chipchrisman wrote:
Thank you for that well thought out response and that makes sense. One additional thought: Let's say I'm on my AirPods (on my Mac on a Zoom call in the basement. Meanwhile, my wife is upstairs nearer to the HomePod listening to music from her phone through the HomePod. She knows when I'm done with my call because when I put the AirPods into their case, the music stops. It's a glitch that could use a software update, I think. What do you think?
Are your AirPods also associated with or paired with your wife's iPhone (or her Apple ID)? I haven't looked closely at the behavior, but it seems that I've seen my iPhone's Bluetooth activity stop/pause when another connected bluetooth device is disconnected.
I sometimes listen to an audiobook on my iPhone via Bluetooth to my car stereo... before shutting off the ignition, I'll put in my AirPods and they, to use your term, "steal" the stream from my car stereo. When I then shutdown the car, the audiobook stream to my AirPods pauses as the (inactive) Bluetooth connection with the car stereo disconnects.
So, I expect that your wife's iPhone was streaming to the HomePods via AirPlay over WiFi when your connected-but-unused AirPods disconnect. I'll bet you a dollar that's what's making the HomePods pause when your AirPods go into their case (and disconnect from her iPhone).
To "fix" this behavior, tell her iPhone & her Apple ID to forget about your AirPods.