm pretty sure it only does it when I'm airplaying something.

 

[felixen]

Hi there!
Which one is cutting? The one that respond when you say "Hey Siri" or the other one?

Interesting question - I can't say for sure as I haven't paid attention to this, but I believe my right HomePod (which is the one that always works) is the one most often responds when using Hey Siri.

However I have just had my left HomePod (the one that keeps bugging) unplugged and replugged to see if it would help, and right now I'm successfully playing stereo music, and Siri responds on the left HomePod now. I do expect the left HomePod to start bugging again soon though as it's been happening so frequently in recent times 😳


Edit: Now my left HomoPod already bugged out again and stopped playing, so only my right HomePod is playing. I just tried Hey Siri and the left speaker responds even though it won't play music. I can also still use the touch controls on the left speaker even when it won't play.

 

[felixen]

Mine does this and it's infuriating, but I'm pretty sure it only does it when I'm airplaying something.

I wish that was the case for me (it would still suck big time but at least there'd be a workaround), but I always start playing music on my iPhone and then use the Handoff feature by moving my iPhone close to the HomePod. I believe this doesn't count as Airplay, right? When I check my iPhone to see the window that shows all your connected devices, it looks like it's natively playing in my office (doesn't look like it's airplaying).

Also, I always use Handoff to the left speaker which is funnily enough the one that often stops playing music. So even though it won't play, I can still use Handoff on it. I can also use the pause/play controls on it even when it won't play music itself.

 

[diego.caraballo]

Interesting question - I can't say for sure as I haven't paid attention to this, but I believe my right HomePod (which is the one that always works) is the one most often responds when using Hey Siri.

However I have just had my left HomePod (the one that keeps bugging) unplugged and replugged to see if it would help, and right now I'm successfully playing stereo music, and Siri responds on the left HomePod now. I do expect the left HomePod to start bugging again soon though as it's been happening so frequently in recent times 😳


Edit: Now my left HomoPod already bugged out again and stopped playing, so only my right HomePod is playing. I just tried Hey Siri and the left speaker responds even though it won't play music. I can also still use the touch controls on the left speaker even when it won't play.

Interesting.
I have two stereo pairs, one on my living room and the other one in the bedroom and I also have two mesh routers, the main one is on the living room and the second one in the bedroom.

The living room pair works in stereo without any issues (other problems, like light ON but no music being played, still happens). The bedroom pair has trouble with the opposite SIRI speaker (the speaker that answer when you say "hey SIRI" always works). A couple of days ago I counted 15 interruptions in just one hour.

I factory restored (connecting them to my Mac) all four of them 3 times (the last 3 versions of iOS).

Of course it can be a network issue, since the pair near the main router doesn't cut the stereo. But that's is hard to believe since all others devices, including HomeKit devices, works well connected to the second router. WiFi speed is over 250Mb/s in all devices tested there. And there are days that I keep playing music (I work from home since before it was a thing) from 9AM to 8PM without having a single cut or problem.
In my case is not an issue about them changing WiFi bands (both stay in the 5GHz one and in the same router).

It can also be a bug, since I'm experiencing far more cuts in the latest iOS release than before.

 

[felixen]

Yeah, I guess it could be as simple as an OS bug. There was an update to the HomePod OS recently which I hoped would solve the issue, but no luck there. So for me at least, the HomePod turning silent happens as often on the current OS as it did on the previous OS.

My next testing will be to break up the pair and only play music on my left HomePod (the buggy one) to see how that goes. A quick test earlier seemed to show similar results where the music would stop playing. If that keeps happening the issue is not related to the stereo pairing

 

[felixen]

So I've unpaired and tested just the left speaker. It worked perfectly (no drop outs). I then took my iPhone and opened the music controls and added the right speaker to the mix. The right speaker is the one that worked perfectly when the two were in stereo. Now, the black one would play non-stop but the right one would drop out frequently.

