HomePod Homepods, AirPlay & Homekit: a complete disaster!

[Burger Thing]

I need to vent a bit, forgive me. But I just can’t take it anymore. Airplay, Homekit and music control of HomePods is terrible and very often downright not functional. Example: just now I was airplaying a song to several HomePods from my phone in our apartment. Music stopped every couple of seconds. Ok, I turned on AppleTV and thought, i probably want to watch the music video anyway. So YouTube it is. 2 HomePods are connected to AppleTV and started playing the song without issues. But I wanted the song on the other HomePods as well. Ok, open the clumsy Home App and select the other HomePods. Message pops up: do you want to replace the music which is playing on your HomePod?

Actually the music stopped a while ago before already. So the answer is yes. Ok, but then… nothing happens. I click on the HomePods again. Same question. Same nil results. And when you click on the HomePods in question inside the Home App, they are shown as Not playing and the Album and Title info is completely empty and grey. So… why do i get asked if I want to replace a music which is supposedly being on played on my Homepods but then again, inside the same HomeApp the respective Music info is empty?

A good old sound system with speakers connected by wire… oh, man… a man could dream.

Whoever is in charge of HomeKit and AirPlay: they are a) not using their products and/or b) are not very good.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Couldn’t agree more. Me and many others have said the same thing many times. The teams involved in all of this, and Siri of course, clearly are useless, inept and absolutely do not use their own software and services. It’s almost like they go out of their way to make it unreliable, completely counterintuitive and basically just wholly unusable.

 

[waw74]

why I've got one HP mini for thread, siri, and a backup home hub, and no music.

Everything else is sonos, have a sound bar on the main TV, and can send that audio to any of the other speakers using sonos.

able to control music from any device in my house (Mac, phone, iPad) as well as being able to script using a third party http api running on a linux server box that does a few other things too. The api also allows me to send text to speech to any of the speakers, useful for custom announcements. Since it's controlled by a URL, it's easy to access via shortcuts, so can still control music from home or automations.

and it keeps me from being locked into Apple Music.



I have been all airplay in the past, had a decent airplay 1 setup 15ish years ago. And from dealing with that, I will throw this out there, 95% or more of problems with airplay are usually network related. I even had once there was a setting in my router that when enabled caused the router to crash any time I tired to airplay. Dont remember the setting, but was running dd-wrt.

 

[Burger Thing]

why I've got one HP mini for thread, siri, and a backup home hub, and no music.

Everything else is sonos, have a sound bar on the main TV, and can send that audio to any of the other speakers using sonos.

able to control music from any device in my house (Mac, phone, iPad) as well as being able to script using a third party http api running on a linux server box that does a few other things too. The api also allows me to send text to speech to any of the speakers, useful for custom announcements. Since it's controlled by a URL, it's easy to access via shortcuts, so can still control music from home or automations.

and it keeps me from being locked into Apple Music.



I have been all airplay in the past, had a decent airplay 1 setup 15ish years ago. And from dealing with that, I will throw this out there, 95% or more of problems with airplay are usually network related. I even had once there was a setting in my router that when enabled caused the router to crash any time I tired to airplay. Dont remember the setting, but was running dd-wrt.

In my case it's quite clear that the network is not the issue but bugs in the Apple Home Software. In the black Airplay selctor menu inside the Home App, the title of the previous tracks which my Homepods were playing last, was still displayed. Hence the question if I want to replace what's apparantly being played.

However on the homescreen of the Home App (so, the same app...) the Homepods were showing as: Not Playing/ Paused and clicking on their symbols the Titel Track Info screen had absolutely nothing displayed.

So, inside the Airplay selection menu there is a music title info for the Homepods but on another screen inside the same app there is not music title whatsoever for the same Homepod.

I admit, I went a bit overboard with Homepods. I have 12 installed. I was silly enough to have 4 alone for the TV. 2 as stereo set up and as the default for the Apple Tv and 2 minis also linked as stereo behind the couch.

I see weired software things all the time with Homekit, Airplay and Homepods.

 

[dotme]

AirPlay is great with a good network, but the UI and controls leave a great deal to be desired. Like you, I bought a lot of HomePods for whole-house audio. The iOS AirPlay controls in control center for each target along with their respective volume sliders move and show/hide stuff while you're trying to press on them and it's so frustrating. Nothing worse than a UI that won't stay still long enough for you to make your adjustments.

