Apple issues iOS 13.2.1 update for HomePod following bricking problems

AppleInsider · October 30, 2019 10:44PM

After pulling iOS 13.2 for HomePod due to reports that the software was bricking devices, Apple on Wednesday released a tweaked version of the firmware to rectify the apparent issues and enable new features like audio handoff and multi-user support.

The update arrives two days after Apple pushed out iOS 13.2 to enable promised features including music handoff from iPhone, user identification technology, ambient sound generation and sleep timers.

Shortly after Monday's release, users began to report problems with the new firmware. On AppleInsider's forums, for example, HomePod owners complained of an issue that sent the speaker into what appeared to be a boot loop that renders the smart speaker inoperable.

Users impacted by the issue were left with an unresponsive HomePod that displayed a constantly spinning white light on its screen.

A number of owners attempted to perform a factory reset by unplugging the speaker and performing a touch-and-hold gesture on the capacitive control panel, but to no avail. Unpairing the device from the Home app also proved ineffective.

On Reddit, user "VALIDNULL," who experienced identical problems, said an Apple support representative instructed them to take their HomePod in for replacement.

Apple pulled iOS 13.2 hours after its initial release and quietly updated a support document covering HomePod reset procedures to warn users of the error.

"If your HomePod is running iOS 13.2, don't follow these steps," Apple says. "If you've already reset or removed your HomePod from the Home app, contact Apple Support."

While release notes accompanying today's iOS 13.2.1 release do not mention bricking issues, the software is thought to address those concerns.

mpw_amherst · October 30, 2019 10:50PM

My Home app has shown 13.2 since release and after it was pulled. Hitting Update has update requested indefinitely. Still showing 13.2 with no sign of 13.2.1. Any idea how to shift it onto the latest release?

neillwd · October 30, 2019 11:06PM

mpw_amherst said:

My Home app has shown 13.2 since release and after it was pulled. Hitting Update has update requested indefinitely. Still showing 13.2 with no sign of 13.2.1. Any idea how to shift it onto the latest release?

I power cycled my HomePods and the new update displayed.

elijahg · October 30, 2019 11:16PM

Wow that was quick. Must have been an easy fix. Looking forward to giving it a go!

WTimberman · October 30, 2019 11:25PM

Okay, I'll be the boring person. I was on of those idiots who was actually able to install 3.2 on my, stereo pair of HomePods, but it took forever, and AirPlay 2 was totally borked after the update. Today, 3.2.1 installed without incident in a reasonable amount of time on the same HomePods, and AirPlay 2 now works more or less as advertised, as does Handoff, and as many of the other advertised new features as I've been able to test. (I live alone, so no multiple voice recognition tests until family comes for a visit.)

So okay, Apple, peace. But maybe next time you'll remember this Catalina/iOs/iPadOS/HomePod mess and either stagger your hardware/software releases, reorganize Federighi's division, or something -- anything -- to save your customers from going through this again. Your software isn't running exclusively on hobbies or toys, or occasionally used geek devices as it once did. Quite simply, these i-things and Mac-things and Apple-things are like electricity or municipal water supplies. They're how we live. If you want to rule our world, Tim, you gotta do better than this....

jwdawso · October 30, 2019 11:58PM

mpw_amherst said:

My Home app has shown 13.2 since release and after it was pulled. Hitting Update has update requested indefinitely. Still showing 13.2 with no sign of 13.2.1. Any idea how to shift it onto the latest release?

I restarted my iPad and then 13.2.1 showed up.

The update did not take long. On my iPad it just showed downloading. I happened to notice on the HomePod swirling and then it was complete. I tried the handover from my iPhone and it worked immediately.

maccaguy · October 31, 2019 12:03AM

I’ve updated my HomePod to 13.2.1, but it refuses to recognize my wife’s voice. It keeps saying to turn on “Recognize my voice” in the Home app, but it’s on on both of our iPhones. I’ve power cycled all three devices.

WTimberman · October 31, 2019 12:19AM

maccaguy said:

I’ve updated my HomePod to 13.2.1, but it refuses to recognize my wife’s voice. It keeps saying to turn on “Recognize my voice” in the Home app, but it’s on on both of our iPhones. I’ve power cycled all three devices.