I paused the music, paired the 2 speakers again, and where I always use my iPhone and Handoff to play music, I decided to try Hey Siri to start the music directly on the HomePods instead. They are now playing in stereo with the right speaker frequently falling out. Again, the right speaker is the one that would play without issues before. Now my left speaker is the one that plays constantly with the right speaker bugging.

It's crazy and draws the HomePod Mini as a product down a crapton in my book. I wish there was a fix

 

[jimmysalg]

I have 7 HomePod minis throughout my house. 4 of them are paired (2 pairs). I constantly have issues. Stereo dropping off, individual speakers dropping off, or a pair dropping off. Seems like the more speakers I try to play at the same time the more issues I have. I think all these issues have been documented on other threads. My only input is, that when I use my Apple TV to stream to my HomePods is when I get the best performance, but still not perfect.

 

[felixen]

I have 7 HomePod minis throughout my house. 4 of them are paired (2 pairs). I constantly have issues. Stereo dropping off, individual speakers dropping off, or a pair dropping off. Seems like the more speakers I try to play at the same time the more issues I have. I think all these issues have been documented on other threads. My only input is, that when I use my Apple TV to stream to my HomePods is when I get the best performance, but still not perfect.

I really hope Apple will fix this. I thought the HomePod Mini was an amazing product until this happened. Even gave my dad one and convinced my brother to buy 2 😄 But these issues are a major, major problem

 

[felixen]

Holy smokes this issue has only gotten worse. Does anyone know if Apple is aware of this? My stereo HomePods are almost useless. There seems to be no pattern as to which HomePod will decide to work and which one won’t. Sometimes both of them jump off nowadays. Different wifi networks don’t solve it. Resetting them doesn’t help either.

My brother who I convinced to buy HomePod minis is also having sync problems with his.

 

[hippyeverafter]

I feel your pain but no longer have these issues, why because I have sold both my OG HomePods and HomePod Mini on. Just got fed up with constant connection issues.

 

[felixen]

I feel your pain but no longer have these issues, why because I have sold both my OG HomePods and HomePod Mini on. Just got fed up with constant connection issues.

I might just have to do that which sucks because I love the Apple ecosystem. But if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. What did you replace them with?

 

[jimmysalg]

I might just have to do that which sucks because I love the Apple ecosystem. But if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. What did you replace them with?

...I did the same and I went with SONOS, by the way Sonos will play Apple Music natively like the HomePod

 

[hippyeverafter]

I might just have to do that which sucks because I love the Apple ecosystem. But if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. What did you replace them with?

In the Living Room I have gone back to a good old fashioned sound bar and sub woofer ( Which I already had before trying the HomePod so no additional outlay ) and in the master bedroom have a pair of Klipsh R-41PM powered speakers and use the bluetooth function just for casual listening. The HomePods just did not work for me for some reason!.

 

[BobRey77]

I have no suggestions as to what could be the problem other than wifi coverage and strength. I know that isn't a popular solution but I can't think of anything else because neither of my HomePods pairs has ever exhibited this problem. They work fine. Since the 15.0 update I've had occasional ping ponging where one side of a stereo pair will drop for a half second or so and then come back on but I don't think that is the same problem as it only affects my OG pair which are in Home Theatre mode. The mini pair doesn't do it.

 

[kiensoy]

Holy smokes this issue has only gotten worse. Does anyone know if Apple is aware of this? My stereo HomePods are almost useless. There seems to be no pattern as to which HomePod will decide to work and which one won’t. Sometimes both of them jump off nowadays. Different wifi networks don’t solve it. Resetting them doesn’t help either.

My brother who I convinced to buy HomePod minis is also having sync problems with his.

I’m pretty sure Apple is aware. I‘ve had this issue since I got them more than a year ago and I come to these forums once in a while to see if there have been any news or improvements since Apple just ignores the issue and doesn’t acknowledge it. I can’t believe that they got the sync on AirPods to be flawless while the HomePod mini which is bigger and has both Bluetooth and wifi can’t sync reliably for stereo.

