macOS Music App Won't Consistently Control AirPlay Devices

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macOS Music App Won't Consistently Control AirPlay Devices

I have 2 HomePods and 1 HomePod mini, plus an AirPlay 2 soundbar. I've been having problems since November when trying to control them all from my Mac mini in my office. The Music app on the Mac doesn't consistently control all of the speakers. I'll have speakers cutting in and out, or dropping completely. I reset them all repeatedly. Reset my router. If I'm trying to use my Mac to control my music then the whole thing is a nightmare. It worked fine before the 16.1 update. 16.2 did not help.

Mac mini, macOS 13.1

Posted on Jan 3, 2023 07:37 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Demetrios

Level 2

221 points

Jan 4, 2023 12:59 PM in response to Shannon_DN

I have the same problem over last 4-6 weeks and it's driving me nuts. I play music from Music.app on my Mac Studio. Music plays through Studio Display (attached) and 3 AirPlay speakers throughout house. All are updated to latest releases (Ventura 13.1, tvOS 16.2, etc.,).

Everything works fine after reboot. And music plays in sync. Problem is when I stop playing and try to just hit play again (in Music.app) the AirPlay speakers all drop off one by one and they cannot be brought back online unless I restart the Mac.

Clicking the half selected check box [-] will pause music everywhere for ~15 seconds while it looks for speaker then fall back and play through attached Display's speakers.
Restarting speakers doesn't help.
Restarting router doesn't help.
Selecting only one AirPlay speaker for output doesn't help.
Selecting an AirPlay speaker at the OS level (in Sound Preferences) doesn't help.
Source of music doesn't matter (local .aac, .mp3, Apple Music, stream, etc.)

Are there any troubleshooting tricks?

A log I could look at?
What does this half selected state [-] even mean? Clearly the speakers are visible to the OS but…what, exactly?

Very frustrating to have unreliable music throughout the holidays. I'm worried about my investment in AirPlay as it's never been perfect and often seems to be getting worse.

HELP!!!

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Answer 2

Jan 4, 2023 12:51 PM in response to Shannon_DN

Hi. Everything has been setup correctly for longer than the problem has existed. I keep all of my devices’ software updated.

I’ve had my HomePods for years. The soundbar is new (October) but it worked fine until the November update. I added an extra HomePod mini a week ago and it joined the dysfunctional musical family.

I only use Apple’s Music app. I play music from my library. The issue is most prevalent when I try to control the music from my Mac mini but it also occurs when I use the music app in iOS.

Individual speakers will drop playback and refuse to respond to the Music app and force me to restart them over and over.

I can’t be wasting time repeatedly restarting all my HomePods every time I want to play some music. Dealing with Airplay’s dysfunction has cost me hours of time over the past 2 months.

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Answer 3

Jan 5, 2023 05:19 AM in response to Ben Poole

Restarting Music restarts whatever playlist I’m listening to also. It’s the thing I try avoid most. It does seem like it’s more often a problem from the macOS Music app, but my phone Music app sometimes also acts up.

When I’m at my desk my computer is where I want to control the music and if they’re going to allow it then it should function properly.

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Answer 4

Shannon_DN

Community Specialist

Jan 4, 2023 12:34 PM in response to Matt Petruzzelli

Hello Matt Petruzzelli,

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. We see you have some questions about pairing your speakers, and having the Music App work with all of them. There's a few questions we want to go through so we can get the best options from here.

Has everything you're using been updated as far as it can be?

Does this only happen with the Music App? Does it happen with any other application you try to use the speakers with?

Do you notice this on one Wi-Fi connection, or several?

Also, ensure you're following the steps found hereto ensure everything is set up correctly: Use HomePod with Mac

Let us know, and we'll go from there.

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Answer 5

Jan 5, 2023 02:59 AM in response to Matt Petruzzelli

I think the issue goes beyond the latest update. On my old MacBook Pro (intel / Big Sur) I had to relaunch Music from time to time to get it to play properly through a single HomePod mini. On a brand new MacBook Air with everything up to date, I still have to do this. It will play happily until I have to pause for a while. When I come back to it, it's a complete lottery as to whether it will re-connect to the HomePod or not. Sometimes it throws errors that are incorrect (not connected / check wifi etc.) However, quit and re-start Music and all is well again, funnily enough. It's clearly a software issue in Apple Music.

Relaunching Apple Music is a mild inconvenience for me. For you, having to restart the Mac or the HomePod is a whole new level: that's terrible.

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macOS Music App Won't Consistently Control AirPlay Devices

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