Was just listening to Myke Hurley on the latest episode of the Upgrade podcast with Jason Snell. He and his wife had the same problem. After a half-hour of growing frustration, he reported, and trying everything they could think of, activating SIri on the HomePod by holding a finger on top of one of the Pods somehow allowed it to recognize his wife's voice as that of a separate person. He said he wasn't really sure after the fact what the sequence of events was, or what exactly did the trick, but he thought that physically activating Siri was the key move. FYI....

mobird · October 31, 2019 12:23AM

maccaguy said:

I’ve updated my HomePod to 13.2.1, but it refuses to recognize my wife’s voice. It keeps saying to turn on “Recognize my voice” in the Home app, but it’s on on both of our iPhones. I’ve power cycled all three devices.

Is there a process to "teach" Siri a voice? For my Wife, I have "Recognize My Voice" and "Personal Request" both turned on for her.

maccaguy · October 31, 2019 1:19AM

WTimberman said:
Was just listening to Myke Hurley on the latest episode of the Upgrade podcast with Jason Snell. He and his wife had the same problem. After a half-hour of growing frustration, he reported, and trying everything they could think of, activating SIri on the HomePod by holding a finger on top of one of the Pods somehow allowed it to recognize his wife's voice as that of a separate person. He said he wasn't really sure after the fact what the sequence of events was, or what exactly did the trick, but he thought that physically activating Siri was the key move. FYI....

Ok, we just gave that a try and it seemed to work. We will experiment more tomorrow with it and make sure that works.

Now if the invitation to my daughter would ever work on her Home app, we might get this system working after all...

chaicka · October 31, 2019 2:01AM

mobird said:

maccaguy said:

I’ve updated my HomePod to 13.2.1, but it refuses to recognize my wife’s voice. It keeps saying to turn on “Recognize my voice” in the Home app, but it’s on on both of our iPhones. I’ve power cycled all three devices.

Is there a process to "teach" Siri a voice? For my Wife, I have "Recognize My Voice" and "Personal Request" both turned on for her.

To teach the HomePod to recognize voice of individuals, it is done via the iPhone (must be on iOS 13.1.x or 13.2 cause this was only added in later 13.1.x), go to Home app, click on the small home icon on top left corner, select the individual's account listed as part of that home, there you see the options to enable/disable recognize voice and the first time enabling it (should be default disabled based on my home setup and wife's iPhone), it will go through a training Siri to recognize voice. This is totally separate from the iPhone's Siri enablement.

Hope this helps.

disneylandman · October 31, 2019 2:23AM

maccaguy said:

I’ve updated my HomePod to 13.2.1, but it refuses to recognize my wife’s voice. It keeps saying to turn on “Recognize my voice” in the Home app, but it’s on on both of our iPhones. I’ve power cycled all three devices.

Maybe she is nagging it too much and the HomePod is responding accordingly.

AppleZulu · October 31, 2019 2:47AM

This sounds promising. Maybe I'll update this weekend.

I'm still curious how extensive the bricking problem really was. As I said on the other thread, it was clearly not zero, but it's sometimes difficult to tell how much is the problem and how much is self-selected online amplification. The furor here seemed somewhat limited; on other forums, more extensive, but then again, it's always nuts over there.

chaicka · October 31, 2019 3:33AM

Before I jump in and update to 13.2.1 from 12.4, may I ask if those who have successfully updated has any 3rd party HomeKit devices (e.g. Philips Hue, Eve) as part of the Home ecosystem?

Thanks alot. Just want to assess the risk since HomePod did not launch here and I had to import it from nearest country where it has launched.

mobird · October 31, 2019 4:01AM

chaicka said:

Before I jump in and update to 13.2.1 from 12.4, may I ask if those who have successfully updated has any 3rd party HomeKit devices (e.g. Philips Hue, Eve) as part of the Home ecosystem?

Thanks alot. Just want to assess the risk since HomePod did not launch here and I had to import it from nearest country where it has launched.