 

[jimmysalg]

I’m pretty sure Apple is aware. I‘ve had this issue since I got them more than a year ago and I come to these forums once in a while to see if there have been any news or improvements since Apple just ignores the issue and doesn’t acknowledge it. I can’t believe that they got the sync on AirPods to be flawless while the HomePod mini which is bigger and has both Bluetooth and wifi can’t sync reliably for stereo.

hahaha. I was thinking the same thing. I mean they even figured out how to get people anywhere in the world to stream the same show simultaneously and interact with each other LOL LOL. Go with SONOs you might be much happier

 

[PatriceTheWake]

Hey HomePod'ers !
Same here with even more issues regarding to the HomePod always trying to be the HomeKit hub. Indeed, my stereo pair in the office (next to the Sonos stereo pair working perfectly by the way ;-) ) is suddenly becoming crazy FOR NO REASON. When this happens, I can see a huge increase of DNS requests coming from the failed HomePod and my HKSV cameras are coming offline/online from HomeKit (while they are still really well responding on the network and delivering correctly the videos).
So when this happens, I'm rebooting the failed HomePod but boooooooom, when restarting, it tries (and it becomes) to be the main HomeKit hub which is crap as I have 5x AppleTV 4k (including the latest 3rd gen ones) which are much better than the HomePod in terms of responsiveness.
Regarding playing the music, same as you guys, one of the HomePods will break suddenly and it's annoying, I have to keep these bloody 11g sonos in the house....
-- Patrice.

EDIT: added the DNS logs for a short period of time for info.

 

[felixen]

Hey HomePod'ers !
Same here with even more issues regarding to the HomePod always trying to be the HomeKit hub. Indeed, my stereo pair in the office (next to the Sonos stereo pair working perfectly by the way ;-) ) is suddenly becoming crazy FOR NO REASON. When this happens, I can see a huge increase of DNS requests coming from the failed HomePod and my HKSV cameras are coming offline/online from HomeKit (while they are still really well responding on the network and delivering correctly the videos).
So when this happens, I'm rebooting the failed HomePod but boooooooom, when restarting, it tries (and it becomes) to be the main HomeKit hub which is crap as I have 5x AppleTV 4k (including the latest 3rd gen ones) which are much better than the HomePod in terms of responsiveness.
Regarding playing the music, same as you guys, one of the HomePods will break suddenly and it's annoying, I have to keep these bloody 11g sonos in the house....
-- Patrice.

EDIT: added the DNS logs for a short period of time for info.

It's ridiculous. I don't know why I haven't given up yet, because it always completely breaks my concentration when I'm working and trying to get in a good zone with some music on my HomePod Minis. I'll take a look to see if mine are also trying to become the HomeKit hub and if maybe that has some kind of influence to what's going on. They used to be flawless the first couple of months I had them.

The newest pattern here is that one speaker will stop playing (almost always the left speaker, but sometimes it's the right one), and then when the left speaker feels like playing again, the right speaker will also stop for a second and THEN both speakers will play for maybe 20 seconds if I'm lucky. So it goes stereo > mono > complete silence > stereo > mono > complete silence. lmao. I want to love these so much but it's a 3/10 product at the moment and that's being generous because at least my HomePods are often used daily to control my blinds, vacuum, and lights.

 

[stevencin]

I am having major issues the last few days were my stereo pair won’t even work at all. Asking me for iCloud password. Entered it loads of times and still nothing. Reset about 20 times now. I don’t know why I haven’t thrown them in the bin !

 

[benoit79]

Holy smokes this issue has only gotten worse. Does anyone know if Apple is aware of this? My stereo HomePods are almost useless. There seems to be no pattern as to which HomePod will decide to work and which one won’t. Sometimes both of them jump off nowadays. Different wifi networks don’t solve it. Resetting them doesn’t help either.

My brother who I convinced to buy HomePod minis is also having sync problems with his.

Apple is aware. I have complaining for 13 months in a row. However I haven’t seen any improvement. They just keep getting worse as long as they release new updates. OS 17 made things a lot worse. But yes, they are aware…