HomePod OS 16 Problems, Features, Bugs And Fixes
Last updated on October 23rd, 2022 at 07:44 am
Posted in News by Maria on September 12, 2022
HomePod 16 update
Apple has released HomePod OS 16 with performance and stability improvements. Check out what’s new, inform yourself about the bugs fixed, as well as fresh problems along with available workarounds!
HomePod OS 16 Update
This release is available, over-the-air, in the Home app:
Go for Menu (top-right corner) -> Home Settings -> Software Update.
HomePod 16 should be recognize and automatically start downloading.
Tip: This will take a while, continue your activity and you’ll get a notification on your iPhone and Mac when the update is prepared for installing.
HomePod OS 16 Features
According to the release notes this update comes with general performance and stability improvements.
However, minor changes and bug fixes might still be included. Report them in the comments.
HomePod OS 16 Problems
Common issues occurring in this version are highlighted here:
- 1. Stuck on update downloading. Be patient, Apple’s servers are busy today and it might take longer than expected for the new update to be downloaded.
- 2. Siri not able to set Timer, “This is taking longer than expected!” is her reply.
- 3. Siri not able to recognize users. “Hey Siri, who am I?” returns “I’m not sure who’s speaking!” or “I do not know who you are” Reported by Santiago.
- 4. HomePod mini laggy after update and failing to execute commands. Reported by Kelly.
Fix: Restart HomePod. - 5. HomePod not remembered as default setting for audio output on Apple TV running tvOS 16. Reported by Allan.
- 6. HomePods can’t be controlled remotely anymore, user has to be within Bluetooth range. Reported by Todd.
- 7. Audio cutting out during AirPlay. Reported by Paul.
- To be updated! (Contribute in the comments!)
Fact: There are no Developer release notes available for this software.
HomePod 16 Bug Fixes
Issues encountered in the previous releases might have been patched by this one. Below you have a list with problems reported as fixed:
- To be updated! (Contribute in the comments!)
Fact: Apple doesn’t issue security content documents for HomePod updates.
Have you updated to HomePod 16? What’s your feedback? Did you spot any changes not mentioned in this article? What about bugs? Share them in the comments.
Related: Apple has also rolled out iOS 16 (20A362), watchOS 9 (20R361), tvOS 16 (20J373), iOS 15.7 (19H12), iPadOS 15.7 (19H12) and macOS 12.6 (21G115).
HomePod OS 16 did come with a few issues for me. Siri now is struggling to transfer music to another set of HomePods or raising the volume of all 11 HomePod minis in my place. The music also sometimes stop playing on one device or gets delayed. All those issues started after updating to OS 16 yesterday!
Hopefully Apple will fix the OS as it was working fine before the update to OS 16.
Thanks for the extended feedback Benoit. Let us know if the issues persist in the upcoming days.
Hi Patricia,
You’re welcome! Sadly the issues continue. Sometimes the music suddenly stops, and I can’t anymore adjust the volume of all the HomePod minis by asking Siri. These are just sone of the issues I have. I now restart my HimePod minis at least once per day.
after installing the update to IOS 16 on my phone and update all my HomePods, I can no longer control the Roborock S7 Max via the app Eve. The room names are no longer displayed. However, they are displayed in Homebridge. Does anyone else have this problem? Has anyone already solved the problem?
Thanks for reporting Holger. We’re looking into this.
Both our HomePod Minis are super laggy for about everything the past couple days – asking what time it is (I counted to 30 and it just kept showing the moving light on top and never did give me the time after multiple attempts on both HomePods), to turn on a light, etc. We didn’t know there was an update but I looked at the version and that seems to be the culprit. It’s pretty useless right now.
Sorry to hear this Kelly. Try to restart them please and let us know if they get any better.
Since upgrading to TVOS 16 and the HomePods to 16 AppleTV fails to keep the connection to the default setting with HomePods as sound output. After trying to reset and reconnect the HomePods still the same issue and now I just changed the defaults output to TV speakers until Apple come with a solution.
