HomePod HomePod Issues

[StumpyBloke]

I had to reset the home a few months ago when for whatever reason it just completely collapsed. I'm certainly not going to do it again. And regarding the HomePods, one or two have had to be reset. I do remember the bedroom one had to be because I couldn't upgrade to this new piece of crap HomeKit architecture. I'm not going to be resetting my others. There is only anecdotal evidence that it works and I would pretty much guarantee it would only work for the short term.

The whole system is fundamentally flawed and quite simply does not work as intended for far far too many people.

Please feedback here though if you do go down that route. Will be very interested to hear your results. And I hope it works for you too.

 

[Itinj24]

I had to reset the home a few months ago when for whatever reason it just completely collapsed. I'm certainly not going to do it again. And regarding the HomePods, one or two have had to be reset. I do remember the bedroom one had to be because I couldn't upgrade to this new piece of crap HomeKit architecture. I'm not going to be resetting my others. There is only anecdotal evidence that it works and I would pretty much guarantee it would only work for the short term.

The whole system is fundamentally flawed and quite simply does not work as intended for far far too many people.

Please feedback here though if you do go down that route. Will be very interested to hear your results. And I hope it works for you too.

Will do. It’s not going to be till the second week of January though. I been meaning to do this for a while anyway, just to freshen up.

 

[B/D]

@StumpyBloke @Itinj24. Just did a speed test with my Iphone (second generation SE, nothing fancy), at the exact same spot of each of my living room OG Homepods... 500mb. Siri responds to queries on the Iphone (general and homekit related), INSTANTLY, and safari open web pages blazingly fast.

And yet, if I ask one of the pods what´s the distance from here to Paris (for example), more often than not there will be a delay on the response time, and when she does finally respond she will say something like "on it" "one moment" and then FINALLY will give me the answer.


IT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL. IS NOT MY NETWORK.

 

[StumpyBloke]

@StumpyBloke @Itinj24. Just did a speed test with my Iphone (second generation SE, nothing fancy), at the exact same spot of each of my living room OG Homepods... 500mb. Siri responds to queries on the Iphone (general and homekit related), INSTANTLY, and safari open web pages blazingly fast.

And yet, if I ask one of the pods what´s the distance from here to Paris (for example), more often than not there will be a delay on the response time, and when she does finally respond she will say something like "on it" "one moment" and then FINALLY will give me the answer.


IT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL. IS NOT MY NETWORK.

You are right. It is not your network. And it really pisses me off when members come on here saying oh it's your network it's your network. Sick to death of hearing it.

It is nothing more than Apples ineffectual attempt at programming these godforsaken crap HomePods to work reliably.

 

[Itinj24]

@StumpyBloke @Itinj24. Just did a speed test with my Iphone (second generation SE, nothing fancy), at the exact same spot of each of my living room OG Homepods... 500mb. Siri responds to queries on the Iphone (general and homekit related), INSTANTLY, and safari open web pages blazingly fast.

And yet, if I ask one of the pods what´s the distance from here to Paris (for example), more often than not there will be a delay on the response time, and when she does finally respond she will say something like "on it" "one moment" and then FINALLY will give me the answer.


IT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL. IS NOT MY NETWORK.

The one thing that doesn’t work well for me are future requests. “Hey Siri, turn off the lights in 20 minutes.”
I get the- “working on that, one moment, who is speaking?, your devices didn’t respond or this is taking too long”. Usually works on the second or third try but Siri creates a disabled automation with a weird set of letters and numbers when this happens.

 

[B/D]

You are right. It is not your network. And it really pisses me off when members come on here saying oh it's your network it's your network. Sick to death of hearing it.

It is nothing more than Apples ineffectual attempt at programming these godforsaken crap HomePods to work reliably.

Thank you. One question: In your case, does Siri/Homekit works better from your Iphone as well?.

 

[B/D]

The one thing that doesn’t work well for me are future requests. “Hey Siri, turn off the lights in 20 minutes.”
I get the- “working on that, one moment, who is speaking?, your devices didn’t respond or this is taking too long”. Usually works on the second or third try but Siri creates a disabled automation with a weird set of letters and numbers when this happens.

Huh. Spooky.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Thank you. One question: In your case, does Siri/Homekit works better from your Iphone as well?.

