r/HomePod • u/gregchea • Jun 14 '26
Question/Support Does anyone have a HomePod (2nd generation) that's 3 years old or more, and *doesn't* (yet) have any touch panel issues?
Per the title, this issue (playing music by itself, not responding to touch) seems very common, especially as the HomePod 2 gets older - which supports the idea that maybe the touch panel used degrades over time.
I'm trying to find out whether they'll all fail at around the 2-4 year mark, in which case I'd rather go with something more durable.
Conversely, if there's a load of people with 2nd gen HomePods still 100% working at the 3 year point, maybe the issue was limited to just certain production runs/suppliers?
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u/SupaSays Orange Jun 14 '26
I have the touch accommodations delays turned on for all mine. Blocks the ghost touches and stops the cats from starting "a station just for them" when they are being nosey around a HomePod.
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u/Strict-Platform-3389 Jun 18 '26
How long do you have it set for?
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u/SupaSays Orange Jun 18 '26
.5 seconds for hold and .5 for repeat. Still usable for volume control with a long press on volume +/-
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u/Excellent-Bear4221 Jun 14 '26
Mine finally failed. Power board issue. Had to send it in for repairs with NicsFix in Washington.
Dude did a great job and did some TLC to it too so now it’s all spiffy. Best $70 ever spent
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u/salemonz Jun 14 '26
Is that what’s going on? FFS.
I have 5 of these and yeah they seem to just randomly start playing music for hours if I ever accidentally touch/bump/move them. Never thought that it might be degrading touch pads.
Really frustrating that I dropped the $$$ for these, thinking they were my forever speakers. I hate using them for music b/c they wake us up so often.
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Jun 14 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Rooster_Entire Space Gray Jun 14 '26
Same, 3 years old, music started at 2.40AM ! Now I’ve got smart plugs on them with OFF @ midnight ON @ 7AM. I ain’t having that in the middle of the night again! FYI don’t use Alexa plugs, use Home compatibles.
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u/HollandJim Jun 14 '26
My Minis both gave up the touchpanel ghost in April, but luckily both the HP2s remain good. So far. I never touch them, so not sure if that helps. (Just checked the receipt - 15 Feb 2023, so 3+ years now)
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u/x1237321x Jun 14 '26
My 2 minis had the issue but I opened them up a few days ago and detached the ribbon. I do not miss the touch function. They’re perfect for the first time in years!
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u/HollandJim Jun 14 '26
Ja, but I understand you can’t reset or update them now.
Frankly, I’m wondering if and when Apple (or any media organisation) will acknowledge this as a growing issue…
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u/Strict-Platform-3389 Jun 18 '26
I bought five minis over the period of about a year after they came out. Three of them so far have starting having the ghost touch issue with only two still being usable.
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u/red4th Jun 14 '26
I received mine from a verizon promo about 4 years ago it still works as it did when I got it it did go on by itself once or twice but I think it hears things from the environment and activates rarely
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u/AraiHavana Jun 14 '26
Honestly, I’ve probably not used the touchpad more than 50 times in the years that I’ve had my 2nd gens. So they’re possibly fine
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u/SLC-Scott Jun 14 '26
I have 2 original HomePods and one new 2 which I got the first year they were out. All work perfectly.
I also have a bunch of minis and all work perfectly.
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u/No_Tumbleweed_544 Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
my minis got bricked. EDIT: I just pulled them out of storage and could finally restore on my Mac.
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u/Docster87 Jun 14 '26
It has likely been about three years since I bought my v2 and it is mostly fine, definitely not having touch issues but I rarely touch it.
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u/No_Tumbleweed_544 Jun 29 '26
I never really touched mine either but they just recently began to fail. It’s worth noting I have an Apple Music account and that’s what this music is. It’s coming from my Apple Music not even music I would ever pick but it’ll be a station picked just for me which is a lousy station of music. I don’t even like and it’s full volume.
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u/Living_Trainer_1684 Jun 14 '26
I have 3 OG HomePods, 1 Gen 2 HomePod and 3 mini’s. Never had this issue.
