First post ever on Reddit, be kind 👀

The AirPlay delay, anywhere from 0.2s (if you're one of the lucky ones) to 2 seconds depending on your Wi-Fi and environment, has been bugging me for years. Sure, on macOS 27 the delay is smaller but not gone. YouTube can still lag half a second to a second sometimes when browsing a video.

Anyway, I finally got around to develop a tool to fix it. Everything is sent in about 0.1s (and it adapts to your network). It works with one HomePod, a stereo pair, or several playing together. And as I like doing things all the way, I made it available for Windows as well. One click, and you can send your audio to all the HomePods on your network, with almost no delay.

It's free forever, for macOS and Windows. I've only tested it with HomePod minis so far, so I'd love to hear how it goes with a full-size HomePod or others Airplay compatible speakers.

If you wanna try it, it's on unisson.jeremi.red and I'd love to have your feedback and ideas! If you have questions drop them below as well 👌

DISCLAIMER: This is an app I made as a side project. I use it personnaly for weeks and it has been great. It is free foverever for everyone. If this is infringing on the "No Self Promotion" policy please let me know! I asked on Discord but not sure if this was the place to do so.

New HomePod update fixed ghost touch issues !!!

Have you guys noticed on the second gen’s siri is now showing the new siri ai colors? The old one is gone

Issue Description:

Since updating to tvOS 27.2, there is a severe bug affecting how Apple TV + HomePod audio groups broadcast their names over AirPlay. The system continuously fluctuates between regional naming conventions ("Home Cinema" in the UK) and US conventions ("Home Theater").

The critical failure occurs in households with multiple Apple TV home audio setups. The broken supportsHomeTheaterNaming routine fails to inject the custom room metadata into the AirPlay broadcast name. As a result, the unique room names disappear entirely, and every setup on the local network defaults to the exact same generic string (either multiple instances of "Home Cinema" or multiple instances of "Home Theater").

Impact:

User Interface Confusion: It is completely impossible to distinguish which room you are casting to from the AirPlay picker list on iOS, macOS, or tvOS.

Broken Automation & AppleScript: Any custom AppleScript or smart home automation designed to target specific rooms by string parsing fails entirely. Because the names are identical, scripts randomly select the wrong audio group target on execution.

Steps to Reproduce:

Configure two separate Apple TVs in two different rooms with paired HomePods as the default audio output (on tvOS 27.2).

Set system region/language to UK English.

Open the AirPlay picker on any Apple device on the network.

Note that room contexts (e.g., "Living Room", "Bedroom") are missing, replaced by identical, generic "Home Cinema" or "Home Theater" duplicates that constantly cycle names.

Requested Fix:

Apple needs to repair the configuration validation handling for updateGroupName and ensure that the local room prefix always wraps the audio group descriptor, regardless of the underlying localisation terminology.

I bought my HomePod mini pair when it was introduced in late 2020, and I’ve always been a bit sad about the fact that I don’t use them as often as I thought (I prefer listening to music with my AirPods). But the 27.2 update with sound glow has completely transformed their use case for me! One of my main gripes with the HomePods was always that they were too dim and didn’t make use of the wonderful display in dark rooms, but now, that is no longer an issue. Sound glow looks absolutely stunning, and it moves with the beat so nicely.

But the best thing about Sound Glow is how it reacts to Apple’s own Ambient Sounds feature (7 HomePod-exclusive sound loops that can be triggered via Siri). It doesn’t just randomly light up in the right colors, someone has actually programmed special effects that reflect the current sound loop. For example, there will be little orange flashes of light when sparks happen in the fireplace sound, little raindrops hitting the screen in the rain sound, and a stream going from one side to the other in the river/creek sound. Be sure to give it a try, it’s spectacular!

What does that even mean? Is it the sound glow feature? What does voice control for sound glow even mean?

I have several HomePod minis and two HomePods that I was setting back up after being in the box for four years.

I I’m setting them up on a new network that was not previously used with them so I restored them to factory settings. I was able to set up one of the HomePod originals however when setting up the HomePod mini and the second HomePod, I kept running into error 100 during setup.

The devices would connect to the network, but whenever it went to set up with Apple account, it would encounter this error.100 and not complete the set up.

When talking to Apple support on the original HomePod, we troubleshot verified there were no issues with the network, I was running an updated iOS, there were no VPNs running, etc.

The findings were that the device needs a firmware update which I was told by support could be done at the Apple Store. When I went to my appointment, I went ahead and brought the two HomePod mini’s also because they were also having the same issue despite all the troubleshooting.

The same issue persisted in the Apple Store with the original HomePod and two HomePod mini’s. The store was able to update the firmware on the two HomePod minis, as they have a USB-C attached to them, and this resolved the issue with the HomePod minis.

With the original HomePod however, they said that it will have to be sent out for service which will have a cost of $200-$300.

Obviously, I am not going to pay $200-$300 as that is a large percentage of the cost of a new HomePod. This being said there is no hardware issue with the device and I am fairly certain that the issue is a need a firmware update.

My question:

Are there any ways that I can go about updating this original HomePod’s firmware on my own?

