Still no Airplay 2 on macOS 11 Big Sur unbelievable

[CJM]

I'm in the same situation. Just picked up a second HomePod and I can't even see the AirPlay device in the MIDI settings, this is on Mojave, not sure if that's a limiting factor.

Might upgrade to Catalina for the hell of it. However, I notice there was a HomePod firmware update today, I hope they haven't 'fixed' this little hack.

Can anyone report? Is aggregate device still working for you?

 

[CapeTownMac]

How can we still not have a stereo pair of homepods as a main audio output, so frustrating

Can't say more than I agree 100%, it's dumbfounding that Homepods are not fully supported natively by the current OS, let alone a big update. Homepods are a very poor relation in the Apple Ecosystem.

How can we still not have a stereo pair of homepods as a main audio output, so frustrating

 

[SketchyClown]

Can you not set up your HomePods in the Home app like in Apples own instructions for using them as a stereo pair?

Create A HomePod Stereo Pair

Here's what you need

• An iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch updated to iOS 11.4 or later or a Mac updated to macOS Mojave
• Two HomePod speakers updated to iOS 11.4 or later

Set up a HomePod stereo pair
When you set up a second HomePod in the same room as another HomePod, you'll see an option during setup to use both speakers as a stereo pair. You can also set up a stereo pair with two HomePod speakers in the Home app on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

1. Make sure that both HomePod speakers are in the same room in the Home app.
2. Open the Home app, press and hold HomePod, then tap Settings.
3. Tap Create Stereo Pair.
4. Choose a second HomePod to use as a stereo pair.
5. Tap a HomePod on the right or left side to identify it. Tap
   
   to swap them to the correct left and right channel.
6. Tap Back, then tap Done.

On your Mac

1. Make sure that both HomePod speakers are in the same room in the Home app.
2. Open the Home app, double-click HomePod, then click Settings in the upper-right corner.
3. Scroll down and click Create Stereo Pair.
4. Choose a second HomePod to use as a stereo pair.
5. Click a HomePod on the right or left side to identify it. Click
   
   to swap them to the correct left and right channel.
6. Click Back, then click Done.

After you complete the setup, the option to select your HomePods in theory would now be in the audio options/menubar dropdown? My AirPlay devices are in the dropdown for the speakers on my iMac, I can choose any one of those as the audio source for the computer. I don't have HomePods myself, but it seems this should be pretty straightforward.

 

[ErikGrim]

Can you not set up your HomePods in the Home app like in Apples own instructions for using them as a stereo pair?

Create A HomePod Stereo Pair

Here's what you need

• An iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch updated to iOS 11.4 or later or a Mac updated to macOS Mojave
• Two HomePod speakers updated to iOS 11.4 or later

Set up a HomePod stereo pair
When you set up a second HomePod in the same room as another HomePod, you'll see an option during setup to use both speakers as a stereo pair. You can also set up a stereo pair with two HomePod speakers in the Home app on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

1. Make sure that both HomePod speakers are in the same room in the Home app.
2. Open the Home app, press and hold HomePod, then tap Settings.
3. Tap Create Stereo Pair.
4. Choose a second HomePod to use as a stereo pair.
5. Tap a HomePod on the right or left side to identify it. Tap
   
   to swap them to the correct left and right channel.
6. Tap Back, then tap Done.

On your Mac

1. Make sure that both HomePod speakers are in the same room in the Home app.
2. Open the Home app, double-click HomePod, then click Settings in the upper-right corner.
3. Scroll down and click Create Stereo Pair.
4. Choose a second HomePod to use as a stereo pair.
5. Click a HomePod on the right or left side to identify it. Click
   
   to swap them to the correct left and right channel.
6. Click Back, then click Done.

After you complete the setup, the option to select your HomePods in theory would now be in the audio options/menubar dropdown? My AirPlay devices are in the dropdown for the speakers on my iMac, I can choose any one of those as the audio source for the computer. I don't have HomePods myself, but it seems this should be pretty straightforward.

