HomePod 1st Gen HomePod discontinued due to inherent design errors? Class action lawsuit anyone?

[Tobal]

This is my first post on Macrumors forums

I have a first generation HomePod. It was re-gifted to me by a friend who said that he liked his Sonos speakers better. I was thrilled as I used to be a diehard Apple fan boy who went to MacWorld conventions at Moscone Center, from 1992 until they stopped happening. I worked at ComputerWare, the SF Bay Area precursor to Apple’s international retail stores, for four years; then at the first flagship Apple Store off of Union Square @ Market St. I know my Apple ****.

My experience with this gifted HomePod, is one of the error ridden frustrations that has led me to become less of an Apple fan.

I pretty much exclusively use the HomePod as a speaker attached to my Apple TV (first gen 4k). I’ve been using the HomePod since Christmas 2019.

My frustration is that the HomePod continuously loses connection with my Apple TV. At first I thought it was a problem with a streaming service that I was using, Netflix. A movie that I was watching stopped playing and the whole Netflix app on my Apple TV seemed to be frozen. I called Netflix and someone in tech-support said that they had to reset one of their back end settings to make my account work. Once they had reset on their end, and I went back in to use Netflix, it worked fine, but I noticed that the sound was now coming through my TV speakers and no longer through my HomePod. I reconnected to HomePod and started to have the same problems. I pretty quickly connected the dots, and realized that the problem was not with Netflix, it seemed to be with my HomePod.

The problem has gotten a little bit better, with a few of the last HomePod firmware updates, but the problem still exists and I have to reconnect my HomePod to my Apple TV, on average about 15 times a week.

This happens regardless of the streaming service that I’m using - HBO Max, Netflix, Prime Video, Put.io.

When Apple discontinued the HomePod, I wondered if they had internally uncovered some problems. This theory was further justified when they released practically the exact same HomePod with very few changes.

Does anyone else have a first generation HomePod that habitually disconnects from Apple TV?

It’s quite possible that I simply have a defective unit, but everything else about it seems to work flawlessly. And it’s obviously out of warranty so trying to talk to Apple about this problem seems like an excellent exercise in futility.

I tried searching through Apple’s online tech-support discussions, and at one point thought that maybe it had something to do with my Wi-Fi connection/router, but none of my other devices have Wi-Fi problems.

Cheers 🙃

 

[StumpyBloke]

Welcome, but what's with "class action lawsuit anyone" in your title?

 

[AZhappyjack]

Are you that hard up for the $3.25 award from a class action suit? Lawyers have enough money. Hard pass.

 

[TonyC28]

I feel like if there was some design flaw causing consistent problems for a lot of users this forum would be aware of it.

 

[Itinj24]

Sure there were reports of OG’s hardware failing but I don’t think that’s why they were discontinued. I think this was all a genius business tactic.

Once they announced the discontinuation of the OG, they started flying off the shelves. I had six and picked up another three immediately in the wake of the announcement at Apple and Best Buy. Got the last ones in store (two at two different Best Buys and one at Apple) and this was the same day as the announcement. Why? Because I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get them anymore, ever again. I wasn’t far off as indicated by the supply remaining. They were also selling for ridiculous prices on eBay.

It’s basic human nature. You generally want what you can’t have. Apple turned around and provided that second chance with newly released hardware and from what I understand, people were all over it. Genius business tactic. They didn’t get to be a trillion dollar company for poor business decisions.

Class Action suits benefit the lawyers more than the victims, as mentioned already. Don’t have time to be involved in that for a couple bux but hey, if that’s on your road map, best of luck. Besides, knock on wood, my HomePods are serving me well so far, other than Apple’s crappy software getting in the way sometimes.

 

[b17777]

So someone gave you a "gift" and you want to sue the manufacturer ? I bought a Samsung TV and figured a Samsung sound bar would probably work with the least amount of grief. And I was right. I wouldn't allow something to make me constantly angry.

 

[pup]

I hate the little flaming marshmallows of homekit doom, but honestly I doubt if Apple sold enough of them to get any law firm interested. Especially since it’s not cut and dry - they’d have to do a ton of discovery and keep their fingers crossed that there’s actually something to discover.

I think the people who were really wronged are the few who loaded their houses up with them before the problems started to show, but I suspect that there aren’t a ton of those, outside this forum.

Apple could have done what Sonos did, and offer a nice trade in to upgrade your old HomePod to the new. That doesn’t sound like apple though, does it; plus there’s no way to know if the new ones will fare any better in the long run.

If you’re in that boat then just replace them with Sonos as they die, and eventually you’ll have a Sonos system and you’ll find that your days are sunnier. Or if not, at least your lights will work.