HomePod won't play music

I had what sounds like the same issue. AppleSupport directed me to sign the HomePod out of iCloud and back in again using the Home app on my iPhone. That solved the problem for me.

I had the same problem. The HomePod would respond in the affirmative that it would play the song I requested and would even call out the the artist, but then nothing would play only silence and the (+/-) volume buttons would go dim. I tried requesting the same song over and over, to no avail. I tried signing out of my AppleID account using the Home App, but that did not help. Finally I unplugged the HomePod and plugged it back in, all of a sudden the songs I requested started to play.

I've had this issue with iTunes Match and the HomePod since day one. It was only after I signed up for Apple Music (the free trial anyway) that my HomePod started working the way it should. Apple advertised that the HomePod worked with iTunes Match... but apparently it doesn't. If I would have known that iTunes Match wouldn't work with the HomePod, I wouldn't have purchased it.

When my Apple Music trial is over, I feel like I will have no choice but to sign up and pay the service just so my HomePod will continue to work the way it should.

This doesn't feel right, does it?

Try Remote control for HomePod, not using AirPlay to see if that at least gets the HomePod playing your content directly. Are you using the same Apple ID for both iCloud and for iTunes & App Stores?

tt2

Out of curiosity, is there any pattern as to what time of the day this issue happens to your HomePod? In my case it always happens around 6-8pm, which in the UK is internet “peak hours”, so this could be due to problem with connection. I’ve tried to replicate this issue outside of these hours but can’t.

I also found signing out of my Apple Music account sometimes solves this issue. But if nothing works I just let the HomePod alone for a bit and, like you said, it will work as usual after a few hours.

Hello,

Maby try rebooting the HomePod, or turn the volume up.

I have had Apple support working with me for over two weeks on this. They are trying really hard. I've not got it working but had to delete my whole library of music (I have backup) and then resynchronise with itunes match in the cloud. Homepod working perfectly now but my itunes library is now screwed. Have had most of my lossless files replaces with 256kbps AAC versions which is deeply annoying. And about 90% of my tracks on my desktop won't play at all because of broken file links. So that's tonight's call to try to resolve. It seems that it is a 'feature' of Homepod that you basically have to use Apple's versions of your music not your own version - even if Apple's are of a much lower quality. This 'feature' is certainly not what's advertised of included in any of the info with the product and I think is more of a serious detriment. Hoping there is a workaround for this that they can offer me tonight but I've also had to replace all the lossless files on my phone with AAC too. I'm not happy and on the verge of sending it back.

From Set up and use HomePod - Apple Support:

On the iOS device that you use to set up HomePod, make sure that you signed in to iCloud with your Apple ID and turned on iCloud Keychain. You also need to have two-factor authentication set up for your Apple ID.

It might help to turn iCloud Keychain off and on again and/or disable and enable 2FA.

Are you using the device anywhere outside of the US, UK or Australia where it has been officially launched?

tt2

Same issue here-HomePod acknowledges requests but doesn’t play anything, the +/- dims after Siri says “now playing...”, and if I start playback using my iPhone the cover art flashes for a second before saying “not playing”. I notice this usually happens when I keep changing the playlist/radio that are currently playing. It is as if the HomePod is stuck processing my requests and gives up. In my case, closing the Music app on my iPhone and Apple TV (I usually have it on to show what’s playing on the HomePod) sometimes fix the issue. But sometimes the HomePod starts working again after I leave it for a few hours without doing anything. So weird.

I found this:

Disable Hey Siri

Don’t worry, you will be able to turn her back on really soon. To turn off Hey Siri using your voice, just say, “Hey Siri, turn disable Hey Siri.”

Or you can go into the Home app and visit the Details screen of the HomePod, and switch the toggle for Listen for Hey Siri to off.

After a few minutes, you can switch it back on.

Has anyone tried leaving HomePod overnight (problem seems to resolve temporarily after a few hours), then putting iPhone on airplane mode before it’s used and controlling HomePod via voice?

My suspicion is this is a bug on the iPhone’s music app/iOS which interferes with Apple Music authentication. I’m told it works fine when I’m out the house, it seems ok when I haven’t used my phone in a while and I can cause the problem by using the remote music control on my phone to switch between playlists and songs for a few minutes.

Well, you need an internet connection and songs that are stored on one of Apple's cloud services (like music purchased from the iTunes store or matched by iTunes or from Apple's for-pay streaming music service). There is no way to stream or even request the songs from your other iOS or Mac OS devices unless you "push" that content from the other device and use the HomePod as a simple wireless speaker.

Or, at least that seems to be the case.

I had a similar issue a few times, where I said "Hey Siri, please play Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack" and she says "okay, here's Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 Soundtrack" and then...it goes silent. I then ask her what's playing and she says nothing. I've tried that three times. The second time, it did the same thing. The third time, it played. A bug?

I have rock-solid business-grade Internet, a latest edition Airport Extreme, and an Apple Music Family Plan trial subscription I just started today.

Yes...that’s it! If I leave it for a few hours it will work again for a bit.

It seems to relate to using the iPhone as a remote (but once it starts playing up, it is like that for a while regardless of how you get it to play...iPad, Apple TV or directly through Siri...all show same behaviour).

It’s like something on the phone is stopping the HomePod authenticating with Apple Music. It shows the track, fails to check you’re authorised to play it and then tries something else.

I’ve reset everything that I can. I didn’t try the keychain thing as I don’t want to lose all my auto fill data and wasn’t certain what that setting removes. I did do a Reset All Settings which cleared the problem for a day.