Is your HomePod making a clicking sound? Here's how to fix it

Posted:
in General Discussion edited October 2020
It sounds like electrical interference, but whatever this clicking or popping sound is, it's extremely irritating. The good news is that you may be able to fix it yourself, but the bad news is that you may have to take it to Apple.

A HomePod on show in an Apple Store
A HomePod on show in an Apple Store


It's another rare Apple bug. You may never get it, and if you do, there might be a quick fix -- but it could also be serious. If your HomePod is making a clicking or a popping sound, work through this fix right now. We can't tell what proportion of cases it fixes, only that it does repair the issue for some and it did for us.

If it doesn't work for you, though, then your only recourse is to contact Apple support. Hence the need for speed: get in touch with them before your warranty runs out.

Sounding off

The problem is that your HomePod may make an occasional clicking noise, perhaps a popping one, which sounds like some interference.

We found it was happening when the HomePod was silent, but there are reports of it happening during music playback too.

The sound reminds us of interference from a radio.
The sound reminds us of interference from a radio.


Sometimes it sounds as if we've got a nearby radio interfering with the HomePod. At other times, it sounds more like the the HomePod is somehow reacting to your typing. Then there are also times when, since the speaker is so good at projecting, it can sound as if there's a tapping somewhere behind the device.

Apparently this can happen at any time, or at least there's no known specific cause, but it may be more common when the HomePod is not set up.

We moved our HomePod a few feet, and we realised it needed re-setting up when it refused to act on a request to add a reminder. However, we didn't get around to it immediately, and the next day started to hear this sound.

The simple fix

You can guess what the first thing to try is. Re-set up your HomePod. Try this even if you haven't just moved it, as the sound problem can be a software issue.

On your iPhone or iPad, open the Home app, and find the room your HomePod is in. Tap to select that, and then from the icons that appear, press and hold on the HomePod tile.

Remove your HomePod and set it up again.
Remove your HomePod and set it up again.


From the screen that appears, tap the Settings button at bottom right. Then scroll to the very bottom and choose Remove Accessory.

Next, come out of the Home app and hold your iPhone close to the HomePod. It seemed to us to take longe for the HomePod and iPhone to recognize each other now than it did when we first got the speaker, but within a minute, they will connect.

Work through the set up procedure, until Siri starts playing you a selection of music.

Let it play for a while, then stop it for a time, and if you're in luck, you won't hear any more clicks.

When you're not in luck

If you still get the clicks, it's not a software issue, it's hardware.

There's currently no published advice from Apple about this issue, and we stress that it's rare, but rarity is no help when you're the one who has it.

So contact Apple Support and talk to them about the problem.

Maybe it's a sign of just how very much we love and rely on our HomePods, or maybe it's just a sign of how expensive these things are, but the clicking bug is actually upsetting. Hopefully you'll get the same sense of relief we did when a re-setup fixed it.


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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    peterhartpeterhart Posts: 156member
    I very well may be one of the only people this has happened to. Did a reset / setup several times. In different rooms even. The clicking was persistent. I did make an appt at Apple...they, as stated, had little to offer by way of fixing it since I owned it one the year warranty. They also had not seen one yet do this. The store manager I worked with offered me a purchase of a new one at about a 40% price but I already had another one. Essentially, my first one just died and there was nothing that could be done about it. 
    edited July 2019
  • Reply 2 of 13
    felix01felix01 Posts: 294member
    Hopefully I escaped both situations (software and hardware), I haven’t noticed any clicking sounds and I interact with the HomePod via Siri many times every day.

    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations. 

    The HomePod is not the flop the iPod Hi-Fi was (yea, I had one of those too) but it certainly didn’t become a must-have accessory. Now if Apple would have beaten Sonos to the party, things could have been a lot different. 
  • Reply 3 of 13
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    felix01 said:
    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations
    Wait, how do you know what Apple’s expectations for sales were vs actual? That it wasn’t backordered doesn’t tell you either of those. 

    (That they lowered the price later could be an indicator, but lack of backorders isn’t)
    macxpressracerhomie3AppleExposedjbdragon
  • Reply 4 of 13
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    felix01 said:
    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations
    Wait, how do you know what Apple’s expectations for sales were vs actual? That it wasn’t backordered doesn’t tell you either of those. 