No. They all appear as separate devices even if they're stereo pairs. People wouldn't complain if it was this bleedingly obvious.

 

[Kylo83]

It’s insane we still don’t have it

 

[SketchyClown]

People wouldn't complain if it was this bleedingly obvious.

Huge apologies all around, but the more forum posts I read it's not always bleedingly obvious if the user has tried that route before posting. Wasn't intending to ruffle your dendrites as you are not the OP.

However delving further into the matter I feel your pain. I am not sure why Apple has not put more effort into the HomePod for such a basic use of it. Sad really.

 

[ErikGrim]

However delving further into the matter I feel your pain. I am not sure why Apple has not put more effort into the HomePod for such a basic use of it. Sad really.

I'm a huge fan of the HomePods. But they have really not made a huge effort integrating it with the rest of the ecosystem. AppleTV and the Mac in particular. It's disappointing.

 

[david.olstein]

I'm able to stream music to my stereo paired homepods from my Mac using Roon. It works well most of the time, but every so often the speakers get slightly out of sync. I echo the sentiment that it is completely ridiculous that Apple hasn't integrated Airplay 2 compatibility into the MacOS. There is simply no justification for this.

 

[Cellsheet]

Unfortunately I‘ve been investigating and following this issue as well time to time to see if there’s ever any progress here for about a year or so at least now (spoiler alert: none for now ). I’ve called in specifically for this feature request A few months ago before WWDC and the advisor I worked with said that he’s escalated this particular feature request to an Apple engineer from multiple prior requests (he seemed to know exactly what I was talking about when I brought it up to him), so it seems decently reported at least to Apple from what I’ve seen from others as well from what I can tell anyways (however I could very well be wrong though in the overall picture here).

That being said the AirPlay 2 protocol was still missing from the official announcement, so I only hope that Apple responds to this eventually if they still want to generate further revenue from this seemingly (currently, which can always change) locked in product if anything else, and doesn’t just see it as an end to push their Apple Music subscription services. I imagined this might have originally been a UX issue more than anything (in iOS the HomePod icon is next to the label to perhaps distinctly differentiate the protocol perhaps, and the blue AirPlay icon), but they have since converged the control panel design in Big Sur to align with iOS/iPadOS which further makes no sense for this to not be included here, especially if the hardware is also transitioning to ARM. The OS is indeed capable after all as well (see Apple Music/Tunes on Catalina since this was baked in before discontinuation, and iTunes on Windows 10 which still exists, and a demo Xcode project I found that played music I compiled to target macOS via Project Catalyst which included the AirPlay2 icon/protocol found allowing me to select the source to stereo HomePods like iTunes as mentioned, worked here without issues and no lag!).

Unfortunately I’ve learned the hard way from first hand experience on this issue there is zero guarantee Apple will proceed with any feature request at the end of the day, but I still follow up time to time just in case.

 

[hooroo]

Yes, but that doesn’t solve the issue of outputting to a stereo / aggregate device. That’s the same as just connecting directly to a HomePod.

You don't need to create Aggregate Device on Midi Setup. You can simply use the AirPlay for Sound output as below.
It also allows you to use the macOS Volume level and a pair of homdpod works stereo properly. I have been using the HomePod stereo in this way and recommended people to do the same. They always said to me "Wow! working stereo properly without creating Aggregate Device! and even can adjust volume by the volume keys on the keyboard!"

I believe creating Aggregate Device is unnecessary.

 

[vbctv]

From what I understand it's AirPlay 2 if you connect the HomePod from the new control center dropdown in the menu bar on macOS 11 Big Sur, if you connect the old way through the speaker icon on the menu bar it's AirPlay 1. And from my experience it's exactly how it is, everything is in sync when I use the control center but if I use the speaker icon, I'm having sync issues in Safari.
There is no stern support for HomePod yet though from what I see. You can only connect one at a time. But it may be different thru the home app, because the home app is connected to the control center airplay button...

