OG HomePod - Siri - Freaky Weird behaviour

Question

OG HomePod - Siri - Freaky Weird behaviour

OG HomePod 15.4.1 / iPhone A 15.4.1 / iPhone B 15.4.1

Scenario:

Request - “Hey Siri Play Some Music in the XX Room”

Response - “Alright, Here’s Some Music Just For You in the XX Room”…. Music begins to play

iPhone B belonging to another family member is lay next to me, receives a notification and the Home Screen flashes. I notice the iPhone is also playing the same music track that Siri is playing on the OG HomePod and think ‘that’s weird’. Weird - Why? ...because, 1) they don’t have the same taste, 2) they are not even Home.
So I hit the Pause/Stop button on iPhone B from Lock Screen > Immediately music on OG HomePod stops.
Grab my iPhone A and hit play button (again from Lock Screen) > Music resumes
Another notification comes in on iPhone A and again it’s playing the same music track. What!?
Every time I skip / pause / stop on my iPhone A, iPhone B also changes and vice versa… as if the two phones are sync’d

I attempt to recreate the scenario on 2 different HomePod Minis, but both function as expected. i.e.: iPhone B remains inactive

iPhone B =

family member
Siri is disabled
very, very (almost never and certainly not in last several months) rarely AirPlays to OG HomePod

What is going on?

Unplug the OG HomePod from power, wait a couple of minutes and try to recreate the scenario. But everything functions as expected.

Did I just experience "another" Siri bug? OR is something more sinister afoot?

Personally I'd say iOS 15 and Siri are suffering from an infestation of "Bugs" and need fumigating!

HomePod

Posted on Apr 10, 2022 5:52 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

bgmeek

Level 4

1,169 points

Apr 11, 2022 9:28 AM in response to mariotheplumber

mariotheplumber wrote:

OG HomePod 15.4.1 / iPhone A 15.4.1 / iPhone B 15.4.1

Scenario:•

Request - “Hey Siri Play Some Music in the XX Room”

Response - “Alright, Here’s Some Music Just For You in the XX Room”…. Music begins to play

[...]

iPhone B belonging to another family member is lay next to me, receives a notification and the Home Screen flashes. I notice the iPhone is also playing the same music track that Siri is playing on the OG HomePod and think ‘that’s weird’. Weird - Why? ...because, 1) they don’t have the same taste, 2) they are not even Home.

• So I hit the Pause/Stop button on iPhone B from Lock Screen > Immediately music on OG HomePod stops.

[...]

This is not a bug; it's a feature :-).

I believe you're seeing the standard AirPlay media control that appears on the iOS lock screen when there's nothing that's actually playing locally on the iPhone -- it's showing you what's playing on a nearby HomePod (within a Home that you're a member of). Your pause and play operations worked because that's what they're supposed to do.

Here's a screenshot of my iPhone's lock screen just now after I told Siri to play my old-guy Pandora station of mellow morning music:

Note the "Stereo minis" label at the top - that's the name of my stereo pair of HomePod minis.

I suspect this is what you're seeing.

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Answer 2

Apr 11, 2022 8:35 AM in response to mariotheplumber

Hello mariotheplumber,

Just to confirm, it seems like music is playing on a family member's iPhone when you ask Siri to play music on HomePod, correct?

You can find some good information about playing music on HomePod with Siri here: Play audio using Siri on HomePod

Does the other device seem to be responding when "Hey Siri" is used? You mentioned that Siri is disabled on that device; did you confirm that by going to Settings > Siri & Search, and ensuring "Listen for "Hey Siri" is off?

For the steps to review and manage Siri settings on iPhone, please check out this link: Change Siri settings on iPhone

Change when Siri responds

Go to Settings > Siri & Search, then do any of the following:

• Prevent Siri from responding to the voice command “Hey Siri”: Turn off Listen for “Hey Siri.”

• Prevent Siri from responding to the side or Home button: Turn off Press Side Button for Siri (on an iPhone with Face ID) or Press Home for Siri (on an iPhone with a Home button).

• Prevent access to Siri when iPhone is locked: Turn off Allow Siri When Locked.

• Change the language Siri responds to: Tap Language, then select a new language.

You can also activate Siri by typing. See Type instead of speaking to Siri.

Thanks!

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Answer 3

Apr 11, 2022 11:10 PM in response to bgmeek

Many thanks for that - makes sense. My bad!

However:

1) Why could I not recreate the scenario after unplugging the OG HomePod? And still not?

2) Why could I not recreate the scenario on 2 separate sets of HomePod Minis?

3) Why has neither device 11&12) or other device ever witnessed this behaviour previously?

Features appear and work consistently, when they don’t that’s why one presumes they are bug’s.

Now I need to find out why this feature doesn't work consistently.

Thanks again, very helpful and informative. Much appreciated.

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Answer 4

bgmeek

Level 4

1,169 points

Apr 12, 2022 12:54 AM in response to mariotheplumber

Well, I've gotten used to seeing and using this "AirPlay remote control" whenever I'm connected to my home wifi and I've got something playing on the HomePods or the Apple TV 4K.

You can get rid of it (at least temporarily) by tapping the AirPlay icon in the lock screen airplay control, then tap "Control Other Speakers & TVs" and select the (not playing) iPhone. Also - the lock screen control appears linked to whatever media device is selected in the Control Center's AirPlay control.

Weirdly, there doesn't seem to be many iOS options for configuring the Lock Screen in general... particularly for someone who's used Android phones in the past :-).

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Answer 5

Apr 12, 2022 1:12 AM in response to bgmeek

I can always see the Airplay on MY lock screen, but never seen it on another device before.

Since powering off the OG HomePod, despite multiple, multiple, multiple attempts, I cannot replicate the original scenario where it appears on another family members device, OR on different pairs of HPM’s.

“You can get rid of it (at least temporarily) by tapping the AirPlay icon in the lock screen airplay control, then tap "Control Other Speakers & TVs" and select the (not playing) iPhone.”

Yes, thanks familiar with this, although don’t use it often.

“Also - the lock screen control appears linked to whatever media device is selected in the Control Center's AirPlay control.”

The 2nd iPhone last AirPlayed to the OG HomePod almost a year ago, it regularly AirPlays to different speakers, so why it would be linked to the OG I have no idea.

Thanks again.

For me this feature is broken then.

Think I might just revert to CD’s & Vinyl. :-) Life was simpler. :-)

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OG HomePod - Siri - Freaky Weird behaviour

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