I don't know if this helps at all, but it's not made clear that if you have connected a stereo pair to Apple TV as the permanent output then you should make the Apple TV the target if you want to AirPlay music to that pair, not the HomePods themselves. Of course that means if CEC is enabled, the TV turns on when you just want to listen to tunes.

It does feel like it's all been built by people who don't use it - or people that are more worried about a deadline than making it great.

I used to use an Apple TV to access my iTunes library on the local network via the Computers icon on Apple TV and I would then AirPlay to my house from there. They broke that as well a couple of updates ago. The AirPlay menu is still there, but there's no audio any more when you choose targets.

As for the Now Playing, I read somewhere that Apple places so much emphasis on battery life (for better or worse) that the UI doesn't always show present state - maybe it's a polling interval restriction or something. It all needs a little love.

 

[bbednarz]

If they would stop forcing the HomePod to take over as the primary device it would save me so many FU matches with my HomePods. If I start a song/podcast from my phone and cast to the HomePods I do not EVER want the HomePod to become the primary device. Screws up the controls on the phone and makes it way more complicated than it needs to be. Airplay with Sonos however is as rock solid as it gets though, it's weird.

 

[Burger Thing]

AirPlay is great with a good network, but the UI and controls leave a great deal to be desired. Like you, I bought a lot of HomePods for whole-house audio. The iOS AirPlay controls in control center for each target along with their respective volume sliders move and show/hide stuff while you're trying to press on them and it's so frustrating. Nothing worse than a UI that won't stay still long enough for you to make your adjustments.

I don't know if this helps at all, but it's not made clear that if you have connected a stereo pair to Apple TV as the permanent output then you should make the Apple TV the target if you want to AirPlay music to that pair, not the HomePods themselves. Of course that means if CEC is enabled, the TV turns on when you just want to listen to tunes.

It does feel like it's all been built by people who don't use it - or people that are more worried about a deadline than making it great.

I used to use an Apple TV to access my iTunes library on the local network via the Computers icon on Apple TV and I would then AirPlay to my house from there. They broke that as well a couple of updates ago. The AirPlay menu is still there, but there's no audio any more when you choose targets.

As for the Now Playing, I read somewhere that Apple places so much emphasis on battery life (for better or worse) that the UI doesn't always show present state - maybe it's a polling interval restriction or something. It all needs a little love.

Sorry, I should have been a bit more clear in my initial post. Yes, the Apply TV has its default audio set to a pair of 2gen HomePods. I also have 2 HomePods Minis behind the couch which I have to enable via the Home App. Sometimes the AppleTV remembers those additional speakers, sometimes not…

 

[adamlbiscuit]

HomeKit, HomePods, and AirPlay are nightmarish.

I'm a broken man...

(says someone who said he'd given up on them long ago, but is still sat here, with 8 HomePods all currently doing a factory reset...)

 

[kagharaht]

I tried to keep it all simple with the HomePod. All I want it to do is Play music on all speakers, rooms, HomePods when asked. "Hey Siri play or shuffle *playlist* on all speakers, or all rooms, or all HomePods. Siri says sorry there is a problem with Apple Music. Nothing happens. Then I ask and Siri states the same thing, but they all start playing as requested. Other times, some speakers don't play while the others are playing. Sometimes one of two of them just stops, then continues again much later with the others. Sometimes the volume just shoots up then back down. Troubleshooting, Reboot all HP. Reboot MESH Router. Apple can't even fix this thing and they want to get into AI? Hilarious.

 

[Burger Thing]

Another issue I just encountered: couldn't control the volume of my AppleTV (and its connected Homepods) via the remote control and the remote App on the phone. But inside the Home App I was able to adjust the volume... These kind of inconsistencies and bugs drive me really mad.

 

[adamlbiscuit]

I've been troubleshooting issues with my HomePod (2nd Gen) and HomePod mini's for some time now.

Since a few of you seem to be having similar issues I figured I'd share all the issues / observations I've had, in case you're also experiencing similar (which it sounds like you are). Spoiler alert: I'm still no further forward.

Here's the sorry saga...