 

[ErikGrim]

You don't need to create Aggregate Device on Midi Setup. You can simply use the AirPlay for Sound output as below.
It also allows you to use the macOS Volume level and a pair of homdpod works stereo properly. I have been using the HomePod stereo in this way and recommended people to do the same. They always said to me "Wow! working stereo properly without creating Aggregate Device! and even can adjust volume by the volume keys on the keyboard!"

I believe creating Aggregate Device is unnecessary.

View attachment 943101

But how did you get AirPlay there in the first place? I can only get it to appear by connecting to a single HomePod (these are all stereo pairs):

 

[hooroo]

But how did you get AirPlay there in the first place? I can only get it to appear by connecting to a single HomePod (these are all stereo pairs):

The only thing I should do is to turn the TV app on and play a video clip or movie file and click on as below.

After that, you don't bother creating Aggregate Device Hope this helps.


By the way, you already have AirPlay there, though? Doesn't it work stereo? for me and all the people who I know, that AirPlay works stereo.

 

[ErikGrim]

The only thing I should do is to turn the TV app on and play a video clip or movie file and click on as below.

View attachment 945072

After that, you don't bother creating Aggregate Device Hope this helps.


By the way, you already have AirPlay there, though? Doesn't it work stereo? for me and all the people who I know, that AirPlay works stereo.

View attachment 945073

Oh right, this is the same hack as earlier. Where you have to have the app and movie open. It's works, but it's a bit of a non-starter.

 

[hooroo]

Oh right, this is the same hack as earlier. Where you have to have the app and movie open. It's works, but it's a bit of a non-starter.

In my point of view, it is much easier and more stable than creating Aggregate Device. Just my opinion.
Have a great day.

 

[MacGizmo]

From what I understand it's AirPlay 2 if you connect the HomePod from the new control center dropdown in the menu bar on macOS 11 Big Sur, if you connect the old way through the speaker icon on the menu bar it's AirPlay 1. And from my experience it's exactly how it is, everything is in sync when I use the control center but if I use the speaker icon, I'm having sync issues in Safari.
There is no stern support for HomePod yet though from what I see. You can only connect one at a time. But it may be different thru the home app, because the home app is connected to the control center airplay button...

I'm glad to hear you figured out the solution... though it ticks me off that you even had to. This is exactly the reason I haven't purchased a HomePod. I just don't believe Apple is committed to them, or AirPlay for that matter.

 

[talashar]

I just bought two HomePods thinking they would work with all my Apple devices but there going back if my MacBook Pro cannot connect in stereo. Now I know why nobody wants homepod even apple don't want to support it apparently. They sound great in a stereo pair on my phone and iPad Pro but dropping to a single speaker on the Mac is crazy when my Denon system can perform better in bluetooth than the homePods can with my Macbook

 

[Kylo83]

I just bought two HomePods thinking they would work with all my Apple devices but there going back if my MacBook Pro cannot connect in stereo. Now I know why nobody wants homepod even apple don't want to support it apparently. They sound great in a stereo pair on my phone and iPad Pro but dropping to a single speaker on the Mac is crazy when my Denon system can perform better in bluetooth than the homePods can with my Macbook

Yeah it’s shocking in big sur you can’t use them as speakers for your Mac

 

[aedor051]

How can we still not have a stereo pair of homepods as a main audio output, so frustrating

I have the same issue after upgraded my iMac desktop to MacOS Big Sur..

 

[mreveready]

The test team who tested MacOS Big Sur need sacking.
I use Airplay EVERY day, since upgrading three days ago to Big Sur I can no longer use Airplay....

Basic functionality and features such as airplay MUST have been tested and passed fit for purpose?

This most basic of mistakes is a monumental waste of people's time.

Apple are fast becoming a disappointment as they appear to become ever more like other OS's. (Test it on the punters).