Some HomePods won't play Apple Music after 14.5 software update

Homepod Mini (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Some HomePod users have reported that their smart speakers can no longer play songs from Apple Music.
The issue appears to have started after updating to the 14.5 software.

Apple released version 14.5 of the HomePod's software last week and since then a number of people have reported that they can no longer get their smart speaker to play songs from Apple Music. The issue seems to affect HomePod and HomePod mini equally.

First reported by 9to5Mac, people have taken to social media to ask what's going on – seemingly with little positive response. The issue does, at least, appear to be intermittent.

As for now, there isn't an answer about what users can do if they can't use Apple Music on HomePod. Some users were able to factory reset their HomePod and it started working again. As for me, I received this "I don't find XXX on Apple Music" once. When I asked Siri again, it was able to play the album I wanted.

@AppleSupport Hey 👋 Siri seems unable to find music as of some time today. I’m a Music subscriber and it’s failing on iOS and HomePod. I just get “I didn’t find x on Apple Music” for any request I make. I’ve seen other similar complaints on Twitter.@AppleSupport Hey 👋 Siri seems unable to find music as of some time today. I’m a Music subscriber and it’s failing on iOS and HomePod. I just get “I didn’t find x on Apple Music” for any request I make. I’ve seen other similar complaints on Twitter.— Mike McNamara (@MikeMcNamara) May 4, 2021 May 4, 2021

People asking Siri to play music get responses suggesting that the requested songs can't be found. There doesn't appear to be any common knowledge fix for the issue right now, with those impacted likely best served by using AirPlay from an iPhone or iPad until Apple works out what is going on.

Failing that, how about picking up the best Bluetooth speaker on the market while you wait for Apple to get its act together?

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.