Homepod disconnects or stops playing music from itunes randomly

After struggling with this maddening issue for months on end, your suggestion solved the problem for me. I turned off the 5GHz band on the router and all other devices on LAN, rebooted everything, and the Airplay2 connectivity between my router, HomePods, and Sonos speakers improved 95%. I'll take it.

OK, here is what I have found out:

Why forcing my iPhone and iPad on to the 2.4 GHz section of my Wi-Fi router… I was successfully able to reset my HomePod and get it on the 2.4 GHz section, as well.

This action actually helped reduce the frequency of the “iTunes disconnect“ that I was experiencing.

I have not experienced any difficulty using Airplay 2 to play music on my HomePod from either my iPhone or iPad.

Unfortunately, this did not stop the HomePod from disconnecting from iTunes in windows.

I honestly believe there is some kind of synchronization issue that occurs between the HomePod and iTunes for windows… And it might simply have something to do with not having full control over the frequency and timing of packets sent between the two.

Anyone else?

Bumbeen - I think you hit the nail on the head with your packet analysis and automated volume change work around.

I left my prototype auto-volume adjusting app running over night and iTunes never disconnected from the HomePod. I came down to the kitchen this morning and the HomePod was still cranking out the music. The iTunes to HomePod connection has now been stable for about 16 hours. I can safely say this is the absolute longest my HomePod has ever played music.

I still need to do more testing and work on the app. I'm curious if it fixes the same issue I'm having AirPlaying to an Apple TV 4.

Did you hear back from Apple on your support ticket?

It is funny you brought this up - I just wrote out a To Do list that includes testing with the latest versions of the iTunes, tvOS and HomePod 14.1 that Apple just pushed out. I want to put the testing results up on the informational web site.

As you pointed out, I don't think it is fixed. I suspect it is something as simple as someone changed the "keep alive" expected timing parameter in tvOS (which runs both HomePod & ATV) and did not make the same change in iTunes for Windows.

If Apple can update iTunes on Windows for new iPhone models, they can certainly look into this timing issue. I'm trying to figure out a way to get their attention on this without spending hours on the phone. I just don't have that type of time to kill!

I also saw that Reddit post about audio quality post 14.1 update. There is always something with these updates.... -- B

Ok a few things: the music cutting out is a connection issue, it doesn’t matter how fast your speed is or if other devices are working just fine. Homepod does not work well with Dual Bands Wifi. If you have that you need to disable the 5G and just use the lower speed and match that up with your device (the one you set it up with)

• Or you can try rebooting your wifi modem.

• Homepod needs a software update to 13.4 now - see if you can update it.
• Update your device or iPhone as well.

Not being a one to control it on your device, is the music App. You’re not using the iTunes app for this

This also might be the network not working on your iPhone for this. (rebooting the wifi and/or resetting network settings can usually resolve this issue)

• Some things you can try:

If the Music App isn’t responding 

Make sure your iOS software is up to date

• Close the music app- How to force an app to close on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201330
• in Settings- General - Reset - Reset Network Settings
• Restart your iOS device  (until the Apple logo appears)

So for the record, Apple support recommends 5G. Reboot was done multiple times. Homepod was updated to 13.4 the day it was released and Apple support contacted me to see if anything change with functionality...it did not.

The issue I have has nothing to do with playing from mobile devices. It's when I attempt to airplay from my PC via the iTunes application. It's a confirmed issue with Apple and the issue occurs with both Homepod and AppleTV.

Well, it's complicated. Multiple systems. Not iTunes under Windows, but iTunes on two old legacy iMacs and Music on one newer iMac and two MacBooks Pro. Air Play functions far more reliably on all of those systems, once I ditched the 5GHz band on everything. My 2.4 GHz band is very crowded, but even so everything is working better.

@Bryan. I have the same issues. The HomePod is actually with Apple now. I am still convinced the issue is with the OS itself. I had a HomePod on OS 11.2.5. It played fine. As soon as it updated to 13.3.1 the issue started.

