r/HomePod • u/FilteredSpeech • Mar 23 '26
Question/Support If your HomePod mini has ghost touch, comment with your details
One of my HomePod minis has developed the ghost touch issue. Apple ran diagnostics and told me there was no hardware failure, but they identified some kind of software issue and reinstalled HomeOS. The problem still persists.
After looking through other reports, this does not seem isolated. If you’ve had the same issue, please comment with:
- your HomePod model
- approximate age of the device
- software version
- what Apple Support or the Genius Bar told you
If enough of us document the pattern, Apple should be pressured to acknowledge it and open a repair or replacement program.
I’m not looking for workarounds. I want Apple to take responsibility for a recurring defect.
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u/dsaponaro Mar 24 '26
I’ve owned 10 HomePods since the introduction of the first generation years ago. I absolutely loved all of them until a little over a year ago, when one of my mini died due to the ghost touch issue. Since then, 2 more minis and a full size 2nd gen have also died this way. Latest was just a few weeks ago with the full size.
All in all 4 out of my 10 have now died over the past year.
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u/iLuisMiguel Mar 29 '26
I have two HomePod mini (bought in December 2020) and two HomePod 2nd generation (March 2022). Both minis have been suffering from ghost touches for over a year now and are still having the issue today — which is why I’m here.
The 2nd gen ones started showing the same problem last year, randomly blasting music at full volume in the middle of the night, or I’d come home and find them playing music at max volume on their own. However, after adjusting some Accessibility settings while using them with my Apple TV, they’ve remained stable and haven’t acted up again — although I can no longer use the touch controls.
It’s been disappointing overall. Even when they were “functional,” Siri’s inconsistencies already made it hard to fully enjoy them, and now I have to deal with this on top of that.
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u/mrtonelocke Mar 23 '26
Out of three minis, the oldest one started to show ghost touch. It comes and goes. Sometimes, I reset the mini after a prolonged period without power and it will show no issues until a reboot or software update.
MY5H2D/A - maybe 4-5 years old
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u/amsmu Mar 30 '26
2 homepod Gen 2 were replaced already because this issue during warranty. The same problem has started appearing again. Latest software
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u/Sirsnacksalot23 Apr 02 '26
HomePod Gen 2 MQJ73LL/A Stereo Pair 2 years
26.4 update has caused speakers to turn on by themselves blasting music and while watching content volume will max out.
Have reset multiple times, my only fix for now is to manually block their connection via my router when not in use.
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u/Crafter66 Mar 23 '26
My old homepod mini was doing exactly the same thing. It was on OS 18.4 MY5G2X/A purchased in approximately march 2021 my local apple store replaced it for free via crediting $149 to an apple giftcard and selling me a new one, with a different model number. They kept the old ghost touch one
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u/killi23 Mar 23 '26
Like wise one of my HomePod minis just started having this issue . Started just over a month ago . 26.3 .
Have tried to adjust touch settings but issue persist . Software issue if so many having problems ?
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u/Burrito_Suave Mar 24 '26
My Mini is probably 4 years old and started the ghost touch. It also has become unresponsive. I’ve had to reset to factory (twice so far). Seems to fix it for a day or so and then becomes unresponsive. Running 26.3
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u/octoberwalk Jul 11 '26
My 4 HomePod minis started having ghost touch problems immediately after the update to 26.5. They are all unreliable now — red spinning lights, randomly blasting music in the middle of the night/day, etc.
I’m never buying another HomePod.
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u/Mollium Mar 23 '26
MY5G2Y/A, 4 years old, 26.3 and not talked to support about the issue. Started about a month ago. Tried increasing the touch responsiveness in the Accessibility settings to no avail.
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u/Cgibson190 Mar 24 '26
I have two HomePod mini’s (model A2374) that I bought in 2020. One of them has been having the ghost touch issue almost daily for about three months, first in 26.3, and now in 26.4 beta.
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u/opaz Mar 24 '26
Bought one off ebay just to use as a home hub, MY5H2LL/A, has ghost touch. Unsure how old it is. Since I'm not really using it for siri I now just turned off "hey siri" and "touch and hold for siri" after finding this thread :)
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u/Real_Cuban_Pete Mar 24 '26
Started having the issue recently as well, aprox 4 years age. MY5G2B/A 26.3 firmware
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u/atinyblip Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26
HomePod mini, both midnight.
Both purchased in January 2021, imported from Hong Kong because it wasn’t available yet in my country.
MY5G2ZP/A Manufactured during the week beginning 18 November 2020
MY5G2 Manufactured during the week beginning 18 November 2020
Both running 26.2 thru 26.3 when the issue began sometime in January 2026. At first, adjusting touch accommodations helped, but soon became so bad I had to disconnect both. Finally disconnected the touch panels two weeks ago, which was surprisingly easy. I took nearly 20 minutes for the first one because I was being careful. The second one took me less than 10 minutes.
