I never thought I would unplug a HomePod on purpose. For years, it was one of the most reliable pieces of technology in my home, always present, always predictable. That changed after the iOS 26 update. At first, it was subtle: the volume slider moving on its own, creeping upward on my iPhone Lock Screen without any interaction. Then came the night it started playing random music at full volume while everyone was asleep. No request, no playlist, no warning. Turning it off didn’t help. Minutes later, it happened again. In that moment, unplugging the HomePod felt less like troubleshooting and more like self-defense.
From Everyday Companion to Unplugged Device
HomePod has always worked best when it fades into the background. It fills a room with music, supports movies and TV audio, responds when asked, and stays quiet when it should. After iOS 26, that balance broke in a way that’s hard to ignore.
In some homes, HomePod 2 began increasing volume without any visible trigger. You lower it, and seconds later it rises again. The behavior is visible on the iPhone itself, with the volume indicator sliding upward as if someone else were controlling it. During the day, this is confusing. At 4 a.m., it becomes alarming.
The most disruptive issue appears when HomePod starts playing music on its own, often at maximum volume, with no clear source. Playback history shows nothing useful. No nearby device reports initiating audio. In households where Apple TV is actively playing a movie or series, the system still fails to recognize that HomePod should remain silent.
What makes this harder to accept is how well Apple’s ecosystem usually understands context. It knows when sound is coming from the TV. It knows when people are asleep through Focus and automation data. Yet HomePod behaves as if it’s operating in isolation.
The Nighttime Breaking Point
Waking up to sudden, full-volume music is not just inconvenient. It’s unsettling. Several users describe the same sequence: silence, then music blasting at 100 percent, followed by panic, confusion, and a scramble to shut everything down.
Powering off the HomePod doesn’t always solve it. Some report that minutes later, the same behavior returns. At that point, unplugging the device becomes the only reliable solution.
For many, this was the moment HomePod stopped being part of daily life and became something to avoid.
HomePod Touch Controls Suddenly Stop Responding
Another recurring issue reported by HomePod owners involves the touch surface on the top of the speaker becoming completely unresponsive. In these cases, taps, long presses, and volume control simply stop working. The illuminated surface may still appear active, but it no longer reacts to any input.
When this happens, users are unable to pause music, adjust volume, activate Siri, or stop unexpected playback directly from the device. Even more concerning, the touchpad often fails precisely when HomePod is already misbehaving, such as during random volume increases or unwanted music playback.
With no physical buttons available, the only remaining option is to unplug HomePod from power. For a product designed around seamless interaction, losing the ability to control it locally removes a critical layer of safety.
A Pattern Seen Across the Community
These experiences are not isolated. Similar reports appear repeatedly on Reddit, Apple Support Communities, and long-running HomePod discussion threads.
On Reddit’s HomePod community, users describe volume spikes, unexpected playback, and Siri responding to nothing at all. Several posts mention waking up at night to music or radio stations they never selected. Others report HomePods reacting aggressively while watching Apple TV, ignoring the obvious presence of another audio source.
Apple’s own community forums tell a similar story. Posts referencing “random music,” “volume increasing on its own,” and “unusable after update” have grown steadily since iOS 26. Replies often confirm the same behavior across different networks, rooms, and HomePod configurations.
The consistency of these reports suggests a software issue rather than user error or faulty hardware.
A Software Problem With Real Consequences
HomePod hardware remains excellent. Sound quality is still one of its strongest traits, with deep bass, clear mids, and impressive room-filling presence. Spatial audio and stereo pairing still work when the system behaves.
That’s what makes this situation so frustrating. The problem does not feel physical. It feels like logic breaking somewhere between Siri, audio routing, and HomeKit context awareness.
Volume control loops, phantom playback, and ignored context point to software misfires introduced or amplified by recent system updates. When a device is always listening, always connected, and always powered, those mistakes carry real consequences.
Living Without HomePod
Once unplugged, the absence is noticeable. HomePod isn’t just a speaker. It’s background music during work, ambient sound during dinner, audio for late-night TV, and part of a home’s daily rhythm.
For households affected by these issues, HomePods now sit unused, turned into silent objects waiting for an update that restores confidence. iOS 26.1 and 26.2 haven’t resolved the problem in these cases, leaving users stuck between patience and frustration.
Waiting for Trust to Be Restored
The hope remains that a future update will fix what broke. HomePod doesn’t need new features right now. It needs stability, predictability.
Until that happens, many users are choosing caution. The HomePod stays unplugged, not because it lacks value, but to avoid unnecessary stress. And in a product designed to live quietly in the background of a home, trust is everything.