Almost perfect from my phone.

 

[B/D]

Almost perfect from my phone.

Ah, then Homekit IS WORKING, generally speaking. Whatever happens, it homepod specific.

 

[Itinj24]

Ah, then Homekit IS WORKING, generally speaking. Whatever happens, it homepod specific.

Same here. That future request I was talking about above works flawlessly on my iPhone along with all other HomeKit requests.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Just realised, that my automation to open the curtains didn't work for the first time ever this morning.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Ah, then Homekit IS WORKING, generally speaking. Whatever happens, it homepod specific.

I would expand that to say *that* part of HomeKit is working. Seemingly HomeKit hubs are the issue here?

 

[B/D]

I would expand that to say *that* part of HomeKit is working. Seemingly HomeKit hubs are the issue here?

We´re screwed then, because hubs are pretty much mandatory.

 

[B/D]

Same here. That future request I was talking about above works flawlessly on my iPhone along with all other HomeKit requests.

What in the world could be happening the pods then?. Poor code?. Server issues?. A mixture of both?

 

[StumpyBloke]

I've got Apple Music's Christmas station playing and every three or four tracks there is a pause in the middle of a track. What utter ****ing garbage!!

Edit: Actually I think its temporarily muting rather than pausing!

 

[AL2TEACH]

I feel like Apple has and still is screwing the OG HomePods. Sad because as speakers for music I luv it.

 

[Itinj24]

I feel like Apple has and still is screwing the OG HomePods. Sad because as speakers for music I luv it.

My OGs are far more reliable and perform way better than my Minis but someone here was reporting the heat issue popping back up with HomePodOS 16. If Apple nukes my OGs via update and leaves me with the Minis only, I’ll vomit lol.

I wonder if it’s the issue with the chip. Isn’t Apple using the AppleWatch chip in the Mini? I mean, Siri on the Apple Watch is also trash. Wonder if it just isn’t powerful enough to handle the requests. The HomePod mini is a COVID product during the height of supply shortages and lockdowns so Apple used what they had available.

 

[AL2TEACH]

I wonder if it’s the issue with the chip

Apple has screwed the HomePod from birth IMHO and I must confess that's based in very limited knowledge . I luv the sound quality of these speakers but I find it frustrating to get my playlists on them. I guess I need to work with the music app more but it's not my favorite app to put it mildly. I don't ask Siri much with them but the very basics. Hey Siri, play Library and Siri lets me know it's going to play all songs. Hey Siri, play reading playlist and the response is something like it can't be found. I tried them, out of curiosity as tv speakers but a cheaper soundbar for me worked and sounded better. Apple states, they are capable of Dolby Atmos but one can't get Dolby Atmos with 2 speakers but that's another issue lol.
I get the occasional stop playing music, can't find playlists, seems to take a little more time to start playing but that's no biggie, and the Siri stuff.
I feel extremely lucky that I have not had the issues that others experienced.
The chip. I feel it's more of Apple's software humbugs (not really caring) than the chip. They felt good about the speakers and the software seems to have been an after thought kind of thing. At least, they seemed to have made updating somewhat smoother.
I like Apple's stuff but the mini was a no go for me.

 

[Itinj24]

Apple has screwed the HomePod from birth IMHO and I must confess that's based in very limited knowledge . I luv the sound quality of these speakers but I find it frustrating to get my playlists on them. I guess I need to work with the music app more but it's not my favorite app to put it mildly. I don't ask Siri much with them but the very basics. Hey Siri, play Library and Siri lets me know it's going to play all songs. Hey Siri, play reading playlist and the response is something like it can't be found. I tried them, out of curiosity as tv speakers but a cheaper soundbar for me worked and sounded better. Apple states, they are capable of Dolby Atmos but one can't get Dolby Atmos with 2 speakers but that's another issue lol.
I get the occasional stop playing music, can't find playlists, seems to take a little more time to start playing but that's no biggie, and the Siri stuff.
I feel extremely lucky that I have not had the issues that others experienced.
The chip. I feel it's more of Apple's software humbugs (not really caring) than the chip. They felt good about the speakers and the software seems to have been an after thought kind of thing. At least, they seemed to have made updating somewhat smoother.
I like Apple's stuff but the mini was a no go for me.

