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Level 1

15 points

HomePod Popping Noise

Not really a question but an observation. I have two HomePods setup in stereo mode and have occasionally experienced the loud popping sound. It has occurred in both of the HomePods, although not at the same time. To me, this rules out a hardware issue because the likelihood of both units being bad is small. It does not matter if I stream from a music service like Pandora or use music files stored on my laptop. The sound, sometimes very loud...kind of like door slamming occurs and the the HomePod in question comes back on in about 20 seconds and picks up playing in its usual mode. It seems to occur more in the stereo pairing than in the stand alone format. My condo has a very high level broadband bandwidth through out the building, so it is not a capacity issue but could be related to the way the router is sequencing the information. I am going to try a mesh router setup so that I can isolate network connection to these devices. This is definitely an issue, you can check beyond the Apple Community, several people are having similar problems that hopefully will be addressed in some future software-firmware update. These are really great sounding units, so its a shame that issues persists.

HomePod, 15

Posted on Oct 30, 2021 7:19 AM

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82 replies

tonyclerico Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 25, 2022 7:05 AM in response to Bgnmarty

Good luck troutbeshooting through this. I am not inclined to believe that this in fact a hardware issue. You can never rule that out, but far too many people have experienced this issue but very few report totally bricked units. I am thinking that these "pops" can be mitigated somehow down the road with a software default that silences the speaker for the 20-30 seconds instead of the "pop". I also have a Sonos Move and it works just fine with the HomePods. I use the Apple Music app and sometimes there are quirks with the Sonos app over which app is controlling the AirPlay stream. It's a glitch that really just an annoyance, you just quit the app and reopen and it is fixed. The Sonos performs well; I do prefer the HomePods overall especially from a design/sound perspective but alas they have been discontinued. ☹️

Bgnmarty

Level 1

38 points

Jan 25, 2022 10:04 AM in response to tonyclerico

Does anyone know how to see which WiFi SSID the HomePod's are connected to? I know I can go into my router and look but am wondering if it shows up anywhere in the Home app, though if it does I have not been able to find it.

tonyclerico: If there is a latent hardware defect in these HomePod's, sooner or later most owners will get that failure. This is what I am hoping is not the case but I have seen it before...one Apple example is with their AMD 6000 series graphics cards that went into thousands of 2011 iMac's. Apple offered a free replacement after receiving complaints and opened a program to do so but mine decided to fail long after that replacement program ended. However, Apple offered to replace mine anyway :-)

I'll report back after updating both of my routers firmware and doing a factory reset on both HomePod's and then using them awhile.

turingtest2

Level 10

272,881 points

Jan 25, 2022 10:09 AM in response to Bgnmarty

I made a Siri Shortcut called Network Info on my iPhone which can also run on my HomePod:

Get Wi-Fi network's Network Name

Set variable Details to Network Details

Get current IP address

Add Current IP Address to Details

Speak Details

tt2

Bgnmarty

Level 1

38 points

Jan 25, 2022 2:44 PM in response to turingtest2

If you made the shortcut on your iPhone, when you ask for the network info, what info is it giving you? The one your phone is on? I know which SSID my HomePod's, or anything else, is on by just looking at my Router's connected devices. However, I am looking to confirm that by trying to find that info in the Home app as it pertains to each HomePod.

Bgnmarty

Level 1

38 points

Jan 26, 2022 11:09 AM in response to Gene Surber

Yippee, a front runner! Ok, report back pls. I'm not the first one to upload updates, they may indeed fix things but can also break things that used to work fine :-0 I much prefer others to go first since Apple doesn't provide a way to go back to a previous rev level.

Thanks Gene!!!