SETUP

To start, here's how I have mine setup in my 2-bed terraced house (a typical British terraced house built sometime in the 1950s, so not a new build)

Downstairs:

1 HomePod 2nd Gen and a 4k Apple TV in the lounge.

2 HomePod mini's in a stereo pair in the kitchen

Upstairs:

1 HomePod mini at the top of the stairs, outside of the bathroom

2 HomePod Minis in a stereo pair in the main bedroom, and another pair in the office.

My ISP is Virgin Media, but I don't use their provided router. Instead, that is set to be a modem-only and I have been using an Asus Zen WiFi 6 router. Prior to that I had been using a Linksys Velop mesh.

PROBLEMS

- The home app regularly reporting that my HomePods are on a different network when trying to set alarms / timers (they're all on the same network)

- AirPlay not working to the HomePods from any device, and giving me a spinning wheel before inevitably giving up and saying "Unable to connect to 'office'" for example. AirPlay never seems to be an issue to the Apple TV, only the HomePods.

- Stereo pairs seemingly falling out of love with one another, and going on to act independently, playing different music to one another etc.

- Stereo pairs that are on good terms with one another will still fall out of sync, or one of them will stop while the other carries on

- The Home App reporting that Home Hubs are not responding

- The HomePods saying they're having trouble connecting to the internet despite the Home app reporting that they're connected and with full signal strength

- Multi-room audio is a no-go for the most part, because at least one of the rooms will refuse to accept

- Apple TV remote app will not connect to the Apple TV as per @Burger Thing 's last post.

THINGS I'VE TRIED

Splitting WiFi bands:

Many have recommended trying to split the 2 GHz and 5 GHz bands. I have done this, and restricted HomePods only to the 5G band. Unfortunately, this has limited results.

They will work for a bit, until one of the HomePods stops responding. When I go to the Home app, it says that 'Alarms and Timers can only be viewed when HomePod is on the same network as this (device)". The misbehaving HomePod also shows 'Home Hub is not responding' when looking at the 'Home Hubs & Bridges' section of the Home app.

It's only a matter of time before over half of my HomePods start to act up in the same way. A reboot fixes the issue temporarily, only for it to come back.

Checking Multicast / mDNS settings

I learned that AirPlay, HomeKit, and Bonjour all need good multicast /mDNS support to work correctly. Sadly, it's hard to tell at the point of buying a router what its mDNS support will be (in fact, it's not a case of whether mDNS is supported but how well it's implemented).

I've been into the settings of my ASUS Zen and ensured Multicast is on. The Linksys routers do not have this setting, so I can only hope it's on by default.

Despite turning on Multicast the issues persist.

Assigning Home Hubs static IP's

Shows no effect or improvements for me

Investing in a Mesh setup

As above, I previously had a Linksys Velop Mesh. This is because I noted that some HomePods, particularly the ones upstairs, were receiving a weaker signal.

The Mesh setup seemed to make things worse, because HomePods would swap between nodes and then get confused, once again reporting to the Home app that they were on different networks despite that not being the case.

Don't get me wrong, there was less buffering when the HomePods were working (because of the stronger signal) but getting to the point where I could actually play music in the first place was tougher than with just one router.

I'd tried turning off roaming / node switching, and assigning HomePods to specific nodes, but no dice.

Investing in a WiFi 6 Router with better range

When the Mesh setup seemed to cause more trouble than it was worth, I invested in the Asus Zen WiFi after hearing that it had great coverage.

It does indeed have great coverage, giving me full signal in all rooms. Despite this, the HomePods are still unhappy and saying they're on different networks from time-to-time, or just flat out refusing to accept any AirPlay requests even if the Home App reports that everything is fine.

Resetting HomePods to Factory Settings

First, I removed HomePods from the Home App and let them reset themselves, before adding them back one-by-one. This didn't work.

I then reset the HomePods by following these instructions. Didn't work.

I then removed my home altogether, and went through the arduous task of setting up a new home and resetting / re-adding all my smart home devices. You guessed it, didn't work.

The most frustrating thing is it isn't immediately obvious that it hasn't work, because everything behaves well for the first hour or so. This can make troubleshooting very long and challenging.

OBSERVATIONS

People across the internet including Reddit forums and MacRumors suggest conflicting things.

Split the wi-fi bands, don't split the wi-fi bands. Set static IP's, don't set static IP's. It goes around in a frustrating circle.

What works for some, clearly doesn't work for others.

For those whose HomePods are working great, they may (reasonably) believe that the problem lies solely with our networks and lay the blame squarely on our networking equipment.

