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Updating now - 16.1 is downloaded - ready to install, but it is also downloading 16.0? Why? All homepods are at 16.0...?
 
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The music from a pair of original HomePods that have performed perfectly for years, Siri-controlled, is very important to me. No way I would intentionally risk the HomePods to the vagaries of some non-critical OS upgrade.
 
I lost one of mine. I have six in total, the one that was part of a stereo pair is just showing blinking volume buttons and is not responding. According to Apple's support article I should try to hard reset it but removing it from my Apple Home didn't do anything disconnecting from power while holding the top of the HomePod while powering up is making the white spinning circle go red, but it never triggers a hard reset. It just ends up at the blinking volume buttons after a while regardless. :(

The remaining five updates just fine.

me too, flashing volume lights of death.. called apple support & they made an appointment tomorrow at Apple Store.. I have no idea if they will repair/replace complimentary for failed software update or if I will be sol...

anyone know what the policy is for software update causing a failed device?
 
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Updating now - 16.1 is downloaded - ready to install, but it is also downloading 16.0? Why? All homepods are at 16.0...?

Hmm weird. I saw that too, but my HomePod devices are still on 15.6 so in that sense I didn't think anything of it downloading 16.0 and 16.1.

That said, I do have autoupdate disabled and once the downloading stopped/finished, all I see being presented in the UI (Home.app on Monterey) is 16.1. No sign of 16.0 whatsoever.

E.g.

1666641192437.png
 
How do Matter-enabled devices co-exist with those that only speak HomeKit? E.g. If I were to update my HomePods, phones and iPads to 16.1 -- but leave macOS on Monterey for the time being -- will it be problematic?

I have a bunch of Thread-enabled devices (switches, outlets, etc) that are quirky at best with pure HomeKit controls. They have proven to be far more unreliable than IP-based HomeKit devices as they frequently become unresponsive or very slow to response, necessitating a power cycle of the device. Granted this may be rooted in the devices themselves (I'm lookin' at you, Belkin!!) though I'm half-hoping these devices will be better behaved with the Matter framework. Though I do much of my interaction with these home devices via macOS & if macOS is not yet Matter-enabled (because I will leave it on Monterey for now) I'm just wondering what that would look like.
 
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Isn’t Matter only available on the HomePod mini?

the article makes it seem like both HomePods will get matter which is not true.

if it is true it needs to be detailed and made clear.
I would assume both can get matter since it is software-based, the mini would be the one that also got thread (the OG does not have this hardware built-in).
 
I was really hoping this release would fix AirPlay. It will only play the first 20-30 seconds of a song and then play the last 5 seconds as it starts the next song. My HomePod mini is the worst Apple product I've ever bought.
 
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So what is compatible with matter? I’m so confused. And will matter cameras support HKSV?

Cameras aren’t a part of Matter at this point.

That said, HomeKit secure video is a HomeKit feature. Matter is about bringing devices into the same network with their basic functions. Some premium features may remain proprietary. Hue is keeping some of its colour matching and music sync features in its app even though lights on/off/brightness/colour will be available to Matter.
 
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Do the OG HomePods support Matter? I’m guessing not considering the conspicuous absence in the release notes
Matter is just a common language for smarthome devices to talk to each other, instead of how it has been where Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung all have their own separate language for device manufacturers to support.
 
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Me: Hey Siri, play music everywhere.
Siri: Working on that.
Siri: Still Working.
Siri: I'm having problems connecting to the internet. For more info, check the home app.
Me: *Checks home app* ???
Hello (sorry for my grammar),

I had the same problem with one of my HomePods.

The problem occurs when there are multiple access points, or one access point with enabled 2,4 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi in the household (or weak Wi-Fi strength. RSSI -60 to -85 dBm).
The HomePod every X minutes (I don’t know the value of the X) scans the “network” and connects to the strongest signal.
After several connection “attempts” (example: for 10 minutes the 2,4 GHz signal is better, after the 5 GHz one. More access points more “roaming” for the HomePod) the HomePod cannot connect to the Wi-Fi anymore (software glitch?), and only the reboot helps.

What I did: (I have 2 access points). Disabled the 2,4 GHz band on the first AP (the 5 GHz is on) and the TX signal is set to 100%. On the second AP the 2,4 GHz and the 5GHz is on, but the TX signal strength is set to 20%. This way my HomePod stays connected to one AP and one band.

I hope this long and boring explanation will help you.
 
me too, flashing volume lights of death.. called apple support & they made an appointment tomorrow at Apple Store.. I have no idea if they will repair/replace complimentary for failed software update or if I will be sol...

anyone know what the policy is for software update causing a failed device?

Sadly I'm in a rather terrible position on this one. OG HomePod was never sold in my country, in fact, we don't have any HomePod mini either. Neither do we have any official Apple Stores. Tried to call Apple Support from my country and they told me that I should try contacting Apple Support in the UK or US..
 
Well I wouldn’t normally update for a week, but since Matter was coming to the OG HomePods, I chanced it. Updated my 2 OG’s tonight without any issues. whew! 🫣😎

Note: Apple changed the notification sound when you manually push-hold to ask Siri to do something, it’s much more quiet and lacks bass. Different, I kinda liked the old sound personally.
 
Updating now - 16.1 is downloaded - ready to install, but it is also downloading 16.0? Why? All homepods are at 16.0...?
Mine did the same thing, left it for a few minutes and they all are now 16.1, kinda odd that it had to show downloading 16.0 though. I have the OG paired up which showed that earlier.
 
My stereo pair updated fine last night. This time it didn't show the 16.0 update as it has done for the past couple of updates, just 16.1.

But yeah, no issues so far but I only use mine with my Apple TV in Home Theatre Mode
 
That was messy.
Four OG homepods and two minis stuck on downloading for over an hour.
They were in pairs so maybe that caused issues.
After manual intervention, I got them to the installation stage.
Then they hooked up to the incorrect wifi network.
They had to be restarted twice to get them to even show the "incorrect network" advisory that they show when the i device is on a different network.
One of the OG pods took multiple restart and depowering sessions to get it back; I thought it was bricked.

The iPadOS and iPhone 16.1 updates went smoothly but all is not well.
 
I’ve seen references to people with a “update HomeKit infrastructure“ kind of message… I was on 16.1 beta and now everything in the house is 16.1, one HomePod, five HomePod minis, one Mac fully updated to Ventura, and a bunch of iOS devices all 16.1 I have never seen any message to update HomeKit and I see no matter references in any settings on any machine…

Am I missing something?
 
That was messy.
Four OG homepods and two minis stuck on downloading for over an hour.
They were in pairs so maybe that caused issues.
After manual intervention, I got them to the installation stage.
Then they hooked up to the incorrect wifi network.
They had to be restarted twice to get them to even show the "incorrect network" advisory that they show when the i device is on a different network.
One of the OG pods took multiple restart and depowering sessions to get it back; I thought it was bricked.

The iPadOS and iPhone 16.1 updates went smoothly but all is not well.
I got a stereo pair of OG HomePods but always making firmware updates one by one just in case if something would wen wrong. Yesterday some of my iOS devices got updated longer than usual probably servers were busy
 
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