HomePod mini play pause lag when paired with Mac mini

Yep 100% same problem on my M1 Mac mini. It has taken me 24hrs to get the **** HomePod set up and just when I thought I had it working, I try to play a game and everything is out by 2 seconds or so. Really annoying and my wife is getting annoyed with me because I have spent most of Christmas moaning about the present she got me!

I can watch YouTube, iPlayer, Disneyplus via safari all fine albeit with the 2 second lag when pausing. Can only hope they fix this soon.

I'm a bit relieved to come across this thread.

I'm having a similar issue with my Homepod mini paired with my 4th gen Apple TV (HD) and my 2018 15" Macbook Pro. Sometimes it lags, sometimes it completely cuts out for a few moments, sometimes it just randomly disconnects, sometimes it doesn't respond. It's terribly annoying, and really regretting my decision to add to my apple ecosystem with this.

I'm not super knowledgable about firmware updates and other techie things - so (for anyone to answer), would I be better off returning the mini, or wait for a supposed update coming? This issue is making the homepod mini essentially unusable for my setup, but I am kind of determined to keep things apple.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Happy holidays, yall!

Hey, jrqvb8!

If this issue is really making the homepod mini useless for your intended purpose, I'd rather suggest you to return it for now. The HomePod mini supply is currently a bit limited, but I'm pretty sure it will be easily available by the time they'll fix it ... IF this BS ever gets fixed.

Now here's the thing:

I don't want to crush anybody's hopes about this, but as @mrcgrhrdt stated he's got a similar problem with his Sonos speaker. This is most definitely an AirPlay protocol flaw and it seems like it has absolutely nothing to do with the HomePod mini in particular.

If I'm totally honest, this leaves me even more speechless as I'd like to know why Apple didn't fix it already.

Developing such a protocol like AirPlay certainly comes with some testing. Did some project manager or developer just thought "Okay, most actions are having a delay but as long as changing the volume works instantly, everything's fine!"?

This is ridiculous. I'll guess we shouldn't expect big changes soon.

Anyways, have a happy new year everyone!

Many thanks for your information. i purchased two Mini's and whilst i am happy with the sound from them, when i tried using this with Zoom today i had the same issue and that is one of the reasons for having purchased these! I may send the back as they aren't fit for purpose if i have to switch back to my MacBook or AirPods to get the sync back.

Let's hope someone fixes the protocol as you suggest.

im personally just seeing this for the first time today, im having no issue at all with streaming, YouTube, music etc... but editing in Final Cut Pro X with them is impossible! not only is there a lag but when the sound does appear it doesn't sync with the point of speech at all, not even close, is anyone else tried this?

Because each is streaming at different rates. There’s going to be some lag, especially when you pause or resume play, one stops or starts before the other and isn’t quite caught up.

Try refreshing the page to restart from beginning.

Try quitting the app & restart the Mac

I have this exact same problem when airplaying from a Mac Mini. I'm surprised Apple didn't create a quick fix and update for this. I wonder what the underlying issue is. Since the speakers on the Mini are abysmal, I got a homepod mini to use as a speaker, but I wouldn't recommend it for this use at all. The HomePod mini itself is great, but it's not a speaker replacement because (1) the delay makes certain things hard to watch/listen and (2) the homepod often doesn't connect, so I sit there for several minutes connecting and disconnecting until it works (and sometimes it just doesn't not, like right now, which is why I sought out this forum).

I am afraid this is inherent behaviour of WiFi audio, Airplay 2 merely minimise the sound delay as well as delay the video output to sync up with the sound output. There is no way around it, even bluetooth speakers and headphones typically have a 100ms - 300ms delay.

The issue is clearly related to AirPlay 2. Since the HomePod mini doesn’t really on Bluetooth, the other speakers using Bluetooth don’t have issues.

But i really hope apple will be able to fix. But again, it’s been such a long time that the issue exist that I am sure it won’t be fixed...

I sent my two minis back for a refund. I still have a HomePod that has the same issue but I only use that in the kitchen so connection delays are not an issue as not using it with specific equipment. Disappointing but at least the refund was processed without issue.

Same here. I was hoping to use them as the default speakers on my Mac Mini and MPB. But the lag while trying to participate in a Zoom meeting was horrendous. I guess I’ll be returning them. One would think an OS update could fix this.

I got contacted by Apple Support concerning the lip sync issue which I, too, am experiencing and have a case running. They called, asked for permission to remotely check my computer and Home Pod Mini, which I granted, and checked the profile and registry file (or whatever).

However, it seems that they can give me no immediate solution to my problem, they are probably working on a firmware update. The reason for buying the HPM was to use it as an external speaker, BUT due to the lack of sync issue, I cannot use it during the online training: my students appear like those ventriloquist dummies, and it can get very annoying and confusing. So I wrote to Apple, telling them I will send back the HPM and ask for a refund. Pity though, it looks good and sounds good, but... useless as far as using it as an external speaker during internet conferencing.