For those of us whose HomePods are working terribly, we'd beg to differ - especially given the fact that, even in my case, every other device (including Apple's own) flies on the network happily.

Here's my take:

There's no denying that the root cause of these issues is due to network issues. Specifically, it seems that the HomePods start to trip up when the router is switching them whether that be between bands, or different nodes on a mesh network. Poor signal, and other random things routers do in the background further compound the issue.

That being said, there's also no denying that HomePods and AirPlay are extremely sensitive and need everything to fit its specific requirements down to a T otherwise they won't work. That is unlike a most other devices which will work as intended out of the box without any fiddling.

People blame our networking equipment, we blame the HomePods. The truth is, we're both right.

Some Routers clearly don't implement the required technologies for AirPlay / HomeKit well enough. However, Apple also have responsibility to make sure that their consumer product works with most consumer networking equipment out of the gate (especially since they no longer make their own routers!!).

We shouldn't need to invest in a specific router or mess with a myriad of network settings. Over the course of the past few months dealing with these frustrations, I feel like I've have had to become a network admin just to get anywhere. Even then I'm left with a set of expensive speakers that simply won't work as advertised.

If this were my mum, who is happily using many Amazon Alexa devices on her ISP-supplied basic router, doesn't know her 2GHz from her 5GHz and has never even seen a router settings page - why would she even bother? Why wouldn't she return the Apple HomePod and leave it with a negative impression?

Better question: why haven't I?

 

[dotme]

Apple's official recommendation is don't split the bands (source).

On the ASUS, I think AP isolation should be disabled, IGMP snooping enabled, Airtime Fairness disabled, Multicast Routing (IGMP Proxy) enabled.

If your iPhone has "remembered" or connects to a Guest network, delete that. HomePods can follow that and end up not being on the same network, or isolated.

I agree with your frustration - The very thing that makes HomeKit more private (peer-to-peer communication with no dependence on Internet) makes network configuration so much more challenging, especially when many network products come out-of-the-box with IOT "secure" settings that block peer-to-peer communications (The assumption being that IOT devices will communicate via the cloud, so as long as they see "internet" they'll be fine. HomeKit does not work the way Google, Samsung and Amazon's cloud-dependent smart home solutions work).

I have no answers other than the recommended ASUS settings above (source) but I do sometimes use the free iOS "Discovery" app to see what HomeKit services are advertised when my iPhone is on the network. Look under _hap._tcp for HomeKit network devices (WiFi) and _airplay._tcp for AirPlay targets. It's a handy tool if you end up playing with Asus/network settings to see quickly if config changes have made a difference in terms of number of nodes that are visible.

 

[kagharaht]

A new update is released. Don't get too excited it will probably be the same results are previous updates. LOL

 

[skottichan]

Dude, that sucks. I used to have problems with the HPMs (I have two running in stereo) running through an ATV, where they would drop out. They would work fine if I was using AirPlay from my Mac, or from my phone, but they would suffer with the ATV.

I plugged them into my Mac, and reset both, then set them up as new. Haven't had issues in over a year.

 

[kagharaht]

Better question: why haven't I?

OMG, I've basically done almost everything you have.

I've kept it because I bought 10 of them for music in every room. When they work they sound beautiful, even at full volume around the entire house. Plays my Music Playlist from my Apple account. Too late to return because I'm always thinking that Apple will get it right because they are Apple and really pride in making things work as it should. That and I'm just stupid for continuing my hope for a resolution.

 

[Burger Thing]

I've been troubleshooting issues with my HomePod (2nd Gen) and HomePod mini's for some time now.

Since a few of you seem to be having similar issues I figured I'd share all the issues / observations I've had, in case you're also experiencing similar (which it sounds like you are). Spoiler alert: I'm still no further forward.

Here's the sorry saga...

SETUP

To start, here's how I have mine setup in my 2-bed terraced house (a typical British terraced house built sometime in the 1950s, so not a new build)

Downstairs:

1 HomePod 2nd Gen and a 4k Apple TV in the lounge.

2 HomePod mini's in a stereo pair in the kitchen

Upstairs:

1 HomePod mini at the top of the stairs, outside of the bathroom

2 HomePod Minis in a stereo pair in the main bedroom, and another pair in the office.

My ISP is Virgin Media, but I don't use their provided router. Instead, that is set to be a modem-only and I have been using an Asus Zen WiFi 6 router. Prior to that I had been using a Linksys Velop mesh.