Thanks for sharing this Allan. Have you reported the problem to Apple or you want us to do it?
Hi, I am getting very frustrated now, all my gear are updated to IOS 16.1 and still can’t get the HomePods to work again with my AppleTV, I have properly restarted, ungrouped, and reset my HomePods 10 times over the last Month. Very very annoying to use all the money on Apple Products and something as simple as connecting their own brand speakers to Apple TV can’t work! It’s worked fine up until I tried Apple TV OS 16 during the summer. But anyway I have not contacted Apple to report this issue but feel free to do so and I hope I can get this sorted as soon as possible.
Translated from French:
“hello since version 16 my two HomePods in stereo are no longer usable I had to completely reset them three times it did not accept my apple id … once it was ok and after a few minutes the music shifted, there a second apart in the group of HomePods, I undid and redid the stereo pair nothing helped, sometimes the sound simply goes away only the power-cut can find them or restarts but stall becomes untimely, finally sometimes the sound spits then the sound comes back, I have already reset my orange box as well as my wifi 6 in wifi point mode, but that did not fix the problem, another thing that I notice it is that by going from the sound of the HomePods in wifi to the sound of the mac speakers the wifi cuts off for a tenth of a second and disconnects the display of my very strange wifi camera, in short, a correction of all these bugs”
salut depuis la version 16 mes deux HomePods en stéréo ne sont plus exploitables j’ai du complètement les réinitialiser trois fois il n’acceptait pas mon id apple … une fois que c’est ok et après quelques minutes la musique se décale, il y a une seconde d’écart dans le groupe de HomePod, j’ai défait et refait la paire stéréo rien n’y fait, parfois le son part tout simplement il n’y a que le power-cut qui permet de les retrouver ou les redémarrages mais cale devient intempestif, enfin parfois le son crache puis le son reviens, j’ai déja remis à zéro ma box orange ainsi que mon wifi 6 en mode point wifi, mais cela n’a pas arrangé le problème, une autre chose que je remarque c’est qu’en passant du son des HomePods en wifi au son des haut parleurs du mac le wifi se coupe un dixième de seconde et déconnecte l’affichage de ma camera wifi très bizarre, bref vivement une correction de tous ces bugs
after downloading iOS 16 i can no longer control my four HomePods remotely. i have to be in bluetooth range to turn music on.
Have you tried restarting them?
I updated today, I tried to play music with the command “Hey Siri play my music” and it replied “I don’t know who you are, what is your name?”, and when it answered my name it replied “I can’t open photos from here ” and many commands do not respond more than “I do not know who you are”
Thanks for reporting. A restart should fix this. Home app -> [Homepod name] and scroll until you reach Reset HomePod… -> Restart HomePod.
Does it help?
Besides the audio cutting in and out with airplay on my homepod mini, I can’t see my homekit devices on my iPad 9th-gen (which is on iPadOS 15.7–I’m waiting it out for the time being in case it’s an issue with iPadOS 16 not being out yet). Using my iPhone (which is on iOS 16) I can see all of my homekit devices, and I can play airplay audio without a hitch with my airport express/HiFi set up.
Thanks for the feedback Paul. Yes, this should be solved when iPadOS 16 comes out by the end of the month. Keep us posted.
My HomePod minis have been having an issue playing music added to my scenes and when I ask for a specific song to play Siri replies “on it” then after a few seconds she says “I can’t find (song title) in your Apple Music library. Im on OS 16 and I’ve restarted both HomePods restarted the router and modem and updated my IPhone nothings helped me fix the issue. My next step is to reset my HomePods in hopes that will somehow fix them. Is there anything Im missing?
Thanks for reporting Kyle. Yes, resetting and re-adding the HomePods is the next logical step. Hope it fixes the problem. Not sure what else to suggest.