HomePod Annoying bug, any workarounds?

[AL2TEACH]

So Apple, for the love of god, stop introducing new features. Just go the drawing board and fix the damn software, please.

The Apple of old, "Think Different" and "it Just Works" seems like history as Apple has eh evolved/morphed into the rigged Windows of the past.

I tried the HomePods as tv speakers awhile back and swiftly stopped it. They may sound good but they were intended as music speakers then later as tv speakers.

I don't stress the poorly designed software. I luv my OG HomePods, I only use them for music and them as a hub to turn off and on lights,

It's sad but I'm always very skeptical about Apple now and that blind eh trust is gone.

 

[B/D]

All of 16 has been a wild ride lol but usually by now, a month away from the next big software release, this stuff should be running silky smooth.

This weird bug popped up out nowhere, somewhere in the midst of OS 16.5. When asking a HomePod for a future request (e.g. “turn off the light in 10 minutes”), Siri now doesn’t recognize your voice. Try for yourself. It’s widespread from what I understand. Saw it plastered on Reddit and here a few times. There was no update that caused this and it’s been going on for a good two months at this point. 16.6 didn’t fix it.

Tried it and sure enough, the exact same thing happened.

Is a speaker with a digital assistant built in, for god´s sake. Iphones and Macs are several orders of magnitude more complex and they run a lot better and are way more reliable.

Come on.

 

[Itinj24]

Tried it and sure enough, the exact same thing happened.

Is a speaker with a digital assistant built in, for god´s sake. Iphones and Macs are several orders of magnitude more complex and they run a lot better and are way more reliable.

Come on.

Absolutely bizarre

 

[B/D]

Absolutely bizarre

Why are we even invested in these things as this point?. I mean, obviously the product is an complete embarrassment, despite the good sound quality. And yet, here we are, investing in homekit and buying more homepods. As fond of Apple hardware as I am, I should throw them out the window, and go Sonos. In fact, the Arc with surrounds have being tempting me.

 

[Itinj24]

Why are we even invested in these things as this point?. I mean, obviously the product is a complete embarrassment, despite the good sound quality. And yet, here we are, investing in homekit and buying more homepods. As fond of Apple hardware as I am, I should throw them out the window, and go Sonos. In fact, the Arc with surrounds have being tempting me.

Besides the great audio quality, I wanted whole home Siri control- music, the ability to add something to my grocery list while working in my garage, texting my wife while in the shower, asking the HomePod where my phone is when I can’t find it. Apple sold me (us?) on a product that I was sure was going to deliver. I was positive that by now the software would be as polished as a trailer hitch. I’m still holding on to hope.

BTW, I just put together a home theater using Sonos. Got the Ultimate Immersive Set + an extra Sub. So an Arc, two Era 300 rears and two Subs. It is phenomenal. Only thing I’m annoyed about is the tiles for the Sonos speakers in HomeKit are dead. They don’t do anything. Was hoping they’d act like HomePods for being able to control music. Also, while the AppleTV remote app can control the volume while watching a movie, the Apple Watch can’t. Not sure why that is. I actually use that feature a lot with the Now Playing app on the watch.

 

[B/D]

Besides the great audio quality, I wanted whole home Siri control- music, the ability to add something to my grocery list while working in my garage, texting my wife while in the shower, asking the HomePod where my phone is when I can’t find it. Apple sold me (us?) on a product that I was sure was going to deliver. I was positive that by now the software would be as polished as a trailer hitch. I’m still holding on to hope.

BTW, I just put together a home theater using Sonos. Got the Ultimate Immersive Set + an extra Sub. So an Arc, two Era 300 rears and two Subs. It is phenomenal. Only thing I’m annoyed about is the tiles for the Sonos speakers in HomeKit are dead. They don’t do anything. Was hoping they’d act like HomePods for being able to control music. Also, while the AppleTV remote app can control the volume while watching a movie, the Apple Watch can’t. Not sure why that is. I actually use that feature a lot with the Now Playing app on the watch.