    (That they lowered the price later could be an indicator, but lack of backorders isn’t)
    Yeah so if Apple has proper inventory its the ole this product isn't selling. If they don't have enough its people bitching about Apple can't produce them fast enough and they should have waited until they had proper inventories, I thought Tim was an operations expert! Apple can't win!
    edited July 2019
  • Reply 5 of 13
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    macxpress said:
    felix01 said:
    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations
    Wait, how do you know what Apple’s expectations for sales were vs actual? That it wasn’t backordered doesn’t tell you either of those. 

    (That they lowered the price later could be an indicator, but lack of backorders isn’t)
    Yeah so if Apple has proper inventory its the ole this product isn't selling. If they don't have enough its people bitching about Apple can't produce them fast enough and they should have waited until they had proper inventories, I thought Tim was an operations expert! Apple can't win!

    Oh, and don't forget the ever popular and totally nonsensical:

    "Apple deliberately doesn't make enough to meet demand so that people think they're more popular than they actually are."

    macxpressAppleExposedjbdragon
  • Reply 6 of 13
    AppleExposedAppleExposed Posts: 1,805unconfirmed, member
    Rayz2016 said:
    macxpress said:
    felix01 said:
    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations
    Wait, how do you know what Apple’s expectations for sales were vs actual? That it wasn’t backordered doesn’t tell you either of those. 

    (That they lowered the price later could be an indicator, but lack of backorders isn’t)
    Yeah so if Apple has proper inventory its the ole this product isn't selling. If they don't have enough its people bitching about Apple can't produce them fast enough and they should have waited until they had proper inventories, I thought Tim was an operations expert! Apple can't win!

    Oh, and don't forget the ever popular and totally nonsensical:

    "Apple deliberately doesn't make enough to meet demand so that people think they're more popular than they actually are."


    Oh I HATE that one!!

    Apple releases wildly successful product:
    "Apple is intentionally holding back production to create hype!!"

    Yeah, Apple is refusing millions of sales to hype up the 50,000 people who are dumb enough to get hyped about it being sold out. /s

    Do these marketing geniuses realize a sold out product does more bad than good? Besides the obvious of less sales it also encourages shoppers to settle for a cheaper competing product or forego the sale forever.
    jbdragon
  • Reply 7 of 13
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Rayz2016 said:
    macxpress said:
    felix01 said:
    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations
    Wait, how do you know what Apple’s expectations for sales were vs actual? That it wasn’t backordered doesn’t tell you either of those. 

    (That they lowered the price later could be an indicator, but lack of backorders isn’t)
    Yeah so if Apple has proper inventory its the ole this product isn't selling. If they don't have enough its people bitching about Apple can't produce them fast enough and they should have waited until they had proper inventories, I thought Tim was an operations expert! Apple can't win!

    Oh, and don't forget the ever popular and totally nonsensical:

    "Apple deliberately doesn't make enough to meet demand so that people think they're more popular than they actually are."


    Oh I HATE that one!!

    Apple releases wildly successful product:
    "Apple is intentionally holding back production to create hype!!"

    Yeah, Apple is refusing millions of sales to hype up the 50,000 people who are dumb enough to get hyped about it being sold out. /s

    Do these marketing geniuses realize a sold out product does more bad than good? Besides the obvious of less sales it also encourages shoppers to settle for a cheaper competing product or forego the sale forever.
    Basic economics used every day in select businesses across the world, even if it makes no sense to you personally. Yeah it's a thing...
    https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/scarcity-principle.asp

    Diamonds aren't as scarce as we presume they are but up until a few years ago DeBeers was able to maintain the impression they were and keep prices higher than they otherwise would have been. 

    @AppleExposed @Rayz2016 ;Have you not ever been in business, even better owned one?
    https://sparxoo.com/2018/11/16/what-marketers-need-to-know-about-artificial-scarcity/
    edited July 2019 bigtds
  • Reply 8 of 13
    AppleExposedAppleExposed Posts: 1,805unconfirmed, member
    gatorguy said:
    Rayz2016 said:
    macxpress said:
    felix01 said:
    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations
    Wait, how do you know what Apple’s expectations for sales were vs actual? That it wasn’t backordered doesn’t tell you either of those. 