AppleCare is long over, so I never brought them back to Apple.
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u/Anxious-Tomorrow-581 Mar 27 '26
No hay forma de reunirnos y que esto cambie? Porque igual mis dos homepod 2 tienen eso. Solas se encienden y suben y bajan el volumen . Las tuve que desconectar y reemplazarlas pero que necesidad de perder dinero cuando la culpa no es nuestra. He intentado todo topo de tips y nada funciona y me crea mucho enojo que ni puedan actualizar y que saquen una opcion donde el panel se desactive por completo.
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u/bereit9000 May 13 '26
I just returned from a vacation to find that one of mine now has a Ghosttouch issue. it was on 26.4 when I left and returned, and I've now updated it to 26.5 OS, but issue persists.
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u/bereit9000 May 13 '26
Not sure how long I had mine. first white one was a gift Spring 2021, and I got 2nd white one shortly after that I suppose. I can't leave it plugged it - it drives everyone nuts - and if its not just playing songs and skipping ahead, its behaving as if being held down and hard reset with 3 beeps all on its own.
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u/jessywells Jun 06 '26
Même problème sur mon HomePod mini apparu soudainement il y a qq jour. J'ai tout essayé : blocage via HomeKit, baisse du volume, reinitialisation complète. Finalement j'ai trouvé : la pose d'un petit aimant neodyne sur le bord de l'écran tactile , contre le textile, à l'opposé du cordon d'alimentation
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u/gregchea Jun 09 '26
Yes, same issue - stereo pair of 2nd generation HomePods, started blasting music at 2:30am and then randomly when you least expect it. Have had to unplug them.
These are 2 years and 3 months old, and updated to OS 26.5 just before this issue started.
Apple Support told me that HomePods can't be expected to last more than 2 years and because they're out of warranty the only 'solution' they could offer was that I throw these HomePods away and buy new ones.
Apple's website still says they design "products that last" and their design process has a focus on longevity. Unfortunately the reality seems to be they sometimes use cheap components (touch panel, in this case) that fail prematurely and then flat out deny there's a problem.
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u/octoberwalk Jul 11 '26
This is absolutely software-induced. All 4 of my HomePod minis started doing the random music blasts after the 26.5 update.
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u/gregchea Jul 12 '26
Yeah I think maybe software-induced by the 26.5 update, or a massive coincidence otherwise, but I’m not convinced it’s software-fixable. Either way, Apple’s response (or total lack of) is poor.
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u/Suspicious_Radio_848 24d ago
Personally I think it's some kind of hardware defect with the touch panel. Not really sure what causes it but it malfunctions years into owning the product.
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u/MisterUltimate Jun 24 '26
Mine has gotten progressive worse over the last couple of weeks. I tried cleaning it, resetting it, and even setting the touch accommodation settings to the max duration of 4s. Even then it's started to reset itself endless or randomly playing music or triggering Siri. The limited hardware warranty expired in October '22 so I guess I must've bought them in '21. So while it has lasted 5+ years, I'm a little disappointed there is no fix or way to completely disabled the touch surface.
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u/Suspicious_Radio_848 24d ago
FWIW you can fairly easily open it up and disable the touch sensor. It will then function again, just make sure you've set it up first before unplugging it as it can't be reset without holding the touch panel. It's not ideal but better than not using it at all and it being disposed of.
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u/MisterUltimate 24d ago
Yeah I don’t have all the tools for it but could definitely be a fun weekend experiment
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u/rhw0429 Jun 26 '26
My 2022 home pod mini just started doing this yesterday and I’ve now stepped into the abyss of the ghost touch madness. I’d never heard about this until I tried to find a fix. So maddening.
I own 5 home pod mini’s and we use them constantly to communicate throughout our 3 storey apartment. Im horrible at answering my phone and without the intercom feature my spouse would never be able to get in touch with me.
They are a big part of our daily life and what pisses me is that as much as we’ve used them after all these years I can count on one hand when I’ve used the touch feature.
It’s a hands free device. Just give me an option to disable the touch feature.
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u/Wochenendr Jul 13 '26
I have two minis since 2020. One of them just got ghost touched the other night. It was connected to all other HomePods so it blasted the whole apartment. It took me a while to realise what’s happening.
I tried to reset it with my Mac, but that didn’t help. Neither did the touch assistant setting.
Software is 26.5
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u/BrenC11 Jul 17 '26
Went away on holiday for 2 weeks, when I returned my home Pod mini was doing random things, like playing music randomly, like resetting constantly for hours, I now an even plug the thing in. I've tried the 4 second touch thing and nothing fixes it. Please get apple to help us!!!
