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Itinj24

Contributor
Nov 8, 2017
4,444
2,550
New York
I can’t believe Apple expects people to jump through these hoops, and communicate on forums to research as a group to understand how to get these products to perform as Apple promised. And yet they remain silent and acknowledge no issues. The company of “it just works” is no longer.
As soon as I updated to 13.2.1, everything worked as advertised on my HomePod. I wonder what’s causing the issues with others. Not just with the HomePod but other Apple devices behave differently for different people. I agree though. The “It Just Works” slogan should cease to be used for Apple.
 

Mr. Zarniwoop

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2005
751
139
Something somewhere does seem terribly goofy. I have solid WiFi and Internet in the house. Two stereo pair HomePod setups; one in the bedroom, one in the kitchen.

After I removed the HomePods, adding them back was a nightmare. I kept getting Setup Failed -71147. And then retrying, until it’d work. To work through all four HomePods took about twenty tries.

After getting the HomePods all set up, it does seem that getting the Home app to allow personal requests takes an hour or two for everything to settle in. There’s no indication of what is happening, and worse, there’s an error showing “Voice Recognition is not available on this HomePod” but simply waiting an hour fixed it.
 

pcd213

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2019
567
630
As soon as I updated to 13.2.1, everything worked as advertised on my HomePod. I wonder what’s causing the issues with others. Not just with the HomePod but other Apple devices behave differently for different people. I agree though. The “It Just Works” slogan should cease to be used for Apple.
I don’t know why I always get my hopes up that the next software release will fix all issues, but I felt that way about 13.2.1 and was disappointed once again.

Frankly, my wife isn’t dying to engage with the HomePod and ask for personal requests, but I’m more bothered by the principle of it all - that Apple markets this as a major feature of the latest release and it just doesn’t work.
 

Itinj24

Contributor
Nov 8, 2017
4,444
2,550
New York
I don’t know why I always get my hopes up that the next software release will fix all issues, but I felt that way about 13.2.1 and was disappointed once again.

Frankly, my wife isn’t dying to engage with the HomePod and ask for personal requests, but I’m more bothered by the principle of it all - that Apple markets this as a major feature of the latest release and it just doesn’t work.
Yep... and come to think of it, whatever happened with Group FaceTime??? I upgraded both my kids’ iPads for this feature and it’s still a hot mess, over a year later. This was one of their highly touted features for iOS 12. Can’t add people in the middle of a call, even though it’s shows that you’re should be able to and I always get the “waiting” for other users when trying to initiate a call. Not to mention the security flaws that were discovered. Seems like it just got swept under the rug.
 

pcd213

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2019
567
630
Yep... and come to think of it, whatever happened with Group FaceTime??? I upgraded both my kids’ iPads for this feature and it’s still a hot mess, over a year later. This was one of their highly touted features for iOS 12. Can’t add people in the middle of a call, even though it’s shows that you’re should be able to and I always get the “waiting” for other users when trying to initiate a call. Not to mention the security flaws that were discovered. Seems like it just got swept under the rug.
I really, really like him, so I don’t necessarily believe in the following, but it seems like Craig Federighi’s offenses this year outweigh Scott Forstall’s. I’m not calling for someone’s head. I’m just making an observation, that Apple’s software has been getting progressively worse, with this year taking the cake.
 
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Itinj24

Contributor
Nov 8, 2017
4,444
2,550
New York
I really, really like him, so I don’t necessarily believe in the following, but it seems like Craig Federighi’s offenses this year outweigh Scott Forstall’s. I’m not calling for someone’s head. I’m just making an observation, that Apple’s software has been getting progressively worse, with this year taking the cake.
To me, it seems like they may have went over their heads with all the new features they’re adding. Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate them and when they work properly, are absolutely fantastic. I had the first iPhone to the 4S. Switched to Android for a few years because back then, iOS was way too walled in and featureless in comparison. Came back with the iPhone X and I don’t see myself going back to Android because of what Apple is doing with adding new features. Now only if it worked as advertised lol. Some things really irk the crap out of me still though. Can’t change the name of a Bluetooth device! We have a fleet of about 20 Fords and 10 Dodges at work. My Bluetooth list has 20 SYNC and 10 UCONNECT devices lol. Now if one of those cars goes out of service permanently, good luck trying to figure out which Bluetooth device to delete from the list lol.
 

nwcs

macrumors 68030
Sep 21, 2009
2,722
5,262
Tennessee
So has anyone managed to get multiple users supported on the HomePod? I’ve followed everything out there from remove and adding home users, resetting HomePod, retraining Hey Siri, restarting, toggling personal requests, etc in different order and it works for me but won’t work for my wife.
 

StumpyBloke

macrumors 603
Apr 21, 2012
5,366
5,919
England
So has anyone managed to get multiple users supported on the HomePod? I’ve followed everything out there from remove and adding home users, resetting HomePod, retraining Hey Siri, restarting, toggling personal requests, etc in different order and it works for me but won’t work for my wife.

Nope
 

nwcs

macrumors 68030
Sep 21, 2009
2,722
5,262
Tennessee
:mad: It is very frustrating that they headlined this feature and it seems to not work for so many. One has to wonder how much testing actually was done on it. I haven’t had a chance to ask Apple support but something tells me they won’t know either.
 