    (That they lowered the price later could be an indicator, but lack of backorders isn’t)
    Yeah so if Apple has proper inventory its the ole this product isn't selling. If they don't have enough its people bitching about Apple can't produce them fast enough and they should have waited until they had proper inventories, I thought Tim was an operations expert! Apple can't win!

    Oh, and don't forget the ever popular and totally nonsensical:

    "Apple deliberately doesn't make enough to meet demand so that people think they're more popular than they actually are."


    Oh I HATE that one!!

    Apple releases wildly successful product:
    "Apple is intentionally holding back production to create hype!!"

    Yeah, Apple is refusing millions of sales to hype up the 50,000 people who are dumb enough to get hyped about it being sold out. /s

    Do these marketing geniuses realize a sold out product does more bad than good? Besides the obvious of less sales it also encourages shoppers to settle for a cheaper competing product or forego the sale forever.
    Basic economics used every day in select businesses across the world, even if it makes no sense to you personally. Yeah it's a thing...
    https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/scarcity-principle.asp

    Diamonds aren't as scarce as we presume they are but up until a few years ago DeBeers was able to maintain the impression they were and keep prices higher than they otherwise would have been. 

    @AppleExposed @Rayz2016 ;Have you not ever been in business, even better owned one?
    https://sparxoo.com/2018/11/16/what-marketers-need-to-know-about-artificial-scarcity/

    Yes, and I'll be damned if I told a customer to go away in hopes he comes back a month later.

    "Diamonds aren't as scarce as we presume they are but up until a few years ago DeBeers was able to maintain the impression they were and keep prices higher than they otherwise would have been."

    Not the same thing. A jewelry store isn't gonna tell me they're out of diamonds just so I can think they're "rare" and get them across the mall instead.

    Are you the type to think Tim Cook halts production so we can "want" a product more?
    jbdragon
  • Reply 9 of 13
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    gatorguy said:
    Rayz2016 said:
    macxpress said:
    felix01 said:
    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations
    Wait, how do you know what Apple’s expectations for sales were vs actual? That it wasn’t backordered doesn’t tell you either of those. 

    (That they lowered the price later could be an indicator, but lack of backorders isn’t)
    Yeah so if Apple has proper inventory its the ole this product isn't selling. If they don't have enough its people bitching about Apple can't produce them fast enough and they should have waited until they had proper inventories, I thought Tim was an operations expert! Apple can't win!

    Oh, and don't forget the ever popular and totally nonsensical:

    "Apple deliberately doesn't make enough to meet demand so that people think they're more popular than they actually are."


    Oh I HATE that one!!

    Apple releases wildly successful product:
    "Apple is intentionally holding back production to create hype!!"

    Yeah, Apple is refusing millions of sales to hype up the 50,000 people who are dumb enough to get hyped about it being sold out. /s

    Do these marketing geniuses realize a sold out product does more bad than good? Besides the obvious of less sales it also encourages shoppers to settle for a cheaper competing product or forego the sale forever.
    Basic economics used every day in select businesses across the world, even if it makes no sense to you personally. Yeah it's a thing...
    https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/scarcity-principle.asp

    Diamonds aren't as scarce as we presume they are but up until a few years ago DeBeers was able to maintain the impression they were and keep prices higher than they otherwise would have been. 

    @AppleExposed @Rayz2016 ;Have you not ever been in business, even better owned one?
    https://sparxoo.com/2018/11/16/what-marketers-need-to-know-about-artificial-scarcity/

    Yes, and I'll be damned if I told a customer to go away in hopes he comes back a month later.

    "Diamonds aren't as scarce as we presume they are but up until a few years ago DeBeers was able to maintain the impression they were and keep prices higher than they otherwise would have been."

    Not the same thing. A jewelry store isn't gonna tell me they're out of diamonds just so I can think they're "rare" and get them across the mall instead.

    Are you the type to think Tim Cook halts production so we can "want" a product more?
    Production doesn't need to halt, in fact maybe better that doesn't.  You just didn't bother reading the links I gave you to understand why that wouldn't really matter.
    Horses, water and all that.

    Or maybe you did but it was an "inconvenient" read. Entrenched positions are a thing too. 

