SOLUTION: HomePod & iPhone - Siri: "Sorry, Something went wrong."

Scenario: I have an iPhone, iPad and a pair of HomePods (Mini) all up to date with OS 17.3. I had been happily listening to radio using Apple Music on the HomePods until one day, some of the stations became unavailable in Apple Music. I installed the missing station’s app and configured shortcuts for each of the stations to use that app. Each shortcut was titled (“Play Radio XYZ” etc.) and all was well again.

A few days later, the missing stations began working on Apple Music and I wanted to revert to using Apple music to listen to them, so I deleted the relevant shortcuts. However, when I asked Siri to “Play Radio XYZ” Siri responded with “Sorry, something went wrong”. I then spent the rest of the day trawling the Internet in search of a solution, restarting, and resetting the HomePods, switching Siri on and off, etc., etc. – all without success.

I eventually realised that my issue had nothing to do with the HomePods and was also likely to be little to do with Siri. Instead, it seems that the issue was with the iPhone (the device used to set-up the HomePods) and the Dictionary and, that it is the iPhone which fulfils Siri requests, and it is the Dictionary which converts Siri commands into actions. Someone from Apple can correct me if I am wrong. The fault seems to be that when a Shortcut is deleted, the corresponding entry is not removed from the Dictionary.

Solution: The following worked for me. It is possible that not all the steps are necessary but, I would suggest that each step is carried out. I have learned that in solving this issue, consistency is vital! Remember, I have two devices, an iPhone, and an iPad: -

1.     I went into a room where HomePod couldn’t hear me.

2.     I made sure that all the deleted shortcuts had been deleted from each device. I noticed that the deletion of one shortcut on my iPhone, had not been synchronised on my iPad.

3.     On the iPad I: -

a.     Deleted Siri Dictation History. (Settings / Siri / Siri & Dictation History / Delete and Confirm)

b.     Disabled Siri. (Settings / Siri / Listen for: Off and Press Side Button for Siri: Off)

c. Checked that Siri had been disabled in the Home app. (Home app / Home Settings / Your Name / Recognise My Voice: Off

d.     Switched-off the Dictionary. (Settings / General/ Keyboard / Enable Dictation: Off)

e.     Powered-off the iPad and kept it switched-off.

4.     On the iPhone I repeated the above steps and restarted the device, and then (with the iPad still switched-off).

a.     Enabled Siri. (Settings / Siri / Listen for: Off and Press Side Button for Siri: On)

b.     Checked that Siri was enabled in the Home app. (Home app / Home Settings / Your Name / Recognise My Voice: On)

c.     Switched-on the Dictionary. (Settings / General / Keyboard / Enable Dictation: On)

5.     Next, I tested Siri on the iPhone. I was in a room where the HopePods couldn’t hear me, and I asked Siri to “Play Radio XYZ”. Siri responded saying something about the need to use the station’s app (the one configured in the now deleted shortcuts). I deleted this app and again asked Siri to “Play Radio XYZ”. Siri responded by displaying a menu, asking me to choose an app. I selected Apple Music and the station played (on my iPhone). I then asked Siri to play the other effected stations and they all played using Apple Music, without any further prompt.

6.     I then switched-on my iPad and as in Step 4 I: -

a.     Enabled Siri. (Settings / Siri / Listen for: Off and Press Side Button for Siri: On)

b.     Checked that Siri was enabled in the Home app. (Home app / Home Settings / Your Name / Recognise My Voice: On)

c.     Switched-on the Dictionary. (Settings / General / Keyboard / Enable Dictation: On)

I then asked Siri to play the effected stations on the iPad and all played correctly and without a prompt.

7.     Finally, I returned to the room where the HomePods are and asked Siri to play each of the effected stations and each played as they should. – Problem solved!

So, in conclusion after about eight-hours of effort, I was able to fix my issue. The realisation that my problem had nothing to do with HomePod and it was most likely to do with the working relationship between my iPhone (the device used to set-up HomePod), Shortcuts, Siri and the Dictionary and the synchronisation of these systems between my devices. Also, I think that titling my shortcuts “Play …”, a command used by Apple music was a mistake and was a contributing factor to my problems - something I will try to avoid in the future.

I hope this helps.