I wanted those things too, and I am also holding on to hope. But come on, it´s been 5 YEARS since 2018. Five damn years.

Your description of the Sonos system sounds awesome. I bet it sounds much much much better than the homepods for movie watching with the Apple TV.

 

[Itinj24]

I wanted those things too, and I am also holding on to hope. But come on, it´s been 5 YEARS since 2018. Five damn years.

Your description of the Sonos system sounds awesome. I bet it sounds much much much better than the homepods for movie watching with the Apple TV.

There’s no comparison. Not even a little bit. The HomePods are great sounding speakers and I use them for all my other TV’s in the house, for casual watching, but they just don’t compare. The bass is incredible on the Sonos Subs and rear surrounds have us flinch from time to time lol.

Apple can’t even give us Minis as rears.

 

[B/D]

There’s no comparison. Not even a little bit. The HomePods are great sounding speakers and I use them for all my other TV’s in the house, for casual watching, but they just don’t compare. The bass is incredible on the Sonos Subs and rear surrounds have us flinch from time to time lol.

Apple can’t even give us Minis as rears.

I can imagine. Not only in terms of surround sound but in terms of volume, clarity and soundstage.

"Apple can’t even give us Minis as rears."

They should!. The tech is already here.

 

[AL2TEACH]

Tried it and sure enough

I just finished trying it and it worked like a charm. Thanks for that one, I never even thought of it. Fun to learn something new.

the product is an complete embarrassment

The product is fine, to me, it's Apple's half baked software for the HomePods.

Arc, two Era 300 rears

Whoa, do you think it's fair to mention the HomePods in the same space
Last night, I just seen this about the set up, if you have it.

Lol, luv this guy's YouTube stuff.

I bet it sounds much much much better than the homepods for movie watching with the Apple TV.

Eh, there is no comparison. The HomePods produce a very good spatial stereo sound only.
The two should never even be mentioned together because they are world's apart in every way including price lol

 

[curdy]

This particular feature is gaining a "enhanced dialogue" setting with tvOS 17 that, according to those who use betas, is a game changer with the homepods and the apple tv. HUGE difference.

The Enhanced Dialogue feature has been a game changer for me. I have two Apple TV 4K 3rd Gens with stereo paired 2nd gen HomePods connected to each one and for watching shows on Prime and Netflix it works great. I only have to have the volume of the HomePods set to maybe 1/3 of the volume bar compared to almost full blast before without the feature, but getting way better sound and clarity for the shows. I find the Crave TV app doesn't work as well with Enhanced Dialogue for their shows even though it is an option within the app. Crave is a Canadian streaming service for those unfamiliar.

 

[B/D]

I just finished trying it and it worked like a charm. Thanks for that one, I never even thought of it. Fun to learn something new.

The product is fine, to me, it's Apple's half baked software for the HomePods.

Whoa, do you think it's fair to mention the HomePods in the same space
Last night, I just seen this about the set up, if you have it.

Lol, luv this guy's YouTube stuff.

Eh, there is no comparison. The HomePods produce a very good spatial stereo sound only.
The two should never even be mentioned together because they are world's apart in every way including price lol

Yeah, you are completely right in all accounts. Apple is making the best hardware that they have ever made in their entire history, but software wise, they are at their lowest level. Which is funny, because they used to excel at software.

Software, historically, has been Apple forte.

As for audio, I had to sold my 7.1 sound system (with an AVR, speakers, the whole thing), because I moved to another house, and since 2018 I run a 65 inch OLED, an Apple TV 4K and two original homepods stereo paired. That´s it. It makes for a very clean set up, but although the video quality upgrade with the OLED was inmense, the audio was a downgrade. Having said that, I´m impressed of how the homepods perform as movie speakers, particularly since the home theater software update back in 2020, but always taking into account what they are, their size and their price.

Like you said, no comparison at all.

