Homepod minis disappear from AirPlay choice when made a stereo pair.

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Level 1

29 points

Homepod minis disappear from AirPlay choice when made a stereo pair.

AirPlay in the home is setup so that only those who have been invited to be a part of the "Home" can access the HomePod minis. I have three HomePod minis, one downstairs and two up stairs that I want to be a stereo pair.

Here's the issue.

When all HomePods are set as individual speakers and not paired, anyone who is in the house who has been invited to be apart of the "Home" can see the HomePod minis to AirPlay to them. This is even true if they are not on wifi, just as long as they are near the HomePod minis.

When I set the two up stairs to be a stereo pair, they are now no longer accessible to the people who have access to the "Home". The one downstairs is still visible to them, but the stereo pair isn't. The only way to access the stereo pair is to be on the same wifi network as the stereo pair.

Is this by design or is this a weird bug?

The lone HomePod mini downstairs does not require you to be on the same wifi network to access, yet the stereo pair does. As soon as you seperate the stereo pair into lone devices, they appear again to the people who are not on the wifi network.

Thank you for your assistance.

HomePod mini

Posted on Sep 13, 2021 1:40 PM

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Answer 1

Vancouver22

Level 8

37,706 points

Sep 13, 2021 10:28 PM in response to Toregev

As a general rule they do need to be on the same wifi network. There’s settings you can change

See: Allow others to control audio on HomePod.

Allow others to control audio on HomePod

In the Home app on your iOS or iPadOS device, tap , then tap Home Settings.
Note: If you have more than one home, you see settings for your current home (based on your location). To edit a different home, tap Homes, then tap the home you want to edit.
Tap Allow Speaker & TV Access and choose one of the following options:

- Everyone: Gives access to everyone nearby.
- Anyone On the Same Network: Gives access to those connected to your Wi-Fi network.
- Only People Sharing This Home: Gives access to those you’ve invited to share your home (in the Home app) and who are connected to your Wi-Fi network.

The setting you choose also controls who can add to the Playing Next queue for HomePod in the Music app and Podcasts app, and who can hand off audio to HomePod. If you have more than one HomePod, the option you choose applies to all of them.

Members of your home can access their own music from your HomePod. To learn more, see Set up Personal Requests.

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Answer 2

Toregev Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 15, 2021 1:37 AM in response to Vancouver22

Thank you again for the reply. I completely rebuilt the "Home" by removing all the homepods from current home, and setting them up in a new "Home" on a different device on a different network using a different AppleID. Using the "Everyone" setting for speaker access, the problem still persists. As soon as two homepod minis make a stereo pair, they are only accessible for AirPlay if you are on the same wifi network as them. Thinking about it, this feels like a limitation of how the HomePod minis communicate. In order for the "stereo" to work properly with AirPlay, everything needs to communicate quickly over WiFi. It's a shame, as visitors cannot just start using AirPlay with the stereo pair, they now need to join the WiFi in order to see them.

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Answer 3

Vancouver22

Level 8

37,706 points

Sep 14, 2021 1:31 PM in response to Toregev

“Everyone” is usually the best choice for it work without issues.

See: If HomePod isn't responding - Apple Support for troubleshooting steps.
Try Restarting them first.
Try Resetting Network Settings on the iOS device you set up the HomePods with in General - Reset - Reset Network Settings. Keep Bluetooth turned on on this device..

If none of the above helps try a hard reset by pressing the top method, but Ungroup the pair first before you reset it to factory settings.Then set them up again on an iOS device updated to the latest software - 14.8

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Answer 4

Vancouver22

Level 8

37,706 points

Sep 15, 2021 11:04 AM in response to Toregev

Ok we will see if the upcoming ios 15 update addresses these issues. If not you can let Apple know by submitting feedback: Feedback - HomePod - Apple

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Answer 5

Toregev Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 13, 2021 10:46 PM in response to Vancouver22

Thank you for the reply. I am aware of these settings, and have tried all of them. In the case of the "Everyone" and "Only People Sharing This Home" the single HomePod mini downstairs IS visible to those NOT on the WiFi network, however the stereo pair IS NOT visible. Unpairing the stereo pair to make them individual devices, they do follow the same visibility as the lone downstairs HomePod mini. As soon as they become a stereo pair, no matter what setting is used for speaker access, the only way to AirPlay to them is to be on the same WiFi network.

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Homepod minis disappear from AirPlay choice when made a stereo pair.

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