This device does not have any sort of plug on it other than the power cord

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Yes, this post again.

Is louder? Because I could swear that is considerably louder and fuller at max volume.

As title. Did they fix the AirPlay delay from Macs?

Hi pretty much the title. I’m fully updated to 27.2 and my MacBook has WiFi 6e so should be able to.

All I can find is the option to set it as temporary speaker, but they announced HomePod 2 could be set the default, like with Apple TV

Any help would be great!

On paper I'm a terrible candidate for shifting from my Alexa devices to HomePods. But I have a bunch of credits I need to use up and it'd make getting a handful of HomePod minis free so I was looking into it.

For background: we're mostly an Apple household, MacBooks, iPhones, Apple Watches. I have 4 echo devices. 2 are very EOL, and a pair of 3rd gens. We don't use them for much, the classic "kitchen timer and some basic questions sometimes" type of stuff. They also integrate with a small handful of devices. It looks like I could run Homebridge on my Synology to integrate with everything.

We use Rokus to drive our TVs, I could see myself shifting to Apple TV at some point in the future, but not immediately.

I already know that the incoming Alexa Plus is going to break some of my shit, had to revert it for now. And Amazon in general is pushing more annoying crap into the devices.

In a few rooms they're also functioning as the clock for the room, which sadly doesn't look like HomePod can replicate.

Don't typically play music on the echoes, though in one room I could myself listening to podcasts while cooking, right now I use my iPhone as streaming it to the kitchen echo isn't possible.

Add all of this together and it'd be insane to shell out $$ to switch over, but at $0 it's attractive. But I could also use the credits on other things so I'm trying to check to see if there are any further gotchas or selling points I should consider?

It seems to be full brightness even in a dark room. As it is it’s way too much of a distraction seeing all that bright flashing light. Anyone else notice?

I’m experiencing a persistent issue where Siri refuses to initiate music playback from my iTunes Match library on HomePods configured as the default audio output for an Apple TV. Instead, Siri responds: “Sorry, there was a problem with Apple Music.”

I have an active iTunes Match subscription, but NOT an Apple Music subscription. My music library works perfectly fine otherwise.

The issue is reproducible across two completely different setups:

- Master bedroom: 1st-gen HomePod (single) + Apple TV 4K (1st gen)
- Living room: Two 2nd-gen HomePods (stereo pair) + Apple TV 4K (3rd gen)

Both setups exhibit the exact same problem, which persists on HomePod/tvOS 27.2.

What I’ve established

- Siri plays music from my iTunes Match library perfectly on other, standalone HomePods.
- If I temporarily change the Apple TV’s default audio output to TV Speakers, Siri immediately works on the previously affected HomePods.
- Reassigning the HomePods as default speakers causes the problem to return.
- Playing music directly through the Apple TV’s Music app works.
- AirPlaying music from my iPhone to the affected HomePods works.
- Siri can pause, skip, and otherwise control music that’s already playing.
- Siri cannot initiate playback, whether invoked directly on the HomePod or from my iPhone with the HomePod specified as the destination.

Troubleshooting I’ve already tried without success

- Restarting Apple TVs and HomePods.
- Confirming Apple Accounts and iTunes Match access.
- Changing HomePod Primary User between HomePod Account and my personal profile.
- Disabling Recognize My Voice.
- Enabling Apple Music’s “Use in Home” setting.
- Signing out and back into the Apple TV’s Store account.
- Explicitly telling Siri to play from Apple Music and requesting specific songs/artists.

The common denominator appears to be using HomePods as Apple TV default speakers, regardless of hardware generation or stereo pairing.

I’ve found a few older Reddit and MacRumors threads describing similar behavior, including reports from other iTunes Match subscribers, but haven’t found a reliable solution.

Has anyone with iTunes Match (without an Apple Music subscription) encountered this and actually resolved it? I’m particularly interested in whether there’s a known bug involving Siri initiating playback through Apple TV home-theater audio, or a workaround that preserves the HomePods as default speakers.

I’d rather not factory-reset multiple devices without some evidence that it will help. Any suggestions appreciated!

Quiero saber dónde está SIRI AI en tvOS27.2? Otra vez nos engañaron? Ya lo tengo todo en inglés y Estados Unidos y nada con iPhone más reciente.

Hi,

I upgraded my 1st gen Google Home speaker to a gen 2 HomePod after I found it on sale three weeks ago.

I’ve been VERY pleasantly surprised by the sound quality for all genres of music - we listen to everything in my household and it’s all I’ll ever need in terms of sound quality ( maiden test track was Wildfire by SBTRKT at a loud volume and I was smiling ear to ear).

I love the sound profile, and the way it sounds good from any direction.

Million Dollar Questions for you- I found another brand new one available for $115 off in Canada which is a pretty good deal. If I’m already happy with the way my single HomePod fills my open concept living/dining area, will the stereo effect of a second HomePod be worth it? What’s your stereo experience been?
We’re talking small kitchen into a medium sized living room of about 450 square feet total.

Thank you and appreciate any thoughts of stereo users.

I have my HomePod mini pair in my bedroom play white noise when I set my goodnight scene, forgot about Sound Glow when I looked up.