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User profile for user: ShamaGaucha
ShamaGaucha Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Apple Engineering Escalation: Siri and iTunes Match Are Seriously Broken

Me, to any HomePod: Hey Siri, play the album Fear Inoculum by Tool.

Siri: Now playing Fear Inoculum by Tool.

Note: Siri starts playing a random song from my iTunes Match library. 100% of the time, it is NOT the album Fear Inoculum by Tool. 100% of the time, it is NOT even Tool.


Me, to any HomePod: Hey Siri, play Sleep Music by <insert my name>.

Siri: I couldn't find Sleep Music by <insert my name> in your Apple Music library. You can ask me to play a radio station or ask for your music on a different app.

Note: I have been listening to the same sleep song for years -- specifically, I have played Sleep Music by <insert my name> 1,763 times according to Apple Music on my Mac. The song shows as "Uploaded" to iTunes Match on my Mac as well.


Me, to any HomePod: Hey Siri, play songs by <insert my name>.

Siri: One sec... One moment... Something's taking a little too long here.

Note: This worked fine with HomePod for years. Now, it doesn't work at all.


Me, to any HomePod 15 seconds later: Hey Siri, play songs by <insert my name>.

Siri: OK, here's <insert my name>. Sorry, there was a problem with Apple Music.

Note: I don't subscribe to Apple Music. I subscribe to iTunes Match.


Me: Hey Siri, what's the weather?

Siri: It's currently cloudy and 86 degrees. It's heading down from 86 degrees to 73 degrees tonight.

Note: Works perfectly!


I have reset a HomePod, removed/readded it from the HomeApp, removed/readded it from my Apple account. None of that works. Also, all of this nonsense happens on my iPhone 13 Pro phone as well. It's not just the 4 HomePod Minis and 2 Original HomePods that this happens on.


I opened an Apple ticket 101690793459, was told to try resetting a HomePod, removing/re-add it to the HomeApp, then to to connect one to my Mac via USB C. I repeatedly explained that that this is not a device issue. Siri's or Siri's logic appears to be broken. After 20 minutes on hold, Cassandra from Apple Support hung up on me and did not call back. Thanks, Cassandra.


Apple Engineering, I don't know what you are doing to Siri or if you are using this new hotness called "Artificial Intelligence" for Siri's backend, but all of my Apple products are now dumber than Bluetooth speakers that cost 1/10th of the price. Please fix Siri and iTunes Match. It's not me having this issue. Look at this community's list of Siri problems.


If this is not fixed in the next 2 weeks, I am selling all of my Apple products and switching back to Linux, where if things don't work correctly, at least I can fix it myself or pay for a Developer to fix.


Thank you.


Sincerely,

<insert my name>, a 20+ year Apple/Mac user.


Posted on May 1, 2022 2:00 PM

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User profile for user: ShamaGaucha
ShamaGaucha Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Posted on May 2, 2022 10:30 AM

SOLVED: I called Apple Support again. No further troubleshooting steps were offered that I had not already tried. Apparently, Apple Engineering already "knows" of this issue and are working on it. No public bug tracking was provided and you cannot escalate the issue to Apple Engineering since they already "know" about it. No ETA for resolution was given. I was offered a refund/cancellation for iTunes Match. I declined and told them that I would solve this issue my dang self.


SOLUTION: Disable "Personal Requests" and "Recognize My Voice" on all HomePods in the Home App.

  1. Open the Home app on your iPhone or Mac.
  2. Click the Home icon at the top left.
  3. Click Home Settings.
  4. Click on your name or your Apple account name.
  5. Click on Personal Requests.
  6. Disable everything that is checked.
  7. Click Back.
  8. Disable "Recognize My Voice".
  9. Click Back.
  10. Click Done.
  11. Close the Home app.
  12. Wait a few minutes for the settings to sync to all of your HomePods.
  13. Reboot all HomePods for good measure.
  14. Once they are all powered back on, ask Siri to play an album or genre.


Me, to any HomePod: Hey Siri, play the album Fear Inoculum by Tool.

Siri: Now playing Fear Inoculum by Tool.

Note: Siri then starts playing the first song from the album Fear Inoculum by Tool.


Apple Engineering/Development should focus their troubleshooting efforts on the code for "Recognize My Voice" and "Personal Requests" since those features seem to be broken when using Siri on HomePods and iPhones with iTunes Match.


Hope this helps someone else too.

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User profile for user: ShamaGaucha
ShamaGaucha Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

May 2, 2022 10:30 AM in response to ShamaGaucha

SOLVED: I called Apple Support again. No further troubleshooting steps were offered that I had not already tried. Apparently, Apple Engineering already "knows" of this issue and are working on it. No public bug tracking was provided and you cannot escalate the issue to Apple Engineering since they already "know" about it. No ETA for resolution was given. I was offered a refund/cancellation for iTunes Match. I declined and told them that I would solve this issue my dang self.


SOLUTION: Disable "Personal Requests" and "Recognize My Voice" on all HomePods in the Home App.

  1. Open the Home app on your iPhone or Mac.
  2. Click the Home icon at the top left.
  3. Click Home Settings.
  4. Click on your name or your Apple account name.
  5. Click on Personal Requests.
  6. Disable everything that is checked.
  7. Click Back.
  8. Disable "Recognize My Voice".
  9. Click Back.
  10. Click Done.
  11. Close the Home app.
  12. Wait a few minutes for the settings to sync to all of your HomePods.
  13. Reboot all HomePods for good measure.
  14. Once they are all powered back on, ask Siri to play an album or genre.


Me, to any HomePod: Hey Siri, play the album Fear Inoculum by Tool.

Siri: Now playing Fear Inoculum by Tool.

Note: Siri then starts playing the first song from the album Fear Inoculum by Tool.


Apple Engineering/Development should focus their troubleshooting efforts on the code for "Recognize My Voice" and "Personal Requests" since those features seem to be broken when using Siri on HomePods and iPhones with iTunes Match.


Hope this helps someone else too.

Reply
User profile for user: turingtest2
turingtest2
User level: Level 10
272,773 points

May 2, 2022 2:49 AM in response to ShamaGaucha

This is a user to user support forum. You're not talking directly to Apple here.


See Identify cloud status icons in your music library on your Mac or PC - Apple Support. If you check in your library is all your content marked as either matched, uploaded, or purchased? In particular what is the state of Fear Inoculum by Tool. On your iPhone is this content downloaded to the device or streamed on demand?


tt2


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Apple Engineering Escalation: Siri and iTunes Match Are Seriously Broken

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