    Anyway I'm not one of those claiming Apple does that. I am telling you and Rayz it's not a crazy and nonsensical marketing tactic as you surprisingly think it was.   
    edited July 2019 bigtds
  • Reply 10 of 13
    AppleExposedAppleExposed Posts: 1,805unconfirmed, member
    gatorguy said:
    gatorguy said:
    Rayz2016 said:
    macxpress said:
    felix01 said:
    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations
    Wait, how do you know what Apple’s expectations for sales were vs actual? That it wasn’t backordered doesn’t tell you either of those. 

    (That they lowered the price later could be an indicator, but lack of backorders isn’t)
    Yeah so if Apple has proper inventory its the ole this product isn't selling. If they don't have enough its people bitching about Apple can't produce them fast enough and they should have waited until they had proper inventories, I thought Tim was an operations expert! Apple can't win!

    Oh, and don't forget the ever popular and totally nonsensical:

    "Apple deliberately doesn't make enough to meet demand so that people think they're more popular than they actually are."


    Oh I HATE that one!!

    Apple releases wildly successful product:
    "Apple is intentionally holding back production to create hype!!"

    Yeah, Apple is refusing millions of sales to hype up the 50,000 people who are dumb enough to get hyped about it being sold out. /s

    Do these marketing geniuses realize a sold out product does more bad than good? Besides the obvious of less sales it also encourages shoppers to settle for a cheaper competing product or forego the sale forever.
    Basic economics used every day in select businesses across the world, even if it makes no sense to you personally. Yeah it's a thing...
    https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/scarcity-principle.asp

    Diamonds aren't as scarce as we presume they are but up until a few years ago DeBeers was able to maintain the impression they were and keep prices higher than they otherwise would have been. 

    @AppleExposed @Rayz2016 ;Have you not ever been in business, even better owned one?
    https://sparxoo.com/2018/11/16/what-marketers-need-to-know-about-artificial-scarcity/

    Yes, and I'll be damned if I told a customer to go away in hopes he comes back a month later.

    "Diamonds aren't as scarce as we presume they are but up until a few years ago DeBeers was able to maintain the impression they were and keep prices higher than they otherwise would have been."

    Not the same thing. A jewelry store isn't gonna tell me they're out of diamonds just so I can think they're "rare" and get them across the mall instead.

    Are you the type to think Tim Cook halts production so we can "want" a product more?
    Production doesn't need to halt, in fact maybe better that doesn't.  You just didn't bother reading the links I gave you to understand why that wouldn't really matter.
    Horses, water and all that.

    Or maybe you did but it was an "inconvenient" read. Entrenched positions are a thing too. 

    Anyway I'm not one of those claiming Apple does that. I am telling you and Rayz it's not a crazy and nonsensical marketing tactic as you surprisingly think it was.   

    Because I already understand this tactic but it's much different.

    I just now read the links and they mention limited edition products and products that rise and fall due to scarcity such as grain.

    "If it’s easy to find alternatives to your product, scarcity is not doing much for you. Your customers will simply purchase an equivalent product."
    From your link which proves my point.

    Do you think Apple holds back stock to raise the price of the Hompod and then unleashes it onto the market then yo-yos the price back down? Is there a "limited edition" HomePod?

    Ridiculous.

    Again I ask: Are you one of those people that believe Apple is holding back stock of Homepod for the sake of hype?
    jbdragon
  • Reply 11 of 13
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,335member
    felix01 said:
    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations
    Wait, how do you know what Apple’s expectations for sales were vs actual? That it wasn’t backordered doesn’t tell you either of those. 

    (That they lowered the price later could be an indicator, but lack of backorders isn’t)
    Yeah, the original post is a classic example of negativity bias. 
    AppleExposed
  • Reply 12 of 13
    drfwdrfw Posts: 13member
    peterhart said:
    I very well may be one of the only people this has happened to. Did a reset / setup several times. In different rooms even. The clicking was persistent. I did make an appt at Apple...they, as stated, had little to offer by way of fixing it since I owned it one the year warranty. They also had not seen one yet do this. The store manager I worked with offered me a purchase of a new one at about a 40% price but I already had another one. Essentially, my first one just died and there was nothing that could be done about it. 
    Call Apple care, and ask for a senior advisor to send a ticket up to the engineers.   They can gather logs from the device, er.     Volume like this is a huge way fixes get implemented for issues. 
  • Reply 13 of 13
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    gatorguy said:
    gatorguy said:
    Rayz2016 said:
    macxpress said:
    felix01 said:
    Presumably I have one of the first production runs, I ordered mine the day they were released. No wait required, it was quickly obvious the demand was falling well short of Apple’s expectations
    Wait, how do you know what Apple’s expectations for sales were vs actual? That it wasn’t backordered doesn’t tell you either of those. 

