How can I stop HomePod mini from playing music automatically?

I’m surprised that did not work.

I recently noticed something else that causes the HomePods to start on their own. If you have your TV on and an Apple commercial comes on - the commercial may be one that promotes using Siri. The commercial says ‘Hey Siri’. I noticed iPhone responded by starting Siri. I remember somewhere there is a setting to recognize only certain voices. You might look for that setting. Personally I would not open the HomePod and disconnect the touch panel. If you accidentally break something, Apple may not repair the HomePod. They are very picky about how their products are serviced.

Turn off handoff in the home app

HomePod Mini Solution

This stops the HomePod mini from playing on its own.  It does work.  I have not had my HomePod mini’s start by themselves since I made this change about 6 months ago. 

Go into HomePod mini settings 

Go down to ‘Listen for Hey Siri’

Go into ‘Listen for Hey Siri’

You will see 2 options 

Option 1   “Siri” or “Hey “Siri”

Option 2   “Hey Siri”

Choose option 2  “Hey Siri”

Exit out of settings 

Does not work. It's a touch panel issue introduced with the software update. It's random.

I'm taking mine to the service station for a forced update to 18.0. If that does not work, I will open it and unplug the touch strip.

open Home app,select 'Home setting's,select 'People',disable 'recognize my voice' will resolve this problem.

I think this is Siri bug.

My HomePod 2 randomly starts blasting music at full volume. No warning, no context—just pure, unfiltered chaos.

To address the issue, I have attempted the following troubleshooting steps:

- Updated the firmware on all associated devices to the latest version.

- Disabled the “Recognize My Voice” feature in the Home app under Settings → People.

- Adjusted the touch sensitivity by extending the hold duration to 4 seconds via HomePod Settings → Accessibility → Touch Accommodations.

The unpredictability of when Apple decides to treat me to an audio explosion has become a charming part of daily life. I now have to rely on a smart plug to automatically cut power to the HomePod whenever I leave my apartment or go to sleep. I am sure that this method aligns with Apple’s vision of a seamless smart home experience.

Anyway, I will tried to remove touch control ribbon cable once I have time. Hope I can fix the issue forever.

Call Apple customer support, and let them know your problem, and let them know there are more people with the same problem with the HomePod… don’t open the speaker, if you have still a warranty… Apple should replace the speaker for another one!!!!

Due to the problem discussed in this forum, I contacted Apple service, after a call of more than 20 min, the recommendation is to take the homepod to the service center.

The problem appeared a little more than a month ago ......

For the moment I made the adjustments in Siri mentioned by some of you and I will disconnect it so that it does not wake us up in the middle of the night.

If it's under warranty, yes, they do exchange a new one for you. However, my HomePod Gen2 just out of warranty for 1 month. For this so common defect, they refused to change for me. There is also no repair option. The only option is to buy a new one with S$400. It's ridiculous.

After removing the touch control, it has been a month, and there has been no automatic playback or random playback at any time during this period.

Looks the iOS 18.2 update fix the problem… 3 weeks after the update and no more problems…

Nope, the problem is back and I think it’s the touch sensor that’s the issue, as have seen others saying that’s the issue. Now faced with maybe opening the HomePod and removing the touch panel 🤦🏻‍♂️

THis does not work, I'm glad it worked for you but for the rest it does not, There is a huge group of people on Reddit, for whom the only thing that worked is disconnecting the touch screen cable. That's the only thing that worked for me as well.

I followed the recommended setting, unfortunately it still has the problem of starting at any time. Until Apple solves the software problem, the solution is to use it and turn it off when finished. Why do I say it is an Apple problem, because the failure starts after an update…