Jan 26, 2022 11:23 AM in response to Bgnmarty

Will do. It seems they have pushed updates for everything, MacOS, iPhone, ATV, iPad, and HomePods. I’m taking the plunge on them all and will report back in about a week (or sooner if I hear a pop or have other issues from the updates).

tonyclerico Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 26, 2022 11:30 AM in response to Gene Surber

I am also installing 15.3 as I write this on my iPad and two iPhones. As it was installing 15.3 on one off the HomePods I did hear a slight pop during the update, so maybe the previous posts in the regard were on to something. I will report back after I have had the opportunity to give the HomePods a good workout. 🤞

Bgnmarty

Level 1

38 points

Jan 27, 2022 10:35 AM in response to greg06611

Do you think you are jinxing yourself by reporting this? :-). ha ha, we are all hoping 15.3 is the solution to the dreaded very loud popping that sounds like the speakers are going to blow. How long have you used them on 15.3?

Jan 27, 2022 11:25 AM in response to Bgnmarty

Two in a stereo pair, plus two minis in other rooms that I often run simultaneously.

Reduce Bass is NOT turned on.

Siri is ON.

Since update the HomePods have been playing for about 6 hours. Before update the HP’s would go out all the time.

tonyclerico Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 27, 2022 1:17 PM in response to greg06611

I installed 15.3, played the HomePods for six hours.

They worked flawlessly. My settings: Siri, off and Less Bass, off. In addition I also had a Sonos 1 and Sonos Move playing in sync. Everything worked just fine. 🤞

tonyclerico Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 27, 2022 2:32 PM in response to Bgnmarty

I did not see any "panics" in the analytics; six hours was all that I could do today.

Prior to my router upgrade, I would most definitely experience a loud pop at some point within this timeframe. The affected speaker would go off line and return to normal status in 20-30 seconds. Since the I switched routers, this has occurred on a very infrequent basis. So, I would say the verdict is still out, but I will keep using them and report back if the issue reoccurs. I do have the HomePods set to stereo mode.

Bgnmarty

Level 1

38 points

Jan 27, 2022 7:55 PM in response to tonyclerico

This is really encouraging news and hopefully not preliminary because I decided not to update to 15.3, instead I updated my two routers as I saw there were firmware updates available. Then I removed the HomePod's from the Home app and factory reset them both and then factory reset my Apple TV, deleted and re-downloaded the Home app. I did it all :-0. I then spent the better part of the afternoon on Tuesday setting everything back up from scratch. Today marks the third day of listening to them since I did that.

I did not enable the stereo pair, I left them as two separate HomePods, I did not enable Reduce Bass and did not enable Siri. Since Tuesday I've used them to listen to movies via Apple TV and via the Spectrum app on Apple TV and played my music library through them from my phone and did not experience any popping and have not seen any panics listed in the Analytics for either of them.

However, I have been using them since March 2021 and they did not panic or pop until the end of Dec when they were updated to 15.x. So, the way I look at it is the jury is still out and will be watching this thread closely before I update to 15.3

Keep the news coming!

-vortex-

Level 1

23 points

Jan 28, 2022 12:03 AM in response to Bgnmarty

Hi,

2 HomePods here in stereo configuration attached to an Apple TV4K (2021) and using it for music and normal TV (eARC).

I installed 15.3 on release day and since then I did not experience any pops with reboots. I check the analytics daily and there are no entries so far.

Prior to 15.3 the left HomePod randomly popped and restarted when playing sound from TV.

So far, so good (fingers crossed)

Bgnmarty

Level 1

38 points

Jan 28, 2022 1:30 PM in response to Bgnmarty

How old are peoples HomePod's? I'm wondering if HomePod's that were bought when they were first released in 2018 will successfully take OS15.3 and work properly as I don't know what, if any, hardware changes Apple did since they were first released.

Bgnmarty

Level 1

38 points

Jan 28, 2022 2:17 PM in response to turingtest2

Thanks turingtest2, I just didn't know and am looking at buying a pair that the seller bought in 2018 and didn't want to get them, load 15.3 on them and have a couple of bricks on my hands ;-) I just got off the phone with Apple tech support, they agree that they will successfully work under the latest OS.

HomePod Popping Noise