Apple pulls HomePod 18.1 beta after reports of it crashing

Hours after releasing the latest round of developer betas, Apple has reportedly rolled back HomePod 18.1 software. As reported in Apple Insider forums, the update was causing some devices to crash.

“Two HomePod minis broke after trying to install 18.1 beta 5 software,” wrote user Jeromec on Apple Insider forums. “They can’t be restored – the light goes white, then red, then goes away instead of continuing with 3 beeps – they don’t even show up as USB devices in System Info on my Mac.”

The same user later reported the update, saying that he managed to use Apple Configurator to revert his HomePod mini to version 18.0.

As usual, Apple did not announce that it was withdrawing the update. The news was first spotted by MacRumors.

This update pull comes just a week after Apple similarly pulled iPadOS 18 updates from select iPads. Specifically, the latest update was causing iPads with the M4 processor to break down.

Apple has not commented on the iPad or HomePod issues. There is no word on when updates with fixes will be released, nor is it clear whether the issue is specific to the HomePod mini or the larger HomePod as well.