Stuttering music and losing connection to Apple HomePod mini through Airplay

[shrimp_sandwich]

Plan

Premium

Country

Sweden

Device

iPhone Xs Max

Operating System

iOS 16.2

My Question or Issue

When I play music on my Apple HomePod Mini (Brand new, updated to iOS 16.2) through my iPhone, via Airplay, the music stutters a lot and I can't play for more than 5 minutes, before the connection to the HomePod mini drops out. Apple Music or podcasts works great.

I have good Wifi-coverage and a good connection (speed test with my phone next to the HomePod is >500Mbps with Speedtest).

I've tried different quality settings of the music, and also downloading it to my phone.

Turning off WMM on my router as this thread suggested:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Desktop-Mac/Stuttering-Audio-Streaming-To-Apple-TV-Via-AirPlay/td-p...

but unfortunately that didn't solve it either.

Anyone else with these issues? Ideas?

[91shawny]

Been having this issue for the longest time, atleast 2 years now. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one but annoyed to see Spotify hasn’t resolved it yet smh

[lesteves123]

Hello I can't connect my Apple HomePod mini with Spotify. The 2 devices are paired and the iPhone 11 and Spotify version are the most current. What could be my problem?

Can someone help me?

Thanks!

[Shiranja88]

I think this is a Spotify & AirPlay integration issue.
Since Apple Music is fully integrated into HomePods, they use the direct playlist URL and stream as an individual device, controlled from your other Apple devices. Spotify uses a different, maybe older integration and relies on AirPlay from your Mac/iPhone only. You are exposed to stuttering and buffer issues when doing so. 

That's my catch on this issue. However, I couldn't find any way to make it better other than using Apple Music when it happened to me. And most aren't using both services.

[Curbsideship116]

Hey Spotify Support team,

I work for a managed service provider, and I have a client that has 3 homepod minis. We obviously do a lot of troubleshooting before we engage with vendors. We have already assisted our client in resetting their homepods and repairing it to their UniFi network. They are still experiencing the same issues as stated by shrimp_sandwich.

We have been actively monitoring network connectivity of their homepods via the UniFi Cloud Controller. The devices all reflect 95 to 100% WiFi experience rating, with no reports of DHCP or DNS timeouts. Right now, I can see signals of -32dBm, -46dBm and -56dm, so all in the green range in terms of signal.

Our client has been reporting this issue over a considerable length of time. I am very much at the end of what I can do, I am letting the client know now that this is specific to the Spotify platform. If you need anything from me to assist further, please let me know.

[Johnnyrocket12]

Just adding a report that I am also experiencing this. When connecting Spotify through iPhone using AirPlay to HomePod Mini, the music stutters. It’s been happening for months. It doesn’t happen with Apple Music or other methods of AirPlay, the problem is Spotify.

[Ivelina]

Hey folks,

Thank you all for the info you've posted in this thread.

You can check out this article by Apple - If HomePod or HomePod mini isn't responding to see if any of the mentioned steps would make any difference.

However if you're still experiencing the same issue afterwards, we recommend getting directly in touch with Apple Support here. 

Cheers!

[mathiasnohall]

this is bascially a slap in the face from Spotify. Do you really think we have not done this a hundred times already? The problem is NOT Apple HomePod, it is Spotify

[Major-domo]

I've literally switched to Apple Music because of dumb replies like those.

No more shattering after that.

[Curbsideship116]

This is a really poor response.
Just to be super clear Ivelina, I work for an IT provider. We managed IT and network infrastructure for businesses. I have already troubleshooted the homepods. Because that is literally what my job is!

You seem to have multiple people complaining about this issue. The ball is in Spotify's court, not the end users'.
My client is quite annoyed, and I am about to give them advice on alternatives. Changing to a different speaker, or changing to a different streaming service. You already have people in this thread saying they have switch to Apple Music, that is going to be one of the options I am presenting to the client. Considering there is an upfront with purchasing new speakers, I am going to take a guess they will probably cancel their Spotify subscription and move to Apple Music instead.

Interesting that someone has already posted that they don't have the stuttering and dropping out on the homepods since switching to Apple Music.

Please don't take advantage of your customers like this, expecting us to be quite and keep paying money. This sort of response would make me seriously consider cancelling my own family plan.

[LoveMD]

Same here! No problems with Apple Music, stuttering and inconsistent playback with Spotify->AirPlay. 

[0uchee]

Exactly the same problem here. I can Airplay everything well on my HomePod mini, except Spotify...

[thesubtlethief]

Same problem here, happens on HomePod and HomePod mini. Apple Music works fine, so if there's no solution on the horizon then it's going to be the final straw for my subscription to Spotify. Any updates on this from Spotify?

[kandreasyan]

Disable the Airtime Fairness setting in the router's configuration.

The HomePod has Apple Music installed, allowing it to play music directly from the speaker. Meanwhile, the Spotify app wirelessly sends audio from an iPhone/iPad using the local network.

[ricogomez]

Only adding to this in hopes that Spotify does something about the issue, albeit I think we all know this is falling on deaf ears. This is a customer satisfaction issue and Spotify couldn’t care less while they count their dollars from our subscriptions each month. They’re more engaged in a feud with Apple, and don’t want to do anything to cooperate with the company. I’m having the same exact issue as everyone else and have tried the same steps to resolve, which came up empty. I feel like an **bleep** for recently joining Spotify from Apple Music. I will not be a subscriber for long. 

[iMadeAnAccForThis]

I came to spotify support and all I got was this unhelpful Reply.

Anybody needs the Tee? Im going to order this one together with my apple music subscription. Kudos to spotify!

[ikeough]

Everything here +1000. Engineers inside Spotify need to buy some home pods, hook them up to a run of the mill Wi-Fi network and try to use their product streaming over that network. Right now, for me, Spotify is unlistenable with a home pod.

[Shiranja88]

To be honest, I think we should maybe stop buying home pods…. It’s working well with all other devices….

[pianoviolingrl]

Same issues here, and this has been happening for the past two years ever since I got my HomePods. I’ve switched Wi-Fi networks, frequencies, reset my HomePods, and nothing has done the trick. 

[adamBS]

Sadly I had the same problem, but it conveniently vanished after I started using Apple Music. The quality of the music also improved from the lossless feature.

[heychat11]

it is on all my iphone, ipad and macbook air where after airplaying to spotify, my homepod cuts out. my internet is completely fine and i know it is not too far away as the homepod, internet and all the other devices are in the same room. i have reset my homepod, redownloaded spotify and every other fix i could find on this website and nothing works