HomePod HomePod Mini - Stereo Pair - One silent speaker!

[stocklen]

So, just when I think that the HomePods / multi room music is working OK again... something else happens.

This time, I have a stereo pair of HomePod Minis and sound is only coming out of one.

The other is on. Its paired according to the app... but no sound whatsoever. It responds to taps but thats it.

So the question is.... not so much why this happens (as every software release seems to fix one thing but break others) but more how to go about fixing.

back in my old Alexa days - sure things happened like this, but almost always it was just a case of reaching round the back, unplugging. and plugging back in.... seemed to solve most issues.
With the HomePods... it doesnt help that the power cables are fixed and I have to scrabble around on the floor at the plugs to unplug.... but the app doesn't really help at all either - all I can do is restart.

So, so far I have tried to unplug both... no joy. I have tried to restart in the home app - they've restarted but no joy.

Any more troubleshooting tips? Or should I just resort to deleting them from my home app then re adding and re-pairing? Or can I just remove the paring and redo it?

 

[ScrumpyDaniel]

I've had this issue with my OG's before. Usually what fixes it for me is if I unpair the speakers, reset my router and then re-pair again and both work again. Might be worth trying.

 

[diego.caraballo]

So, just when I think that the HomePods / multi room music is working OK again... something else happens.

This time, I have a stereo pair of HomePod Minis and sound is only coming out of one.

The other is on. Its paired according to the app... but no sound whatsoever. It responds to taps but thats it.

So the question is.... not so much why this happens (as every software release seems to fix one thing but break others) but more how to go about fixing.

back in my old Alexa days - sure things happened like this, but almost always it was just a case of reaching round the back, unplugging. and plugging back in.... seemed to solve most issues.
With the HomePods... it doesnt help that the power cables are fixed and I have to scrabble around on the floor at the plugs to unplug.... but the app doesn't really help at all either - all I can do is restart.

So, so far I have tried to unplug both... no joy. I have tried to restart in the home app - they've restarted but no joy.

Any more troubleshooting tips? Or should I just resort to deleting them from my home app then re adding and re-pairing? Or can I just remove the paring and redo it?

My advice: wait for the 16.1 release.
I have this issue with my two pairs. I even restored them from my Mac, still the same. 5+ wasted hours of troubleshooting, reset, pairing, router configuration, etc.
So save your time, it's not you is them.

 

[stocklen]

My advice: wait for the 16.1 release.
I have this issue with my two pairs. I even restored them from my Mac, still the same. 5+ wasted hours of troubleshooting, reset, pairing, router configuration, etc.
So save your time, it's not you is them.

Diego... yes hopefully!

But im a little cynical about it as whenever there are problems... theres always a new version round the corner even if its a .x.x release...

In my experience, software updates certainly fix some things but almost always break others which were working.

Im surprised at how ropey Apple seem to be content to allow their flagship smart home device to be.


One BIG takeaway I have, and seems you are of the same mind.... all these rather invasive troubleshooting steps are often irrelevant - the weird thing is that they wont work one day.. then all of a sudden with NO intervention they start working again.

Take my pair that this thread is about.....today they are working. The only steps I have taken are physically unplug and plug back in... (which didnt fix it)... and then later I tried a 'restart' of each one from the Home app.... - I walked away after that - but sometime later (that evening I think) the second speaker sprung back into life.

The problem is that it just seems to me that they go through periods of working... and then not - and theres no rhyme or reason why.

Sure, I have high hopes for 16.1 - although if this introduces Matter.... gawd knows what else will be broken in that release! I fully expect 16.1.x to be more stable.

Also, in another thread people have mentioned that there is a magic number of HomePods that work - and NO more. This is bizarrely six - and apparently Apple have acknowledged privately (not publicly) that any more than 6 minis in a home will have problems. I have 6 minis and an OG HomePod - frankly I refuse to delete one from my home system just to get the number down to 6 - I am sure that Apple cannot allow this arbitrary limit to exist if they want to encourage true multi room audio and their smart home to gain more traction.

Anyway, 6.1 here we come next week. Fingers crossed... meanwhile all is back to working again.... for now... until it isn't!

 

[diego.caraballo]

Take my pair that this thread is about.....today they are working. The only steps I have taken are physically unplug and plug back in... (which didnt fix it)... and then later I tried a 'restart' of each one from the Home app.... - I walked away after that - but sometime later (that evening I think) the second speaker sprung back into life.

The problem is that it just seems to me that they go through periods of working... and then not - and theres no rhyme or reason why.

I believe that many of the problems that we encounter while struggling using the HomePods are server-side caused.
Is not your network, not your devices, not your iPhone trying to AirPlay. Maybe the small brain of the mini's needs to have help from Apple servers while performing some tasks and if the server fails or is congested it just fail.

I have the exactly same experience. On Monday the right speaker of my bedroom pair stopped playing dozens of times. Yesterday, nearly 8 hours working without issues...all the rest of devices working perfectly on the same network both Monday and Tuesday. Is hard to me to believe that is something wrong on MY side...

 

[stocklen]

I believe that many of the problems that we encounter while struggling using the HomePods are server-side caused.
Is not your network, not your devices, not your iPhone trying to AirPlay. Maybe the small brain of the mini's needs to have help from Apple servers while performing some tasks and if the server fails or is congested it just fail.

