Nearest HomePod "Now Playing" doesn't come up automatically anymore

[iMatt.]

Is there a buried setting where I can turn this back on? I remember when I first got HomePods around the house I could go from room to room and my iPhone Home Screen would automatically switch to whatever was playing but it no longer appears unless I manually swipe down to control centre and select "Control other devices" from the now playing tile.

I'm on a 16 Pro Max running 18.2 Beta, but this was happening on non-betas and was even the same on iOS 17 on my 14 Pro Max.

For comparison my wife is on an iPhone 13 running iOS 17 still and the other day I selected something to play on our kitchen HomePod from my phone and it immediately appeared on her home screen.

 

[Digital Dude]

I have nine original HomePods and three Google Home Hubs. I agree that iOS updates have caused havoc with the HomePods, making them far less reliable than they used to be. Gone are the days when Apple would promptly address issues like this—now they’ll fix it when they feel like it. 🤷‍♂️

 

[trixx]

I’m having the same issue and have no idea what’s going on. I’m going into paranoid territory and feel like things have been less reliable since I turned off automatic usage sharing with Apple.

 

[bluecat456]

I had this feature turned off somehow before. In the recent days, I get on the iPhone and Watch randomly the “now playing” from the HomePods around the house. Very annoying for me (e.g., my wife is playing something in the kitchen, and then I get that on my phone and watch, even when I stay in a different room...).

As you have the problem on the other way, that you want to have the control come up, it really seems something is messed up with this feature.

 

[twinz555]

Not sure if this is the setting(s) you’re looking for.

Settings-General-Airplay & Handoff-Transfer to HomePod/Handoff (toggle on/off)
…or Automatically Airplay

 

[bluecat456]

This is the correct setting and was working recently. But now it's not reliable anymore