Static and crackling sound on HomePod Mini

Mine has magically quit having the static sound. I did report it to Apple via the feedback email address.

Read this article today and thought I'd share:

https://www.howtogeek.com/how-i-fixed-my-airplay-speaker-not-playing-apple-music-from-a-mac/

@FrankNeese, you update your HomePods through the Home app...Home Settings...Software Update.

I have also experienced this for the first time today since updating to HomePod OS 18 a couple of days ago. Crackling/interference sounds lasting 5-10 seconds with the music still playing in the background. At the time I was AirPlaying BBC Sounds. I have two HomePod Minis and this only occurred on one.

I’m in the process of updating my HomePods right now and hope it solves this issue for all of us. The crackling was so bad I thought it was going to do damage to the units that I have in the kitchen. Thanks all!

I have had less occurrences the last few days. It seems to increase frequency of static when I’m using more than 3 HomePods at the same time. Since iOS 18, the audio control center has been much more finicky as well (when I tap a particular speaker, it often doesn’t take, it just goes back to an unselected state).

Hoping for updates soon!

I've tried resetting them all, still get the random static. I'm gonna start tracking the time and date next few times it crackles. Wouldn't it be interesting if we all experienced it at the same time? Like it's not internal but from the source?? Hmmm?

I have a stereo pair of HomePod 2's as the default audio output for my Apple TV 4k in the living room, and stereo pairs of minis in all the other rooms. Everything has been fine for more than a year, but recently when I try to AirPlay Apple Music it works fine for a few minutes, then, static, crackling, off-sync echos, and dropouts that don't stop even when I move to a video app (like Netflix) until I literally shut down the entire system and restart the homepods. Doesn't happen if I'm using a video app and AirPlay to any or all homepods, only when I play Apple Music. Too intermittent to nail down for reproducing in a support call. I really want to be able to painlessly listen to music throughout my house again.

I just bought 3 HomePods mini and I am having the same problem. I switched from Sonos I hope apple will fix this problem soon bc I’m really unhappy with this issue. I wanted to be able to listen in multiple rooms to the same tv show while doing chores and this totally messes my experience up. And yes, I updated to iOS 18 when it came out

Does anyone have a solution to this annoying issue? We have a Mac mini and a stereo pair of HomePods. After a few minutes they start to crackle, loose sync, drop out, echo - all the same stuff that others are reporting.

I was so annoyed that eventually I bought another Denon Home 150 speaker. When I connect it via Airplay, it has the same issues. Over bluetooth it is better but also occasionally drops out. It seems that the problems are more on the airplay side than the Homepods themselves.

In any case - I would appreciate learning how to solve this problem. The way it is renders the HomePods absolutely useless.

I’m also experiencing this issue with crackling, distortion and out of synch dropouts when airplaying Apple Music to my HomePods and I have now logged a formal support case with apple

Apple Case ID:  102444010836

Finally, some logical "possible" explainations! Mine also started crackling shortly before iOS 18. I will now, also, start a ticket with apple support, as I truly believe that they will respond quicker if more people contact them. Thanks for the detailed info!!

Yes, had high hopes for the update to 18.1 which seemed quite a lengthy one when installing on homepods last night. Disappointed and angry when the first song I played afterwards was ruined by humming and buzzing feedback again.

Come on Apple. Improvements in the homepod experience and its stability have always been a painfully slow process, but this current issue is a huge step backwards.

I just updated my 20 or so HomePods to OS 18.1: Gen 1, Minis and Gen 2 at both locations...both with a single wifi SSID 5ghz and no conflict with 2.4ghz. Will report back after a few days if the problem hasn't recurred.

The problem with crackling of my 4 HomePod minis is persistent, I hope Apple figures it out, this is ruining my accustic experience and I am one person all on the same WiFi in the same home of one user. Bc Apple also keeps pushing me to upgrade as a family. I am one person trying to listen in all of my rooms to the same music or video.