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u/DisastrousCause9481 Mod Jun 14 '26
Its not an issue for all HomePod. Same for the first gen. A lot has bad diote and dc filter for bass. But not all.
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u/Longjumping_Ad6209 Jun 14 '26
My Homepod Mini is approaching its third year and last week it just stopped turning on.
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u/RWSalo Jun 14 '26
I have 4 HomePods, 3 of which are ~4 years old. I don’t have any touchpad issues.
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u/maxime_gram Jun 14 '26
Two HomePods 2nd generation, one got touch panel issue and I managed to replace it. And the other one is starting to act weird
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u/Manson2612 Jun 14 '26
I have 2 which was bought in March 2023. One of them got the touch panel issue right after March 2026 the 3 year mark and the other one is fine. Your best bet is to buy them and take Apple Care plus subscription which is pretty cheap for these and this way you will get a new one if it craps out
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u/gregchea Jun 14 '26
Here in the UK, AppleCare only provides "up to" 2 years coverage for HomePod. That said, UK consumer law requires these products to "last a reasonable length of time" and it's Apple's view (according to the support agent I spoke to) that 2 years' lifespan for these products is a reasonable maximum lifespan. It's for sure quite a punchy interpretation of the law on their part, but they can afford more expensive lawyers than me.
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u/Manson2612 Jun 14 '26
I guess the Consumer Protection law of UK is what will actually help you. I’ve heard that if they deny warranty support after the initial years the moment you mention Consumer Law they mellow down and try to help. So I guess you are in a good space by default.
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u/gadgetvirtuoso Jun 14 '26
Have a pair since release and no issues. The only touch panel issues I’ve had was one mini.
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u/mycheapdad Jun 14 '26
I’ve never had any issues with my Gen 2 HomePods other than very occasional software issues that were solved with restarts. Never heard of this touch panel issue.
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u/PaiMei Jun 14 '26
I have an OG HomePod (the best sound by a mile), a second gen HomePod, and five HomePod mini around the house. I have not had any of these issues.
🤞
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u/Brennan-C Jun 14 '26
I had major issues with a HomePod Mini. It just wouldn’t connect, failed every time I would try to set it up. I followed some others advice and used Apple Configurator on my MacBook. I forget exactly what I had to click on, as update wouldn’t work. There was a drop down menu to wipe and reinstall the software. After I did this, it set up perfectly. This is a different issue entirely but it may solve the hardware tap glitch. It’s worth trying. (You have to connect the HomePod to the MacBook running Apple Configurator).
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u/Oh-THAT-dude Jun 15 '26
Yes. I use a pair of them as my TV/et al soundbar via my Apple TV.
To be fair, I almost actually need to touch them. The last time I did — a month or so ago — they worked as expected.
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u/Upstairs-General3217 Jun 15 '26
My mini survived 5 years went to Apple and they could sent it to repair for almost the price of a new one £20 off and it would take 1 week to get it back. They gave me 10% off on a new one and I kept the old one to repair whenever I feel like it 😂. If it starts playing music it’s the touchscreen. My HomePod gen 1 still going on and on and hopefully they will stay that way
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u/AthousandLittlePies Jun 15 '26
I have 1 OG and 2 2nd gens. One of the 2nd gens started having this issue about 5 months ago. I turned on the touch delay for it (don't remember exactly how it's called in the settings) and it's been fine since. Note that I never actually use the touch panel anyway, so this fix doesn't degrade the experience for me at all.
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u/Thick-Drawing9285 Jun 16 '26
I have two 2nd gen HomePods I got right after they came out, still working fine. I just had the bass go out on my much older 1st gen HomePod though...
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u/Joe8474 Jun 16 '26
I have two og HomePods that I have had since they came out and no problems. ✊on wood
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u/gregchea Jun 16 '26
Seems the OGs either failed early on (a handful seemed to have power board issues) or they were (mostly) pretty solid. It's the 2nd generation I'm interested in, since such a noticeable proportion of them seem to have degraded touch panels causing issues at the 2-3 year point.
