Anyone who treated themselves to a HomePod mini for Christmas may currently experience operating problems with the inexpensive Siri speaker. For a few days now, users of Apple hardware have been reporting various operational difficulties when communicating with the loudspeaker in German.
Simple commands are ignored
Even with the current HomePod OS 15.2, the device suddenly has no memories anymore – the system claims that it lacks the right app. Finding the iPhone quickly and simply sending iMessage messages to other people can also fail. The HomePod mini accepts the command, but does not send it.
Even before Christmas there had been reports that the Siri speaker refused to execute shortcuts and such simple commands as specifying the time. All of this sounds like server-side problems. Apple’s system status display remained green over the years – and also up to date – HomeKit should work properly according to the company.
Server rush should actually be over
It is not uncommon for delays to occur during the Christmas season due to numerous freshly commissioned devices because Apple’s servers are overloaded. The problem went beyond the holidays. According to user reports, inquiries with Apple support did not work. Among other things, they asked to send diagnostic data, but stated that they were otherwise not informed about the problem.
Common troubleshooting measures, such as resetting the iPhone or HomePod mini, which are inconvenient for users, should not change the difficulties. Affected users should try to restart both iPhone and HomePod mini anyway to see whether the connection works again. With the HomePod mini, this is done via the Home app on the iPhone. Data is not lost in the process.
(bsc)