Audio sync problem with multiple HomePod after update to IOS18

Okay, it just started happening again. Without any improvement in the syncing issues. So now I have to frequently re-sync and deal with the abrupt song ending/starting partway into next song.

I tried restarting every HomePod and mini, but no help. No updates, and no changes to my system. Why is this happening again?

USA, and Verizon Fios - the latest router.

I switched over to playing from my Mac, which at least stopped the sync issues. Still dealing with abrupt endings and false starts.

If these issues aren't fixed by then, I'm dropping my Apple Music subscription once the free trial ends next month. If I have to play from my Mac, and don't have the ability to control volume and speakers from any device, there is no point in paying the subscription price.

I have the same problem. I have 4 large HomePods (gen 1) and three small ones (2 gen 1 and 2 gen 2) scattered throughout the house. Only the older, small HomePods go out of sync. It is very annoying since I like to throw parties and constantly having to stop and start the music to fix the issue is not feasible or pleasant.

Hello good people!

After months of audio problems with HomePods and AppleTV, iPhone or AirPlay—it’s hard to say exactly which—I’ve finally found a solution. I’ve tested it for a while now, and there are NO issues regardless of the app or device. I’ve tried it with Apple Music and Spotify in AppleTV and iPhone, and it now works flawlessly. I should also mention that I’m running the iOS 18.4 Developer version on all my devices. The problems I experienced were crackling sounds or sync issuesafter a while as I tried playing on multiple HomePods in the home, usually playing on different HomePods in stereo pairs, and the speakers in the stereo pairs losing sync.

Now for the solution. In my case, it was IGMP/multicast-related. My switches had IGMP snooping enabled—as did my Asus WiFi(Mesh) routers—but they only had IGMP snooping activated on WiFi. I had to enable multicast routing on the LAN as well. On Asus devices, you can find these settings under Wireless > Professional and LAN > IPTV. Now everything works perfectly again.

Hope this helps someone find a solution.

\Dan

Done all that multiple times. Small house, and the ones closest to the router - literally a few feet away - are just as likely to go out of sync as the ones further away. The furthest ones are maybe 30 feet away. If this is ever fixed I'll resubscribe to Apple Music. Right now, the only thing that prevents the sync issues is air playing from my Mac. Though I still get the false starts with that.

Have the sync issues been resolved with 18.4? I dropped my Apple Music subscription when it became unusable with the sync issues, and have been playing from the OSX Music app. Which was still having problems with the false starts, but at least music wasn't going out of sync. I'm a day and a half into 18.4, and have yet to have a false start! Once people have reported that the sync issues have been fixed, I'll start my subscription again. It would be nice to be able to control volume and which speakers are playing from any family iPhone or iPad. And maybe that option will be available with my Mac, also.

18.4 update. I gave up on an Apple Music subscription because of the sync issues, and went back to playing from the Music app on my Mac. I still had the false start issues, but not sync. I was hoping that 18.4 would fix those and I could go back to the subscription. I do miss being able to control volume and add/remove speakers from any device.

The false starts ended with 18.4, but now I'm getting sync issues. Still playing from my Mac. How's it going for those playing their own music through an Apple Music subscription?

False starts still gone. The sync issues appear to have been related to when the HomePods that were connected to the bedroom Apple TV (gen2) were added to the mix. The living room stereo HomePods went out of sync then. That might or might not have been because the Apple TV had not updated yet, but we rarely use that one, so I haven't reconnected them.

Is anyone able to confirm that Apple Music works without having to be resynced every few songs?

I had already disabled Dolby Atmos without improvement. I disabled Lossless and after 1 days full operation it was better. Using 1 Homepod Gen2 and 1 Homepod Mini stereo pair playing together all day without sync issues. Adding in 4 other Homepod Mini's did result in sync issues. I doubt Lossless is a significant quality loss when using Homepods but this would be a quality loss for uses using Apple Music through a hifi music streamer. For me being able to play our main room HP and Mini pair is a workable solution. Obviously there is a problem with HP's being able to stream more then 2 units with Lossless enabled and more then 3-4 unit with it disabled. At least for me. I'll update again after using the non-Lossless setting for a few days. Cheers!

Mine have both been disabled, and not enabled after I decided to give the Apple Music subscription another chance, and I'm still having lots of sync issues. Sometimes I can play for hours before I have to pause and sync. Other times, I have to do it every other song. But at least the false starts seem to be gone.

Very likely this issue has to do with Wi-fi coverage in your house.

In most Wi-Fi routers, you can check their admin interface to learn about the connection speed of any Wi-Fi device. This could be a step toward troubleshooting this. Find your HomePod's in the admin interface and see what connection speed they are on. You'd want to look at the following:

TxRate: (Transfer Rate). This should be a rate above 50 Mbps. Ideally something more like a few hundred Mbps to be sure there is plenty bandwidth to stream uninterruptedly.

Thank you.

Where would I find this with a Verizon FIOS router? (Yes, I am looking into a new router that is more configurable)

The only thing I can find under any of the HomePods and Minis is Phy Rate / Modulation Rate

72 Mbps. Nothing about TxRate in the manual, and an internet search didn't turn up anything other than upload and download speeds.

There does not seem to be any way to keep them in the 5GHz bands, but even when all the devices are connected there they still go out of sync. For example, while I was typing this, the stereo pair closest to me, and about 8' from the router, just went badly out of sync, with one several seconds behind the other. Usually the stereo pairs stay in sync, while the ones in other rooms are ahead or behind. This is a 100,000 square foot house, so range is rarely an issue.

The only way to force them to stay on 5GHz is to give the bands different names. I have a few devices that only run on 2.5GHz, and are a massive PITA to configure, so I'd rather not do that.

This issue occurred for me since v17.x. Still occurring with 18.5 but maybe a bit less often... still occurs multiple times a day. Have to either restart the current tune, skip to next tune, or pause and then un-pause current tune to resolve the sync issue.

iTunes Remote app - how did I not know about this?

Okay, so I subscribed to Apple Music only because I want to be able to control what is playing from all of my and my family's devices. I only play the music that I have ripped from CDs or downloaded.

But the sync issues have been so bad that I ended up only playing from my Mac, which meant I could control it only from there.

But... maybe I'm late to the party, but why isn't iTunes Remote (Apple app) more widely known? I set it up yesterday on all of our devices, and now we have the same controls we have when playing through Apple Music. Volume, which HomePods to connect, and even change the playlist. The only thing it doesn't seem to work on is the other Macs. It will show what is playing, but there are no controls. But that is also true with Apple Music.

I hope this helps someone who is struggling with sync issues.

ypu can report bugs here: Feedback - HomePod - Apple