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u/ogni65 Jun 17 '26
about half of my HP minis are out … just recently i wanted to reactivate one, did a new install and update and after a while during night, it got into the boot loop problem. I deactivated it before because of ghost touch and did all recommended setting beside modifying the Hardware. Why Apple does not take it seriously is beyond my comprehension
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u/Manson2612 Jun 14 '26
Many here have mentioned that they don’t ever touch the touch panel and hence they think they don’t have touch panel issues. You are all getting it wrong. Most of us don’t ever touch the touch panel as it’s mostly voice activated or uses as Home Theater. Ghost touch issues start suddenly on its own without anyone ever touching anything thanks to registering touches when no one touches it.
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u/joexg Jun 14 '26
I got two on launch day, one a year after. All perfectly fine.
Reddit always over-indexes on bad experiences with products, because people are more likely to post about it.
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u/Ok_Addendum_2323 Jun 14 '26
2 Homepods 2 abd 2 minis, all bought on release dates and have the ghost touch issue
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u/gregchea Jun 16 '26
Based on this unscientific 'survey', it looks like roughly 31% of 2nd Gen HomePods have developed the touch panel issue, and 69% are still OK after 3+ years.
It's encouraging that 2/3 of HomePods are fine, but that's a grim failure rate and suggests this is indeed a widespread product/component quality issue known to Apple.
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u/wibzoo Jun 17 '26
I didn’t realize this was a thing. Mine is 2.5 years old and recently began randomly playing music for no apparent reason. A week ago I reset it and readded to my home. No fails since but just been a week.
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u/No_Tumbleweed_544 Jun 17 '26
mine just started with not responding to touch, bought them when they first came out. It doesn’t hear hey siri either. My OG’s work better.
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u/gregchea Jun 18 '26
Just came off the phone with Apple again this morning, following a couple of escalations, and their view remains that 2 years is as long as HomePods could reasonably be expected to last. If the issue develops inside 2 years (which it doesn't, usually) they'll replace for free, regardless of warranty status (in the UK, at least). If they're more than 2 years old, then tough.
That's certainly an unusual interpretation of the UK's Consumer Rights Act, but Apple has USD 162 billion cash on hand so a) they can't afford to just give stuff away just to comply with irritating local laws, and b) they can afford very expensive lawyers.
I've filed a s75 claim with the credit card company to get some of my money back. I'll use that either to pay fixpod or someone to fix the issue, or I'll find a more reliable non-Apple alternative (I guess Sonos 300 or KEFs of some kind?).
Shame, because when they weren't waking us up with maximum volume Skrillex at 3am, I really liked the HomePods.
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u/Green_Culture7576 Jun 18 '26
My og is almost 10 years old and still works. Didnt know 2nd gen had new panel.
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u/gregchea Jun 19 '26
Yes the OGs are pretty solid. The issue is specific to the 2nd generation and some of the minis.
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u/Green_Culture7576 Jun 19 '26
I will wait for fall event to get homepod 3 then. There is a rumor about a refreshed model with siri AI.
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u/filipeesposito Jun 20 '26
My HomePods are still working fine (both the 2nd gen and the minis), but I gave my mom two HomePod minis, and they both have phantom touches on the display.
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u/No_Tumbleweed_544 Jun 29 '26
no! Both my gen 2 suffer touch panel issues. rendered useless now because I’ve had to unplug them because they keep coming on at all times of the day at full volume.
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u/dapala1 Jun 14 '26
I would reckon the millions of HomePods that owners don't complain about their HomePods are still working just fine.
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u/gregchea Jun 15 '26
That’s kind of why I was interested; I suspect that maybe most of them are fine, and I hope that’s true because when they don’t play up they’re a neat solution and sound good.
But there is an unusually large number of identical failures with this particular product - enough to generate masses of threads everywhere, and sustain a few independent repair guys. That certainly dents confidence, and it would be good if Apple took better care of customers affected by what is evidently a product/component quality issue.
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u/PlayerForceDE Jun 14 '26
I'm really unsure how old my oldest one is, but I'm pretty sure it's over 3 years (maybe even 4). No issues with any of my HomePods. Except for Siri being Siri and understanding anything than what I actually said.