I have the exactly same experience. On Monday the right speaker of my bedroom pair stopped playing dozens of times. Yesterday, nearly 8 hours working without issues...all the rest of devices working perfectly on the same network both Monday and Tuesday. Is hard to me to believe that is something wrong on MY side...

I agree completely.

Often when things go "wrong" the question is often asked "what did YOU change".... however as most of us know we've changed nothing which makes ever more destructive troubleshooting steps seem wholly unnecessary. For example for me a blasé request to "just restart my router" has potentially significant consequences for a whole host of other devices at home and id only do it in an emergency.

Almost certainly its server-side - and yet you'd have thought a company like Apple would have that tightly sewn up so as to not give their customers such variable ropey experiences.

 

[stocklen]

Ah well... I spoke too soon didnt i....

This morning 'Hey siri... play radio X'.... (as I do every morning)...

Siri replies... "sorry there is a problem with apple music".

Great.

Then tried siri on the iPhone - still didnt work.

Then tried the direct tune in link for radio X on the phone.... which worked immediately and then selected all my HomePods in the airplay menu.
All worked bar one - without explanation the kitchen didnt work (the 7th I guess - back to the old rule of 6!).

Went downstairs....
"hey siri add the kitchen" - this usually works.
But today... nope. Cant even remember the BS message Siri spouted. I gave up.

So... DEFINITELY a server-side thing.

Apple cannot keep getting away with this if they want people to use their HomeKit system and siri.

 

[diego.caraballo]

Ah well... I spoke too soon didnt i....

This morning 'Hey siri... play radio X'.... (as I do every morning)...

Siri replies... "sorry there is a problem with apple music".

Great.

Then tried siri on the iPhone - still didnt work.

Then tried the direct tune in link for radio X on the phone.... which worked immediately and then selected all my HomePods in the airplay menu.
All worked bar one - without explanation the kitchen didnt work (the 7th I guess - back to the old rule of 6!).

Went downstairs....
"hey siri add the kitchen" - this usually works.
But today... nope. Cant even remember the BS message Siri spouted. I gave up.

So... DEFINITELY a server-side thing.

Apple cannot keep getting away with this if they want people to use their HomeKit system and siri.

Yesterday at night (I remembered our previous exchange and laughed to myself):
Hey Siri play something that I like -on Bedroom-
Music starts to play really low
Hey Siri set the volume to 30%....nothing happens
Hey Siri again...nothing
So I go and touch the volume control on the left HP...light is off..WTF...nothing happens,
then I touch the right one (light is off as well), it works and changes the volume

A couple of hours later:
Hey Siri stop..."Sorry, DIEGO, I can't do that" (I detest when Siri use my name in that way. Sounds condescending, all I can hear is: Sorry, STUPID, I can't do that)
Hey Siri stop..."Sorry..."
I grab my iPhone, control center "Not playing"....🤬
Home app...not playing
Touched the right one...nothing (but the volume buttons were working)

So I did something absolute normal in the eyes of Apple! I plugged them off to stop the music and went to sleep

 

[stocklen]

Yesterday at night (I remembered our previous exchange and laughed to myself):
Hey Siri play something that I like -on Bedroom-
Music starts to play really low
Hey Siri set the volume to 30%....nothing happens
Hey Siri again...nothing
So I go and touch the volume control on the left HP...light is off..WTF...nothing happens,
then I touch the right one (light is off as well), it works and changes the volume

A couple of hours later:
Hey Siri stop..."Sorry, DIEGO, I can't do that" (I detest when Siri use my name in that way. Sounds condescending, all I can hear is: Sorry, STUPID, I can't do that)
Hey Siri stop..."Sorry..."
I grab my iPhone, control center "Not playing"....🤬
Home app...not playing
Touched the right one...nothing (but the volume buttons were working)

So I did something absolute normal in the eyes of Apple! I plugged them off to stop the music and went to sleep

ha. comes to something when you have to unplug to shut them up!

Ill be honest, my old setup of multiple amazon echos devices was not flawless... but was far more easy to troubleshoot and most times a reboot fixed things - helped enormously by the fact you could just reach behind the unit and pull the power cable out without having to resort to scrabbling around on the floor or behind furniture to get to the power adapter.

If it makes you feel better ive had this before.

Every time I turn on my appleTV its happily playing at full blast some random music which I have absolutely NO idea where thats come from or why as there is zero indication anywhere that its happening - and I do wonder if its happily been burning through bandwidth just permanently streaming this music whilst the TV is off.

Apple... come on. I love the kit... I love the sound from the HomePods... I love the system when it works.. which, to be fair is a lot of the time. However, at best a 50% success rate is NOT good enough.
I would love to work with Apple and provide feedback and troubleshooting information but I just cant be bothered as I know it will fall on deaf ears as Im not the only person this happens to and they must know about this for sure.
Also, I don't really want the usual dumb troubleshooting steps of resetting, removing, re adding etc as I know that it ultimately wont fix the issues long term.

So, 16.1 is imminent. I haven't seen anyone really talking about it in the beta testing so we will all find out together what new levels of Hell Apple have in store for us.

 

[RolandGo]

Well, I have the same problem (2 Minis as Stereo group, but only one plays) and 16.1 hasn't solved it. Neither has restarting the Minis.

 

[RolandGo]

I found the problem: Although being grouped, one Mini was on my 2.4 GHz wifi, the other on my 5 GHz wifi. Once both were on the same network, they play as a stereo group again.