StumpyBloke

macrumors 603
Apr 21, 2012
5,366
5,919
England
Indeed. I wouldn’t waste your time calling Support. I honestly don’t think they will have a clue about what you’re talking about. I think we just have to wait for further updates unfortunately. Its clearly a fundamentally flawed system in its current state.
 
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Bfarmer38119

macrumors regular
May 27, 2012
110
27
Memphis
So has anyone managed to get multiple users supported on the HomePod? I’ve followed everything out there from remove and adding home users, resetting HomePod, retraining Hey Siri, restarting, toggling personal requests, etc in different order and it works for me but won’t work for my wife.
A replacement Homepod for one of my software bricked units booted up. Went through normal setup. Afterwards, my wife and I tried multiple users and it worked great. It was fun.

By evening we were back to I don't know who you are.
 
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Itinj24

Contributor
Nov 8, 2017
4,444
2,550
New York
And to think they waited until 13.2 to push a broken update. Sheesh.
[automerge]1572907354[/automerge]

Does this help anyone?
 
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nwcs

macrumors 68030
Sep 21, 2009
2,722
5,262
Tennessee
A replacement Homepod for one of my software bricked units booted up. Went through normal setup. Afterwards, my wife and I tried multiple users and it worked great. It was fun.

By evening we were back to I don't know who you are.
Lol, at least you experienced the thrill for a moment!
[automerge]1572909201[/automerge]
And to think they waited until 13.2 to push a broken update. Sheesh.
[automerge]1572907354[/automerge]

Does this help anyone?
Unfortunately no. Cnet had a column virtually the same with some additional things. The AI article is just a retelling of Apple’s official page for the feature. I think that the version just isn’t fully baked. If they didn’t know 13.2 would brick on reset clearly they didn’t test many scenarios.
 

Mr. Zarniwoop

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2005
751
139
So has anyone managed to get multiple users supported on the HomePod? I’ve followed everything out there from remove and adding home users, resetting HomePod, retraining Hey Siri, restarting, toggling personal requests, etc in different order and it works for me but won’t work for my wife.
Removing the HomePods from the home (and re-adding) got it working for me.
 
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BlankStar

macrumors 6502a
Aug 13, 2004
775
831
Belgium
For me, with 13.2.1, it all works fine, without deleting my home or anything. The only thing I had to do was unplug the Tadfri-hub and plug it back in because the Ikea lights weren't responding anymore after the update. When the hub was back, everything worked as a charm. "Who am I?" functions with all the features.

Offtopic: I really like the new ambient sounds and sleep timer :) (Hey Siri, play rain from ambient sounds; Hey Siri, sleep timer 30 minutes)
 

pcd213

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2019
567
630
Glad it worked for you as I saw that a couple of days ago and it didn’t work for me. It seems that each solution reported out there is different in key ways and doesn’t work for everyone. It just points to a more fundamental issue.
I’m sorry it didn’t work for you
 

CamiMR

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2012
670
440
Tried linked Reddit solution with no success...

And also another one suggesting turning off Hey Siri in both phones, then activating first in the one whose voice isn’t recognised by HomePod. Also unsuccessful...

It shouldn’t be so hard to get this to work!!
 
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Nocolot

macrumors newbie
Sep 22, 2019
10
0
With multi user support does it mean that Apple Music family sharing subscripction needs to be activated so every person in the room could ask HomePod to play music?

Lets say I am family owner but only I have Apple Music subscription activated. If I will be away from home will it mean thy my wife without Apple Music subscription will not be able to ask Siri to play music from Apple Music from HomePod?
 

pcd213

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2019
567
630
With multi user support does it mean that Apple Music family sharing subscripction needs to be activated so every person in the room could ask HomePod to play music?

Lets say I am family owner but only I have Apple Music subscription activated. If I will be away from home will it mean thy my wife without Apple Music subscription will not be able to ask Siri to play music from Apple Music from HomePod?
I’m not sure I’m replying to your exact question, but so far the HomePod is taking my wife’s music-related requests and I am the only one who has an Apple Music subscription (she’s cheap and using Pandora). I could see Apple being the ass that requires all family members to have their own subscription for the HomePod to recognize their voices, or requires me to upgrade to a family subscription.
 

Nocolot

macrumors newbie
Sep 22, 2019
10
0
I’m not sure I’m replying to your exact question, but so far the HomePod is taking my wife’s music-related requests and I am the only one who has an Apple Music subscription (she’s cheap and using Pandora). I could see Apple being the ass that requires all family members to have their own subscription for the HomePod to recognize their voices, or requires me to upgrade to a family subscription.

Yes, this is what I want to confirm if I need to have family subscription for both me and my wife to ask Siri to play music on HomePod. It seems to be required.
 

pcd213

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2019
567
630
Yes, this is what I want to confirm if I need to have family subscription for both me and my wife to ask Siri to play music on HomePod. It seems to be required.
So far, it's taking my wife's queries, and we only have one single Apple Music subscription (mine).
 
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