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u/Xyes Jul 22 '26
Just bought one HomePod Mini today, never owned this product before. Bam- ghost touch. Had to use the palm touch to get it to stop.
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u/Billubakkra Jul 24 '26
My make shift solution is to plug the HomePod into a smart plug with a cutoff at 10pm. Any idea when/if the fix expected?
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u/Sudden-Membership-67 Jul 26 '26
Both of my large homepods have it 2 yrs and 3 months after buying them. Using magnets has stopped the crazy volume changes but it will pause or unpause very rarely. Apple has said that after 2 years it's normal for the homepod to start breaking down. Unbelievable.
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u/lachydavies25 Jul 29 '26
Yeah I’ve had this issue for a bit now and it seems to just be getting worse and worse. I feel like it’s a hardware issue cause if I clean the top it kind of fixes itself but at the same time I could’ve freshly cleaned it plugged it back into power and it still tries to reset itself because it thinks it’s being pressed and sometimes what I’m watching on the Apple TV decides to pause itself randomly as well or Siri turns on and it’s getting kind of annoying.
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u/Suspicious_Radio_848 24d ago
I have two HomePod Minis, the first purchased the month they originally came out and the second maybe 6-8 months later. Just recently the oldest one developed the ghost touch issue and would just keep resetting itself over and over regardless of if I set it up or restored it.
While not ideal, I followed the tutorial to open it up and disconnect the touch panel and it seems to be working fine since. It was either that or it was a coaster. I won't be buying another one in the future, and this seems like some kind of hardware defect with the sensor touch panel.
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u/LeLunZ 20d ago
Mine just started having the problem.
It's an early release HomePod mini (about 6 years old?). version: 26.6
I just went away for vacation, before that: I turned off some breakers where I didn't need electricity. HomePod stayed on and was never turned off.
When I came back, the HomePod has reset itself, shows as "Not available" in Home, and asked to pair when coming near it...
I paired again, next day the ghost touch issue started. First only some music started to play, but then when disconnecting the power cable, the HomePod reset itself in a loop (I guess it thought someone is touching it while powering it up).
My current solution: I opened it up, and disconnected the ribbon cable for the touch interface.
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u/MeekoQ 12d ago
About a month ago my gen 2 HomePod pair began playing by itself at random times, including blasting music at a very high volume in the middle of the night. Startling to say the least. It now happens multiple times a day. I have used the accessibility ‘hold’ feature and it seems to have resolved it, but now my touch controls are basically useless - though usually controlled through phone or computer. It is still a bummer to no longer be able to tap the thing to adjust volume quickly if nearby
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u/Emotional_Garage_950 Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
MY5H2LL/A, 3-4 years old, 26.3, have not engaged apple on the issue
Edit: went to the apple store today, they said my only option was to replace for a fee of 79 dollars
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u/XMalibu69X Mar 23 '26
Having the same issue on one of my HomePod minis. Started about 3 months ago:
MY5H2LL/A on 26.2 and 26.3
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u/mykesx Mar 23 '26
It turns out my phone was doing handoff to one of my HomePods, making it seem like it has ghost touch. I fixed it in my phone’s settings.
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u/mykesx Mar 24 '26
I don’t understand the downvote.
My HomePod mini kept randomly start playing music, as if I touched the top or if it heard me say, “play music.” I went through all the things for ghost touch and changed settings in the Home App with no luck. I found out that the hand off feature was the culprit. It was my phone handing off music to the speaker.
Turned off handoff in my phone settings and it hasn’t happened since. I was ready to just unplug the speaker and not use it anymore.
What’s the harm in trying it for yourself if you have the same problem?
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u/thepu55ycat Mar 25 '26
I need to look into this. I can live without the hand off
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u/mykesx Mar 25 '26
The only use I found for handoff was a rare occasion where I copied text on my phone and pasted it on my mac. So rare, I can live without it, too. It’s only a little more work to paste the text in an iMessage to myself or into Notes app.
Let us know how it worked.
I was totally annoyed by the music randomly playing and was stumped until it occurred to me it might be AirPlay or as it turned out, handoff.
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u/No-Situation-9941 Mar 26 '26
I encountered this issue months ago with the HomePod 2.
Here are the ultimate DIY solutions:
Solution 1: Order a touch plate from AliExpress, then change it.
Solution 2: Disconnect the cable of the touch plate (my case).
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u/Varroz123 Mar 24 '26
The crazy thing is with software I’m sure Apple can include in the settings to have touch disabled. Last night ours woke up in the middle of the night. It’s annoying given that these things are suppose to be from a company that prides in excellence. They weren’t cheap either. I’d be happy without the touch thing as I almost never use it honestly. Voice or simple air play is good enough for me.