As said, there is a static and crackling sound lasting up to 5 seconds when I’m playing music from Spotify on my HomePod Mini. It comes up every couple of minutes and then music resumes playing normally. So far I had no issues, and after this emerged, I updated all softwares to latest versions and updated the Spotify app. Any ideas what to do next?
HomePod mini, 18
I've been experiencing the same problem after updating to OS 18. It happens whether I'm using the HomePod minis as tv speakers or while listening to music. I've also noticed an echo that comes and goes like the speakers aren't playing the audio at the same time.
I've been experiencing the same problem after updating to OS 18. It happens whether I'm using the HomePod minis as tv speakers or while listening to music. I've also noticed an echo that comes and goes like the speakers aren't playing the audio at the same time.
My HomePod 1st Gen and HomePod Mini paired as stereo, all are getting cracking noises while playing Apple Music, YouTube, Netflix & Amazon Prime
I am experiencing the same symptoms from my AppleTV 4k. It started right after I updated to v 18.
Crackling audio and the speakers are intermittently dropping from the stereo pair.
I updated (18.1), but after a few days the static is back.
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.
One of my home pod minis is having static periodically since updating to iOS 18. It also got into a funny state where the light was lit like it was playing, but I couldn’t hear anything. When I turned it up it was making a pulsing sound. I unplugged it and after it restarted it was fine for a while.
I have 4 HomePods. I switched the one from the pair that was showing the issue with another outside of my pair. all other things equal, the problem repeated even with a new hardware. I had reset and ensured latest software on the new speaker. Problem has occurred since iOS 18 release playing through Apple Music on speakers either through Airplay or player directly from speakers. All same symptoms as described in this support trail: crackling, pair falling out of sync, stopped play on one or both speakers. Before new iOS upgrade all speakers played fine.
this leads me to believe software update quality was lacking in this case.
hoping a soon to release update to fix it (if Apple is paying attenation).
So until 30 minutes ago, I was going to update and say that none of the nemesis crackles have been fizzing this week, then blow me, not only are they back, but for the first time ever, the darn interference is now emitting from the stereo synched mini’s - Just when I thought that that mid-week urgent iOS update might have sneaked through a secret patch too. Oh well, square one again. For those monitoring with the frustration and annoyance at level 11 - Spinal Tap movie reference - I have noticed this week, that, when the stereo synched mini’s are in use, there is now a very perceptible persistent panning of the horizontal audio plane randomly. (Proven using audio known to be fixed pan centre)
Another new observation: If there is a spike in the premises voltage or digital signal ‘splat’ of the EMC interference variety, immediately the pair will develop a non-synchronous out of phase audio that at times progressively gets worse with 35+ mS of difference. Of course absolutely unbearable and requires a ‘PASUE/PLAY’ action that clears it up.. I mean, really!?
Reading that these pods have multiple microphone noise sampling correction, I am minded to think that there is a possible PCB capacitance matter that if these affected “splats” momentarily discharges some/all capacitors (or equiv’) to ‘loose’ their synchronicity and cause them to ‘hunt’ and ignore their equivalents causing the rapid decay of synch. Potentially both hardware & software errors- If the same model is applied to the distortion, (all hypothetical and unproven) and the software has also lost a line of code, then the ‘microphone’ hunting could again be the cause as they fight to correct the sound output whist at the same time maintain a low level master audio output -
NOTE: that for me at least, there is a faint pure crystal clear audible broadcast that continues in the background overwhelmed by this distorted mush.
I am no electronics engineer but I am a sound designer/operator from the entertainments biz’ and so very acquainted with digital delay, noise sampling and cancellation and how software has changed the ease of delay synchronicity (Haas effect) without the maths and tape measures, but also a massive headache if a PCB or rack unit drops. I do wonder if Apple may have overlooked this approach and gone off on a different tangent which is why it is taking so long to ‘clear the fault’ that is very much global.
Out of interest, has anyone tried or able to try operating some of your pods via a UPS or voltage smoothing/ filter unit? Or able to split some on to such leaving others as is without relocation, just the feed of power. Unscientific but another strand to rule out .
It is, I agree, such an annoyance on something that should not be a problem and should be addressed by Apple without hesitation and in recognition of poor customer service from such a highly respected and prestigious retailer. When they work, these little baseballs are just awesome and audio, but my god, when glitchy… no good for your blood pressure !
Happy Thanksgiving to those that are across the pond from me!
Same here!! Since upgrading to IOS18 my HomePod minis keep getting audio interference and coming out of sync. The HomePod has upgraded ok!
I'm listening to the radio from an Apple Music url. The popping noise annoys me. I want to throw my homepods out the window.
Exact same issues here, invested in two gen 2 homepods and I'm seriously considering returning them both. What a shame....feels like Apple reliability and engineering is going downhill recently.
I have 12 HomePods. Three sets of the first release HomePod's that are stereo paired, and six mini's that are not paired. The first time I encountered the static issue was with the 18 update. The 18.1 update has seemingly made things worse. I find that touching the top of the HomePod/Mini and then restarting will sometimes fix the issue; however, it seems to swiftly return or move to another speaker. Both the HomePod and the Mini's are affected. Sometimes they go out of sync, or fall into an echoing loop. This is extremely annoying. I have an Eero network in my home and have not had problems with these speakers for some time until now. When I first got the speakers they would not all play when told, then there was the popping issue, now Apple has introduced this annoying issue that makes using the speakers a real hassle. What makes it worse is I am paying for Apple Music!
I have multiple HomePods and HomePod Minis at my home with extended Wi-Fi network. I have been experiencing this a far more than previously although this has been part of my 'Apple'-experience prior to OS18. I really hop that this get fixed since this does not reflect the brand at all. I there are any technical questions from Apples side on this please contact. I can also confirm that this happens with MacBook Pro M2 with 15.1. as well. This seems to be more related to the Wi-Fi and its ability to sync across different products. All of my HomePods/Minis are OS18.1.
I can no longer reliably use any of my HomePods with OS18. I have two homes in two countries with more than 8 HomePods at each site. After upgrading to OS18, it's not possible to reliably listen to music:
It goes without saying that these bugs destroy any listening pleasure using HomePods with OS18. Such a shame.
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!
Static and crackling sound on HomePod Mini