    (That they lowered the price later could be an indicator, but lack of backorders isn’t)
    Yeah so if Apple has proper inventory its the ole this product isn't selling. If they don't have enough its people bitching about Apple can't produce them fast enough and they should have waited until they had proper inventories, I thought Tim was an operations expert! Apple can't win!

    Oh, and don't forget the ever popular and totally nonsensical:

    "Apple deliberately doesn't make enough to meet demand so that people think they're more popular than they actually are."


    Oh I HATE that one!!

    Apple releases wildly successful product:
    "Apple is intentionally holding back production to create hype!!"

    Yeah, Apple is refusing millions of sales to hype up the 50,000 people who are dumb enough to get hyped about it being sold out. /s

    Do these marketing geniuses realize a sold out product does more bad than good? Besides the obvious of less sales it also encourages shoppers to settle for a cheaper competing product or forego the sale forever.
    Basic economics used every day in select businesses across the world, even if it makes no sense to you personally. Yeah it's a thing...
    https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/scarcity-principle.asp

    Diamonds aren't as scarce as we presume they are but up until a few years ago DeBeers was able to maintain the impression they were and keep prices higher than they otherwise would have been. 

    @AppleExposed @Rayz2016 ;Have you not ever been in business, even better owned one?
    https://sparxoo.com/2018/11/16/what-marketers-need-to-know-about-artificial-scarcity/

    Yes, and I'll be damned if I told a customer to go away in hopes he comes back a month later.

    "Diamonds aren't as scarce as we presume they are but up until a few years ago DeBeers was able to maintain the impression they were and keep prices higher than they otherwise would have been."

    Not the same thing. A jewelry store isn't gonna tell me they're out of diamonds just so I can think they're "rare" and get them across the mall instead.

    Are you the type to think Tim Cook halts production so we can "want" a product more?
    Production doesn't need to halt, in fact maybe better that doesn't.  You just didn't bother reading the links I gave you to understand why that wouldn't really matter.
    Horses, water and all that.

    Or maybe you did but it was an "inconvenient" read. Entrenched positions are a thing too. 

    Anyway I'm not one of those claiming Apple does that. I am telling you and Rayz it's not a crazy and nonsensical marketing tactic as you surprisingly think it was.   

    Because I already understand this tactic but it's much different.

    Ridiculous.

    Again I ask: Are you one of those people that believe Apple is holding back stock of Homepod for the sake of hype?
    You didn't read my previous post either since you're asking me the same question I answered. Go back and slowly read it again. 
    For that matter I doubt ANYONE believes Apple is holding back stocks of HomePods. Heck they're available to buy all over the place, and almost always on sale now someplace or other even with minimum advertised price controls (MAP) Apple requires of retailers.

    BTW MAP is another marketing tactic that you might want to be familiar with since it too can be used to maintain higher prices than they would settle into if left to market forces. So can be another artificial method of maintaining an air of demand that allows for higher profits than they otherwise might be. MAP and MSRP are not the same thing either in case you were wondering but it's really common for brands to use it as a marketing tool and price control. We've all been impacted by that one as it's so prevalent.

    But not reading (understanding?) my previous reply is on top of you either ignoring or not even reading the linked articles that mention Burberry burning millions of dollars in product to maintain an air of scarcity and desire and high value goods (hmm... Burberry?) , or even something as simple as the Beanie Baby craze where that company created a market for their product reliant on artificial scarcity driving perceived value, raising demand, prices, and profits.

    Yeah that silly thing that makes no sense to you makes complete sense to millions of marketers and businessmen. You apparently don't make many business decisions? If so I'm surprised you were never aware of how scarcity, real or perceived or contrived, can be used to drive profit. 

    Anyway I've no idea how this topic got raised in this discussion anyway so if you'd like to continue let's find a more proper thread or start a new one. It's an interesting topic since you're not the only one who seems unfamiliar with scarcity principles and it comes up somewhat often.
    edited July 2019
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