Home Sharing: Apple TV 4K no longer streams to HomePod Mini since tvOS 16

For years, I've been able to connect my Apple TV to my iTunes library ("Home Sharing") and play the music on my ATV, and stream it to a "temporary audio output" such as a HomePod Mini in the kitchen.... well, that feature has been broken, and as best I can tell, it's been that way since it updated to tvOS 16.x. Other apps (like Sirius XM and Channels DVR) can stream to Airplay 2 speakers just fine, but "Computers" (the home sharing app) won't. I see my HomePod Mini (and other Airplay products) and can select them, but no audio from the built-in "Computers" (home sharing) app. Other apps work just fine. Any fix to this?

Apple TV 4K (1st generation)

Posted on Jul 16, 2023 11:30 AM

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Posted on Jul 17, 2023 06:10 PM

This is not the problem. I do not want to assign my HomePod Mini as the main speaker for the Apple TV. I do not want Home Theatre Audio. I just want to pump my OWN music (via iTunes, via Apple TV) into a HomePod Mini. All other apps on the ATV work just fine in this fashion (Temporary Audio Out) - just NOT Apple TV's "Computers" (Home Sharing) app. I think I'm asking in the wrong forum - this is not a HomePod problem, it's an Apple TV problem.

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Jul 17, 2023 06:10 PM in response to AdvisorMP

This is not the problem. I do not want to assign my HomePod Mini as the main speaker for the Apple TV. I do not want Home Theatre Audio. I just want to pump my OWN music (via iTunes, via Apple TV) into a HomePod Mini. All other apps on the ATV work just fine in this fashion (Temporary Audio Out) - just NOT Apple TV's "Computers" (Home Sharing) app. I think I'm asking in the wrong forum - this is not a HomePod problem, it's an Apple TV problem.

Jul 17, 2023 05:38 PM in response to J Ares

Thanks for reaching out J Ares,


It sounds like you're having some trouble with pairing your Apple TV with a HomePod mini to play music. We can help.


A good place to start is with these steps to Set up home theater audio with HomePod or HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K:


1. Assign your Apple TV and HomePod or HomePod mini to the same room in the Home app. If you want to use two HomePod or two HomePod mini speakers, create a stereo pair, then assign the stereo pair to the same room as your Apple TV in the Home app.
2. Turn on your Apple TV. You'll be asked if you want to Use HomePod speakers as Apple TV speakers. 
3. Select Use as TV Speakers to turn on home theater audio. 


If you continue running into trouble, you can connect with Apple directly using either Get Support or if you're in a region without direct support options, you can also Contact Apple for support and service.


Hope that helps.


Take care.

Jul 18, 2023 10:47 AM in response to J Ares

Hi J Ares,


If your goal is to play your music from iTunes to the HomePod, HomePod is designed to play the music from your Apple Music Library automatically, without the need to pipe it through your Apple TV or another device.


If you are using Home Sharing to send your music from your computer to the Apple TV, you should be able to send it to the HomePod directly from the source computer following this article: Use HomePod with iTunes on PC - Apple Support


However, if you are set on using Home Sharing with your Apple TV, we recommend that you start by double checking all of your settings as outlined in Stream content to Apple TV with Home Sharing in iTunes on PC. You may also have some luck asking Siri to play the music for you following Use Siri to control Apple TV from your HomePod, iPhone, or iPad.


Regards.




Jul 29, 2023 08:50 AM in response to ryane77

I have the exact same issue. The recent update to 16.6 has broken the Computers App for Home Sharing and the ability to airplay to HomePods


I have tried everything, I’ve reset the Apple TV, reset the Homepod Minis turned Home Sharing on & off, restarted home network & wifi.

I can airplay from Mac to HomePods & Apple TV, I can airplay from both iPhone & iPads to HomePods & Apple TV.


Also confirmed other apps on the Apple TV will airplay to the HomePods. The only app as you says that doesn’t work is the Computers App.


This is not the first time Apple has created issues with the Computer app on the Apple TV.

Jul 31, 2023 05:47 PM in response to ryane77

Home Sharing to the Apple TV works just fine (and it's from a Mac, not a PC, though I did it successfully for a decade with a PC). It's the "Computers" app on the Apple TV that cannot play to HomePods - no which way whatsoever. EVERY OTHER APP on the Apple TV can play to the HomePod, but not the "Computers" app on the Apple TV. I hope I'm making that clear - please let me know if no one still understands. Please have some engineer look into whether the Computers app can play to a "temporary audio output" via AirPlay, like it used to, before TVOS16.x.

Dec 10, 2023 02:40 AM in response to Mpainesyd

Hi, thanks for your message.

Homesharing works OK, I can see all my playlists, films and photos. The only thing I am not able to do is to send audio to airplay 2 speakers around the house. The audio only comes out of the TV speakers. This happens only when I am pulling content from the mac via home sharing/computers app. For example, if I play a Youtube video then I am able to send the audio to all the airplay 2 speakers.

It is certainly a bug of tvos17, hopefully it will be solved with new update.

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Home Sharing: Apple TV 4K no longer streams to HomePod Mini since tvOS 16

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