The Mini, when it works, is a great device to sprinkle around the house in places that an OG would be overkill… places that you frequent but not for extended periods… like a bathroom or garage. (Ok maybe the bathroom is a bad example in my case lol).

I get all the issues as you above. The worst is when it can’t find a single song in my whole library but does find playlists with the songs contained in them. Strange.

Then you got the farting issues with the OG. Maybe Apple audio engineers just suck because the APP were also having issues with crackling and popping. Should outsource the hardware in this case and pay more mind to the software.

 

[B/D]

I've got Apple Music's Christmas station playing and every three or four tracks there is a pause in the middle of a track. What utter ****ing garbage!!

Edit: Actually I think its temporarily muting rather than pausing!

@Itinj24


Oh yeah, reported these bugs to Apple along with the one that makes looped tracks or sounds (like white noise) suddenly stop (it´s back, and this time it´s happening on Mac OS and IOS too), and lo and behold, it turns out that their feedback dev portal (not the public feedback app) already shows the existence of these issues (which means more people have already reported them).

Funnily enough, there are three other issues filled under "investigating". One about the OG Homepods having lower volume than before in general, and another about the OG Homepods having lower volume than before SPECIFICALLY when paired with the Apple TV (particularly dialogue).

The third issue?.

Something along the lines of "Homekit is a cluster****, please fix it".


So people, @StumpyBloke was right. Apple KNOW about all the problems, but either they can´t fix them or they dont care about homekit/homepod (not enough revenue for make it a top priority).

 

[diego.caraballo]

Experiencing the same issues as many have posted here. After 16.2, I still have volume issues (some tracks plays really loud out of nothing), one of the Mini's in a stereo pair stops working for a few seconds...
Also, my Mini's are really quiet now. Need to set them to 60% to have the same volume as with 30% before.

After a couple of years I have concluded that:
1. Apple wanted a cheap speaker, someone had the idea of use the S5 chip
2. Additional saving cost: use WiFi 4
3. As a result, the Mini is underpowered and relies heavily on Apple servers

I honestly think that it will never be solved, only if they launch a new model in the future.
Problem is, would you trust Apple again?

 

[B/D]

Experiencing the same issues as many have posted here. After 16.2, I still have volume issues (some tracks plays really loud out of nothing), one of the Mini's in a stereo pair stops working for a few seconds...
Also, my Mini's are really quiet now. Need to set them to 60% to have the same volume as with 30% before.

After a couple of years I have concluded that:
1. Apple wanted a cheap speaker, someone had the idea of use the S5 chip
2. Additional saving cost: use WiFi 4
3. As a result, the Mini is underpowered and relies heavily on Apple servers

I honestly think that it will never be solved, only if they launch a new model in the future.
Problem is, would you trust Apple again?

Good theory, except for the fact that the OG Homepods are also borked. Is a software AND a server side issue.

 

[B/D]

Hey @sorgo, remember the bug where if you set up for the first time a HP and want to disable Atmos in Apple Music content (it comes enabled by default), it wont actually turn off and you´d have to perform a ritual force closing the home app to actually get rid of it?

GUESS WHAT

IS STILL THERE

THEY

DONT

FIX

ANYTHING

EVER.

 

[Itinj24]

Experiencing the same issues as many have posted here. After 16.2, I still have volume issues (some tracks plays really loud out of nothing), one of the Mini's in a stereo pair stops working for a few seconds...
Also, my Mini's are really quiet now. Need to set them to 60% to have the same volume as with 30% before.

After a couple of years I have concluded that:
1. Apple wanted a cheap speaker, someone had the idea of use the S5 chip
2. Additional saving cost: use WiFi 4
3. As a result, the Mini is underpowered and relies heavily on Apple servers

I honestly think that it will never be solved, only if they launch a new model in the future.
Problem is, would you trust Apple again?

I agree with you 💯

 

[AL2TEACH]

(Ok maybe the bathroom is a bad example in my case lol).

lol

Then you got the farting issues with the OG.

Read about those but never had the farts🤣 I know, not a funny matter if you had them🤣
💩 I have to stop.

pay more mind to the software.

totally agree because in my case it's a wonderful speaker. If there's another one coming, I hope Apple doesn't put an insane price tag on it but I doubt it.