HomePod HomePod noticeably slower after iOS 15

[teflocarbon]

Hi there,
I updated my HomePods to 15.0 because I wanted to use the feature where it can speak at a lower volume. This is the public release, not a beta which I’d never install on one of these.

However 15.0 has been a massive disappointment.

• It’s been noticeably slower at responding to basic commands like turning on lights
• It’s gained hearing loss and doesn’t respond nearly as well or as fast as it previously did. Is it something I said?
• For some reason it’s decided to dictate my sleep schedule and have phantom alarms
• Sometimes just randomly plays music, maybe it’s bored
• Airplay works half of the time, it’ll connect and it’ll be dead quiet

14.8 had none of the issues and worked fine and dandy. Responses were lightning quick and it was able to turn on lights faster than me walking to the switch. Ah the bachelor life.

I thought I was taking crazy pills for awhile but I decided to purchase a new HomePod Mini for another bedroom which is on 14.3, and it’s monumentally faster compared to 15.0

Am I the only one experiencing this? Or are my HomePods just trying to irritate me. Did they update it with moody teenager mode?

NOTE: these are HomePod minis, not HomePods OG’s. I didn’t want to remortgage the house for some speakers

 

[StumpyBloke]

A few other posts about it here, including from me. It’s awful. Barely fit for purpose! I don’t suppose for a second 15.1 will make anything better.

 

[TonyC28]

I have noticed with my OG HomePods that airplay (I think it’s airplay anyway) is slow to work. What I mean is when I select a song on my iPhone using the Music app and then select for it to play on my HomePods stereo pair it takes about 4 or 5 seconds to work. Prior to iOS 15 this was maybe a second or two. Not a huge deal just something I’ve noticed.

 

[B/D]

A few other posts about it here, including from me. It’s awful. Barely fit for purpose! I don’t suppose for a second 15.1 will make anything better.

Well, if a software update broke them, another can fix them.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Well, if a software update broke them, another can fix them.

Or make it worse

 

[B/D]

Or make it worse

Yes. Everything is possible.

Welcome to the wonderful world of software updates, the best remedy against a dull life. Full of dangers and adventures!

 

[Solver]

Wait a minute...just a sec...

It looks like when Siri commands are given to HomePods, data is being sent down the internet to be interpreted and results returned before the command gets processed. On my iOS 15 devices the reactions to these same commands are nearly instant.

 

[Arran]

Yep, This has been driving me mad the last few weeks.

Since iOS 15 my smart home has turned into a clueless home.

I'll say "Hey Siri goodnight" like I aways have. The house will plunge into darkness (as it should) and then somewhere in that darkness, Siri keeps stupidly wittering on, "working on it....", "still working on it", "hmmm this is taking too long!"

Every single night. It's not cute anymore. It's borked. And it was expensive. Not happy.

 

[teflocarbon]

I bought an Apple TV 4K today to replace my
NVIDIA Shield. Amazingly, Siri works better with home commands on the Apple TV compared to HomePod!

audioOS is a pathetic joke at the moment.

 

[B/D]

I bought an Apple TV 4K today to replace my
NVIDIA Shield. Amazingly, Siri works better with home commands on the Apple TV compared to HomePod!

audioOS is a pathetic joke at the moment.

Very true. Changing audio and subtitles track, for example, its instantaneous and great using Siri on the remote. Trying to use the homepods for that same task is... painful.

 

[teflocarbon]

Very true. Changing audio and subtitles track, for example, its instantaneous and great using Siri on the remote. Trying to use the homepods for that same task is... painful.

Even tasks like turning on lights, turning on a fan or closing shutters seems to be faster on Apple TV compared to my HomePod minis.
It’s insane to me that a device that is intended to be used for home management is worse than a TV streaming box.
This is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[B/D]

One could argue that the problem is Siri, but Siri works very well on the Apple TV. Is the implementation on the homepods that is terrible, even for playing music. Always has been since the release of the original homepod.

Siri on the homepods is just... stupid.

 

[teflocarbon]

One could argue that the problem is Siri, but Siri works very well on the Apple TV. Is the implementation on the homepods that is terrible, even for playing music. Always has been since the release of the original homepod.

Siri on the homepods is just... stupid.

HomePods worked brilliantly for me on 14.8, it’s when they released 15.0 that everything fell apart. It’s gained hearing loss and dementia or something, it’s as dumb as a pile of bricks.