 

[B/D]

The Enhanced Dialogue feature has been a game changer for me. I have two Apple TV 4K 3rd Gens with stereo paired 2nd gen HomePods connected to each one and for watching shows on Prime and Netflix it works great. I only have to have the volume of the HomePods set to maybe 1/3 of the volume bar compared to almost full blast before without the feature, but getting way better sound and clarity for the shows. I find the Crave TV app doesn't work as well with Enhanced Dialogue for their shows even though it is an option within the app. Crave is a Canadian streaming service for those unfamiliar.

1/3 versus full blast?. WOW, tremendous difference in sound levels there.

So would you say that you experience both more dialogue clarity and a higher volume in general with this turned on?.


Interesting.

Its true that, as of right now, sometimes the Homepods are not loud enough even at max volume, or the dialogue track gets drowned a little. It depends heavily on the app and content, according to my experience.

By the way, some redditor said that the feature currently works (on the beta) with stereo paired homepods minis as well, so there is hope that despite what Apple say in their website, the feature works with all the homepods models and not just the second gen (we have a second gen homepod in the bedroom, but our living room setup is an Apple TV 4K with two original homepods).

 

[AL2TEACH]

I had to sold my 7.1 sound system

I feel for ya

65 inch OLED,

Yeah 😀 I will never go BACK to a LCD screen.

 

[Itinj24]

I just finished trying it and it worked like a charm. Thanks for that one, I never even thought of it. Fun to learn something new.

The product is fine, to me, it's Apple's half baked software for the HomePods.

Whoa, do you think it's fair to mention the HomePods in the same space
Last night, I just seen this about the set up, if you have it.

Lol, luv this guy's YouTube stuff.

Eh, there is no comparison. The HomePods produce a very good spatial stereo sound only.
The two should never even be mentioned together because they are world's apart in every way including price lol

Nah I don’t think it’s a fair comparison but I was asked so I answered lol.

When you say, it worked like a charm, were you being sarcastic in regards to the future Siri request or does it work for you?

 

[curdy]

1/3 versus full blast?. WOW, tremendous difference in sound levels there.

So would you say that you experience both more dialogue clarity and a higher volume in general with this turned on?.


Interesting.

Its true that, as of right now, sometimes the Homepods are not loud enough even at max volume, or the dialogue track gets drowned a little. It depends heavily on the app and content, according to my experience.

By the way, some redditor said that the feature currently works (on the beta) with stereo paired homepods minis as well, so there is hope that despite what Apple say in their website, the feature works with all the homepods models and not just the second gen (we have a second gen homepod in the bedroom, but our living room setup is an Apple TV 4K with two original homepods).

Definitely both more dialogue clarity and a higher volume combined. It's hard to describe but personally I think it's better for shows with more dialogue than sound effects. I was finding previous to the 17 betas on Apple TV and HomePods that I would have to really turn up the volume to almost full on the volume slider and like you said, sometimes this still wasn't cutting it for me. I'm not in a large space either. It would be great if this feature was offered for AirPods as well, as they still need to be turned up to almost full on the volume slider when used with my Apple TV (AirPods Pro 2 and Max).

 

[B/D]

Definitely both more dialogue clarity and a higher volume combined. It's hard to describe but personally I think it's better for shows with more dialogue than sound effects. I was finding previous to the 17 betas on Apple TV and HomePods that I would have to really turn up the volume to almost full on the volume slider and like you said, sometimes this still wasn't cutting it for me. I'm not in a large space either. It would be great if this feature was offered for AirPods as well, as they still need to be turned up to almost full on the volume slider when used with my Apple TV (AirPods Pro 2 and Max).

Well, then it sounds that Apple have completely solved the issues that the homepods traditionally have had when used as Apple TV speakers (that is, not enough raw power to fill the room and not enough dialogue clarity). If the feature end up working on the final release of tvOS 17 only on the brand new second gen homepod, it would be a pity and a dissapointment, but at the same time an incentive to upgrade from the first gen model.


What you are telling me is indeed huge. HUGE.