PROBLEMS

- The home app regularly reporting that my HomePods are on a different network when trying to set alarms / timers (they're all on the same network)

- AirPlay not working to the HomePods from any device, and giving me a spinning wheel before inevitably giving up and saying "Unable to connect to 'office'" for example. AirPlay never seems to be an issue to the Apple TV, only the HomePods.

- Stereo pairs seemingly falling out of love with one another, and going on to act independently, playing different music to one another etc.

- Stereo pairs that are on good terms with one another will still fall out of sync, or one of them will stop while the other carries on

- The Home App reporting that Home Hubs are not responding

- The HomePods saying they're having trouble connecting to the internet despite the Home app reporting that they're connected and with full signal strength

- Multi-room audio is a no-go for the most part, because at least one of the rooms will refuse to accept

- Apple TV remote app will not connect to the Apple TV as per @Burger Thing 's last post.

THINGS I'VE TRIED

Splitting WiFi bands:

Many have recommended trying to split the 2 GHz and 5 GHz bands. I have done this, and restricted HomePods only to the 5G band. Unfortunately, this has limited results.

They will work for a bit, until one of the HomePods stops responding. When I go to the Home app, it says that 'Alarms and Timers can only be viewed when HomePod is on the same network as this (device)". The misbehaving HomePod also shows 'Home Hub is not responding' when looking at the 'Home Hubs & Bridges' section of the Home app.

It's only a matter of time before over half of my HomePods start to act up in the same way. A reboot fixes the issue temporarily, only for it to come back.

Checking Multicast / mDNS settings

I learned that AirPlay, HomeKit, and Bonjour all need good multicast /mDNS support to work correctly. Sadly, it's hard to tell at the point of buying a router what its mDNS support will be (in fact, it's not a case of whether mDNS is supported but how well it's implemented).

I've been into the settings of my ASUS Zen and ensured Multicast is on. The Linksys routers do not have this setting, so I can only hope it's on by default.

Despite turning on Multicast the issues persist.

Assigning Home Hubs static IP's

Shows no effect or improvements for me

Investing in a Mesh setup

As above, I previously had a Linksys Velop Mesh. This is because I noted that some HomePods, particularly the ones upstairs, were receiving a weaker signal.

The Mesh setup seemed to make things worse, because HomePods would swap between nodes and then get confused, once again reporting to the Home app that they were on different networks despite that not being the case.

Don't get me wrong, there was less buffering when the HomePods were working (because of the stronger signal) but getting to the point where I could actually play music in the first place was tougher than with just one router.

I'd tried turning off roaming / node switching, and assigning HomePods to specific nodes, but no dice.

Investing in a WiFi 6 Router with better range

When the Mesh setup seemed to cause more trouble than it was worth, I invested in the Asus Zen WiFi after hearing that it had great coverage.

It does indeed have great coverage, giving me full signal in all rooms. Despite this, the HomePods are still unhappy and saying they're on different networks from time-to-time, or just flat out refusing to accept any AirPlay requests even if the Home App reports that everything is fine.

Resetting HomePods to Factory Settings

First, I removed HomePods from the Home App and let them reset themselves, before adding them back one-by-one. This didn't work.

I then reset the HomePods by following these instructions. Didn't work.

I then removed my home altogether, and went through the arduous task of setting up a new home and resetting / re-adding all my smart home devices. You guessed it, didn't work.

The most frustrating thing is it isn't immediately obvious that it hasn't work, because everything behaves well for the first hour or so. This can make troubleshooting very long and challenging.

OBSERVATIONS

People across the internet including Reddit forums and MacRumors suggest conflicting things.

Split the wi-fi bands, don't split the wi-fi bands. Set static IP's, don't set static IP's. It goes around in a frustrating circle.

What works for some, clearly doesn't work for others.

For those whose HomePods are working great, they may (reasonably) believe that the problem lies solely with our networks and lay the blame squarely on our networking equipment.

For those of us whose HomePods are working terribly, we'd beg to differ - especially given the fact that, even in my case, every other device (including Apple's own) flies on the network happily.

Here's my take:

There's no denying that the root cause of these issues is due to network issues. Specifically, it seems that the HomePods start to trip up when the router is switching them whether that be between bands, or different nodes on a mesh network. Poor signal, and other random things routers do in the background further compound the issue.