Sadly I have no easy way to disable 5 GHz BUT Apple support recommended I should be on 5 GHz as a first troubleshooting step. I’ve troubleshot this issue like crazy and done updates as they’ve released to no avail.

I’m embarrassed to think the hours spent on this. I do believe sending it in to Apple is their way of checking it themselves to tell me it’s my problem. Others streaming the way we do are complaining of this same issue so it’s not going to be hardware related.

Interestingly enough, if you stream the same way (windows iTunes music) to AppleTV you’ll have the same issue. Since all speakers in my house are airplay capable I never use the AppleTV in this way but noticed it in my troubleshooting.

I do find it highly ironic that the company whose ecosystem I’ve bought into is manufacturing the only speaker that does not work in my home via airplay.

@Inmate_0801 I spent a lot of time this weekend trying to debug it. I did not disable 5 GHz network. I have system of AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express devices. I can disable 5Ghz on the Extreme, but not the Express units so I just left it alone.

The one thing I did do was install iTunes on a new, fully patched Windows 10 laptop. I then hardwired this directly to the AirPort Extreme router. So the wired pathway was Laptop > 1 GB switch > Airport Extreme.

Needless to say I experienced the disconnect with both the HomePod and an Apple TV. So went back to streaming from my main Windows music server.

I don't think it is networking. I think it is 100% something in iOS on the receiving end.

I also stream from Windows iTunes to an Export Express connected to an amp & speakers and I can go all day and night without the audio cutting out. Thank god that works....

Apple, please help.

I have the same issue with iTunes disconnecting from HomePod and Apple TV. I found that with TVOS 10.2.2 doesn’t disconnect. I have been able to play music continuously for 24 hours. On another ATV I have installed TVOS 14 beta 6 and it still disconnects. Usually around the 30 second mark of a track. I believe the issue is with IOS. I have put in a ticket with Apple support. I hope the issue is resolved with IOS14 final version. If anybody has the same issue please take the time to call into support so that it gets addressed.

I have expereienced this issue for over a year now, I caved in a contacted Apple about it in January of this year, spent a long time doing free troubleshooting for Apple, the issue was never resolved, I contacted them again yesterday to be informed that they wont be doing anything to resolve this issue as they dont deem it as affecting many people, as I was apparently the only one to report this.

Its extremely infuriating, I have stuck with Itunes for years and built up a huge libary of music, and I dont want to switch to spotify, because of this. I work from my Windows 10 PC everyday and airplay to my homepod stero pair as well as having audio output from my soundbar, it sounds incredible when its working, but every 5/10/15 minutes it will cut out and is actually pretty disorienting.

The most embarasing thing for apple about this issue is that I am able to aiplay to any 'non-apple' airplay enabled speaker without issue. However Apple heavily suggested on the phone that it is an issue with Windows 10 and it will be hard to do anything to solve it.

After struggling with this issue for a year I finally gave up and have ordered Sonos One bundle to replace my homepods in the office, but to make matters worse, apple wont allow me to return the Homepods that are essentially 'broken' in my personal use case and the reason I purchased them in the first place as this feature was advertised.

This is my first bad experience with Apple, when you buy an apple product you expect it to work, and I expected that Apple would do all they could in order to fix this bug but just seemed uninterested, left a bad taste in my mouth.

I think the only way this will get resolved is if as many people phone in to report the bug as possible. But I would have expected more from apple.

Its great to see that the community has found the issue!

Yep, incredibly frustrating. And not uncommon. Again, I'm on a Mac, but other Windows users seem to have found a temporary solution using the volume adjustment background program that Bryan Kinkel posted in this discussion. Might be worth a shot.

Hello,

Have you tried restarting your HomePod?

Unplug HomePod's power lead > Wait 30 seconds > Plug HomePod back in.

If your wireless router has both 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios try turning the 5GHz radio off.

tt2