Ecobee4 thermostat, no problems at this time.

BTW - thanks for the Siri voice tutorial. All is well in "Hooterville" (Name assigned to our home). My Wife is now able to "speak" with Siri.

WTimberman · October 31, 2019 4:26AM

chaicka said:

Before I jump in and update to 13.2.1 from 12.4, may I ask if those who have successfully updated has any 3rd party HomeKit devices (e.g. Philips Hue, Eve) as part of the Home ecosystem?

Thanks alot. Just want to assess the risk since HomePod did not launch here and I had to import it from nearest country where it has launched.

Ecobee 4 with 3 satellite sensors, several different kinds of Phillips Hue lights spread over 4 rooms, August smart lock, D-LInk Omna security camera. Several instances of automations being triggered at the wrong time in the hours following the 13.2 update, but none since updating to 13.2.1. In any event, 'm not sure that these were the fault of the HomePod software, as my Apple TV is acting as the HomeKit hub, with the HomePods only deployed as standbys. Otherwise no issues. HomeKit targeted Siri commands have so far been processed by the HomePods without error.

Rayz2016 · October 31, 2019 5:44AM

WTimberman said:

Okay, I'll be the boring person. I was on of those idiots who was actually able to install 3.2 on my, stereo pair of HomePods, but it took forever, and AirPlay 2 was totally borked after the update. Today, 3.2.1 installed without incident in a reasonable amount of time on the same HomePods, and AirPlay 2 now works more or less as advertised, as does Handoff, and as many of the other advertised new features as I've been able to test. (I live alone, so no multiple voice recognition tests until family comes for a visit.)

So okay, Apple, peace. But maybe next time you'll remember this Catalina/iOs/iPadOS/HomePod mess and either stagger your hardware/software releases, reorganize Federighi's division, or something -- anything -- to save your customers from going through this again. Your software isn't running exclusively on hobbies or toys, or occasionally used geek devices as it once did. Quite simply, these i-things and Mac-things and Apple-things are like electricity or municipal water supplies. They're how we live. If you want to rule our world, Tim, you gotta do better than this....

My concern is that they were preparing to launch a bug fix while they were readying the initial release. If they knew there were problems then why didn’t they just delay the release?

mpw_amherst · October 31, 2019 8:33AM

Thanks for the help (can’t seem to quote). Got the update. Handoff worked really well last night with music and bbc Sounds. Can’t get it working with Podcasts though.

chaicka · October 31, 2019 8:37AM

WTimberman said:

chaicka said:

Before I jump in and update to 13.2.1 from 12.4, may I ask if those who have successfully updated has any 3rd party HomeKit devices (e.g. Philips Hue, Eve) as part of the Home ecosystem?

Thanks alot. Just want to assess the risk since HomePod did not launch here and I had to import it from nearest country where it has launched.

Ecobee 4 with 3 satellite sensors, several different kinds of Phillips Hue lights spread over 4 rooms, August smart lock, D-LInk Omna security camera. Several instances of automations being triggered at the wrong time in the hours following the 13.2 update, but none since updating to 13.2.1. In any event, 'm not sure that these were the fault of the HomePod software, as my Apple TV is acting as the HomeKit hub, with the HomePods only deployed as standbys. Otherwise no issues. HomeKit targeted Siri commands have so far been processed by the HomePods without error.

Based on my observations, the Apple TV and HomePod (12.4) randomly takes over as Home Hub. On most times, the HomePod seems to have a higher preference to become the Home Hub instead of the Apple TV. Unable to find any Apple documentation of such scenario where both Apple TV and HomePod are Home Hubs, how they behaves, what makes one prefer to be the master Home Hub while the other goes into standby.

seanismorris · October 31, 2019 12:31PM

Apple is back to focusing on QC... again.

verne arase · October 31, 2019 12:56PM

Rayz2016 said: My concern is that they were preparing to launch a bug fix while they were readying the initial release. If they knew there were problems then why didn’t they just delay the release?

Of course they weren't expecting this ... otherwise they would've held off. Nobody wants that kind of publicity.

Apple issues iOS 13.2.1 update for HomePod following bricking problems

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