 

[B/D]

@maugustine


The OP issue seems to be happening even with the current OS 17 betas. It´s very widespread at this pont. LOTS of post reporting it.

This seems like a pretty definitive fix according to reddit, try it and report back:

"Open the Home app, Home Settings, Speakers & TV, change to Everyone, and enable Require Password."

 

[ronvgs]

@maugustine That worked for me Too.

 

[B/D]

@curdy The really interesting thing for me about the homepods being way louder and clearer with the new "enhanced dialogue" feature turned on, is that, previously, because you had to have the volume turned up all the way up to really enjoy them, you didnt really had headroom for content is mixed and mastered at a low volume. You couldn´t turn up the volume more in those instances.

But now, because they are plenty loud at 1/3 of the total capacity of the volume bar, you can really turn it up for bad mixed content that really needs it.

 

[Trevanian]

Hello,

I will say I have been around the block with my HomePod Minis and I have found that only two things ever really helped the many issues I had, in order:

1 Forget all the other Home app troubleshooting, the only thing that truly wipes HomePods is deleting the Home; this will also force all the HomePods connected to that Home to reset.

2 The network, HomePods use port forwarding and are very temperamental about it. Ultimately the cure for me was changing providers so I got a low latency fibre connection. A lot of great deals where I live right now!

 

[sparky672]

1. ... the only thing that truly wipes HomePods is deleting the Home;

Unacceptable.

Wait, huh? Then how does one sell or transfer ownership of a HomePod? Delete both the seller's and buyer's Home?

2. ... the cure for me was changing providers so I got a low latency fibre connection.

Also unacceptable. If that's truly some weird requirement to be able to use these devices as intended, then it needs to be on the box... "low latency fiber connection mandatory". I wonder what percentage of Joe Users live where fiber-level service is an option? Maybe 50%? Even in more populated areas, some can get fiber and some cannot.

But do the Home Pods even need an internet connection to work? I thought the Apple Home ecosystem only depends on your local network to talk to each other and your local iOS devices? I know Siri needs an internet connection, but that's something else.

 

[Trevanian]

Unacceptable.

Wait, huh? Then how does one sell or transfer ownership of a HomePod? Delete both the seller's and buyer's Home?



Also unacceptable. If that's truly some weird requirement to be able to use these devices as intended, then it needs to be on the box... "low latency fiber connection mandatory". I wonder what percentage of Joe Users live where fiber-level service is an option? Maybe 50%? Even in more populated areas, some can get fiber and some cannot.

But do the Home Pods even need an internet connection to work? I thought the Apple Home ecosystem only depends on your local network to talk to each other and your local iOS devices? I know Siri needs an internet connection, but that's something else.

Unacceptable, I agree completely, but that’s what I have found to work.

 

[AL2TEACH]

When you say, it worked like a charm, were you being sarcastic in regards to the future Siri request or does it work for you?

Lol, it really worked.

 

[6SpeedPourover]

Well, it was fun while it lasted. I'm back to "Sorry, I'm having trouble with the connection. Make sure your iPhone is connected to the same network as the HomePod" any time I try to get the HomePod to do anything like run a shortcut, ping my phone, or turn lights on/off. Guess it's time to find the next 18 step solution to get another week and a half out of these overpriced bricks.

Nothing has changed. No new devices, same network. Just the HomePod and HomePod mini deciding that it's **** you time again.

 

[Trevanian]

Hello,

I will say I have been around the block with my HomePod Minis and I have found that only two things ever really helped the many issues I had, in order:

1 Forget all the other Home app troubleshooting, the only thing that truly wipes HomePods is deleting the Home; this will also force all the HomePods connected to that Home to reset.

2 The network, HomePods use port forwarding and are very temperamental about it. Ultimately the cure for me was changing providers so I got a low latency fibre connection. A lot of great deals where I live right now!

Didn’t last of course. Automations again will not work if set ahead further than four hours. Nothing fixes it. I hope the next update does.