Owners of the original HomePod took to Twitter and Reddit to share that their smart speaker has suddenly stopped working. Users have reported that the affected HomePods were running on iOS 15 beta and iOS 14.6 updates.
Earlier, Apple officially discounted the high-end HomePod a few months after the launch of the HomePod mini. The company is releasing new updates on the existing smart speakers like Spatial Audio support on tvOS 15, and HiFi lossless music streaming on Apple Music. But for some reason, the updates are bricking Apple’s original smart speaker.
@fowagel965 reported the failure of seven smart speakers on iOS 14.6 and iOS 15.
I have a total of 19 HomePods at home. 6 of them are on Beta and the others on 14.6. As of today, 7 are no longer working. 4 on the beta and 3 on 14.6. I use the HomePods normally and listen to music from time to time but not very loud, on average about 20% volume. All the ones on the beta are connected as default speaker on the Apple TV.
Either there is a massive problem with the OS or something in the hardware is built wrong. Unfortunately, all of them are out of warranty and I won’t be buying any new ones because I assume that every HomePod will break sooner or later. I would be really interested to know what exactly the problem is.
Another user @larryendot shared a similar experience of an unresponsive HomePod.
So glad I found this thread. I had two OG HomePods connected to my Apple TV for several months. Last week one of them became unresponsive (flashing volume buttons, could not reset). I called support who sent me to the store.
The store said it’s dead and wanted $270 to get a new replacement. I walked out frustrated and did not invest any more in an abandoned product. Apple has a problem here – the customers who purchased OG HomePods must be some of their best customers, and this problem is going to get ugly if it’s widespread.
Apple tells owners of bricked HomePods to wait for the next update
User @UnderstandingNo5785 connected with Apple for 2 unresponsive speakers on iOS 15 beta. A senior technician told the user to wait for the next update and shared the given information.
“I would tell your friends if they have installed OS15 beta on one or both of their HomePods and having issues to unplug them and not use them until next software update comes out to avoid damage to the logic board. In result of damaging your HomePod. If your HomePod has failed due to the developer beta profile being installed which in that case apple cannot be held liable to fix the HomePods due to non licensed developer people installing this software, but suggest if your HomePod has in fact failed and you are a licensed developer you are urged to contact apple developer team for further assistance.”
Owners of HomePod mini running on iOS 14.6 and iOS 15 beta have not reported any complaints of failure.
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