That being said, there's also no denying that HomePods and AirPlay are extremely sensitive and need everything to fit its specific requirements down to a T otherwise they won't work. That is unlike a most other devices which will work as intended out of the box without any fiddling.

People blame our networking equipment, we blame the HomePods. The truth is, we're both right.

Some Routers clearly don't implement the required technologies for AirPlay / HomeKit well enough. However, Apple also have responsibility to make sure that their consumer product works with most consumer networking equipment out of the gate (especially since they no longer make their own routers!!).

We shouldn't need to invest in a specific router or mess with a myriad of network settings. Over the course of the past few months dealing with these frustrations, I feel like I've have had to become a network admin just to get anywhere. Even then I'm left with a set of expensive speakers that simply won't work as advertised.

If this were my mum, who is happily using many Amazon Alexa devices on her ISP-supplied basic router, doesn't know her 2GHz from her 5GHz and has never even seen a router settings page - why would she even bother? Why wouldn't she return the Apple HomePod and leave it with a negative impression?

Better question: why haven't I?

Dear Adam,

that has to be the most comprehensive, detailed and honest posting in an online thread I have ever read. From the bottom of my heart I wish this post will be read by one responsible Apple engineer who will go back to the mothership in Cupertino to show your report to his colleagues and they will throw in whatever they can to make things right so it “just works”.

 

[Madame Defarge]

I have a HomePod 2 and a HomePod Mini. Both drive me nuts. The Home Pod is in the Kitchen, and the Mini is in the bedroom at the other end of the house. I'm not trying to get them to play in tandem or anything fancy. I'm at wits end just trying to get them to play my songs without dropping out or playing random music I haven't chosen. I can't ask Siri on my iPhone to dim the screen without the HomePod, which is 10 feet away to say, "Sorry, I can't do that."

 

[erihp]

I have a HomePod 2 and a HomePod Mini. Both drive me nuts. The Home Pod is in the Kitchen, and the Mini is in the bedroom at the other end of the house. I'm not trying to get them to play in tandem or anything fancy. I'm at wits end just trying to get them to play my songs without dropping out or playing random music I haven't chosen. I can't ask Siri on my iPhone to dim the screen without the HomePod, which is 10 feet away to say, "Sorry, I can't do that."

While less convenient, I suggest not trying to use siri when attempting to control and use the homepods. I find when I do everything through the Airplay menus on the phone, it does what I want. Spend some time learning how to use the 'control other speakers' flow and i think you will at least get your music control handled.

 

[Badapple911]

I tried to keep it all simple with the HomePod. All I want it to do is Play music on all speakers, rooms, HomePods when asked. "Hey Siri play or shuffle *playlist* on all speakers, or all rooms, or all HomePods. Siri says sorry there is a problem with Apple Music. Nothing happens. Then I ask and Siri states the same thing, but they all start playing as requested. Other times, some speakers don't play while the others are playing. Sometimes one of two of them just stops, then continues again much later with the others. Sometimes the volume just shoots up then back down. Troubleshooting, Reboot all HP. Reboot MESH Router. Apple can't even fix this thing and they want to get into AI? Hilarious.

All the share stuff will get you hacked by a neighbor or kid or roomate. You won’t even realize it for months

 

[hewhore]

Yep, I had the same issue as the OP a couple of days ago. What makes it even more frustrating is that HomePod Minis are great for TV audio, but when you have them as speakers for the m Music app for Apple TV AND all of your other iOS devices, it just becomes a mess. I find it confusing, and I am tech savvy, but it drives my partner who hates technology to the point of tears.

 

[kagharaht]

No improvement with 17.6. Update after update it’s the same on my 10 HomePods. “Hey Siri shuffle playlist “*****” on all speaker, or on all rooms, or everywhere. “sorry there is a problem with Apple Music, I didn’t get that, or it’s says it will and nothing happens” several attempts and it finally does it. After request 4 or 5 times.

 

[erihp]

No improvement with 17.6. Update after update it’s the same on my 10 HomePods. “Hey Siri shuffle playlist “*****” on all speaker, or on all rooms, or everywhere. “sorry there is a problem with Apple Music, I didn’t get that, or it’s says it will and nothing happens” several attempts and it finally does it. After request 4 or 5 times.

for specifically airplaying and controlling speakers, ive found voice to be unreliable/unremarkable but using the option on the device to select which speakers works everytime