 

[StumpyBloke]

I have to say I am very glad to hear that other people are having the same problems as me. I wish none of us did but you are backing up absolutely everything that I am having with iOS 15, well the whole version 15 software across-the-board. As you say, using the HomePods is just a joke.

I don’t know if any of you watch the keynote last night where one of family asked Siri play to play a track via HomePod and it just did it immediately. I noticed they didn’t add the now obligatory “just a sec”, or “on it” before the stupid bitch even does anything.

I’ve genuinely wish I hadn’t bought into the Apple ecosystem because without question, in my experience, the overall efficacy gets worse with every single major release. Under 14 it all worked absolutely perfectly and on 15 it’s barely fit for purpose.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Even tasks like turning on lights, turning on a fan or closing shutters seems to be faster on Apple TV compared to my HomePod minis.
It’s insane to me that a device that is intended to be used for home management is worse than a TV streaming box.
This is absolutely ridiculous.

I’ve got Philips hue lights with a number of scenes and when I ask one of the HomePods to change the scene it will normally work but she will still be complaining about it taking too long even when the lights have change to the desired settings. I spent hours trying to sort it out last night and I’ve given up. Apple clearly don’t know what they are doing anymore.

 

[S3rv3d]

Agree with this, since iOS 15 I can’t do anything.

I used to used it to control ATV, play, pause, FF, RW. I’m sure I’ve asked it to play and it’s turned on the light.

My Siri shortcuts no longer work telling Roborock to clean. Started going on about the opening times of somewhere.

Ask to turn off a light it says it can’t turn off a scene.

 

[B/D]

15.1 will go live next Monday. It better fix stuff.

 

[StumpyBloke]

15.1 will go live next Monday. It better fix stuff.

It doesn’t. I am on the release candidate of it and it is still as useless as ever (iPhone, iPad and HomePods)

 

[StumpyBloke]

Agree with this, since iOS 15 I can’t do anything.

I used to used it to control ATV, play, pause, FF, RW. I’m sure I’ve asked it to play and it’s turned on the light.

My Siri shortcuts no longer work telling Roborock to clean. Started going on about the opening times of somewhere.

Ask to turn off a light it says it can’t turn off a scene.

I am having all of those light related problems too. My lights are Phillips Hue. But, on more of a positive note, my shortcuts for my Deebot vacuum now work again with 15.1 so maybe yours will…?

 

[S3rv3d]

I am having all of those light related problems too. My lights are Phillips Hue. But, on more of a positive note, my shortcuts for my Deebot vacuum now work again with 15.1 so maybe yours will…?

I’m using hue also.

Hopefully it’s resolved.

I thought the whole point of iOS 15 was processing Siri locally to make it quicker. Now it’s the dumbest and slowest it’s ever been.

 

[StumpyBloke]

I’m using hue also.

Hopefully it’s resolved.

I thought the whole point of iOS 15 was processing Siri locally to make it quicker. Now it’s the dumbest and slowest it’s ever been.

I think only certain processing is done locally. But there is no reason all HomeKit control shouldn’t all be done internally IMO. It’s ridiculous it has to go to Apple’s servers first!

And you have summed up Siri on v15 perfectly. It is embarrassing.

 

[B/D]

It doesn’t. I am on the release candidate of it and it is still as useless as ever (iPhone, iPad and HomePods)

Well, then lets hope that the one released on Monday will be a different build.

At least lossless and Atmos for Apple Music content works correctly?.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Well, then lets hope that the one released on Monday will be a different build.

At least lossless and Atmos for Apple Music content works correctly?.

Very unlikely to be.

Yes lossless is fine, but Atmos only works on the OG HomePod.

 

[B/D]

Very unlikely to be.

Yes lossless is fine, but Atmos only works on the OG HomePod.

Yeah, the Mini has never supported Atmos with the apple tv either (completely understandable, given the huge differences hardware wise between the two homepods models).

Apple always stated that the Mini dont support Atmos.


Lets hope for another update soon, then, to fix Siri issues.

 

[twistedpixel8]

Mine have also been horrendous since day 1 of the iOS 15 update (2 HomePod minis).

Just out of interest (because I am) are you guys using HomeBridge in your HomeKit setups? I wondered if Apple changed something and now responses from some devices or implementations aren’t correct and that’s what’s confusing Siri.