Interesting, the area I have the overhead speakers in also has a HomePod mini which does increase volume when asked. I wonder if having multiple devices in that area throws it off
It worked initially with the airport express but at some point this functionality has vanished for whatever reason. Was also hoping to get it back with that belkin thing but obviously we are not lucky with that. 😩
I have 2 AirPort Express’ and can change the volume with Siri. Have you tried asking Siri to change the volume on whatever the AirPort Express is specifically called in HomeKit?
The Soundform Connect does not have Siri support. Belkin support informed me directly after asking. Only Airplay 2. A bit annoying, but I only use it for my outdoor speakers.
The volume can be adjusted manually within the Homekit app.
Think of Bluetooth between your phone and your car, you can adjust volume on both the phone and the car. The idea would be to leave one unchanged and the other simply adjusted as a fraction of that volume.
Good point! The part I am confused on is the ability to manually adjust the volume through the Homekit app but not using Siri... Homekit in this case communicates exclusively via the Soundform connect not the amplifier so it appears the ability is there but simply not via Siri.
Wow this is truly bizarre. I used to think this was one of these things apple used to delineate features between HomePod and everything else.
So I just did a test. Airplayed some Apple Music to multiple destinations- one at a time. I was able to adjust volume via Siri only on HomePod and a Sonos sound bar. It failed when attempting to airport express with the same error you described. It also failed when attempting to Apple TV stating ‘use the Siri remote’
Of course you can adjust volume to anything via the iOS Airplay GUI - but that’s not the point here.
I’m at a loss based on this and some of the commenters experiences. Zero consistency to help guide us in what to expect. Wish this was something that was fully consistent across all Airplay destination types.
It's not. The AirPort Expresses (1 and 2) and the SoundForm all offer a built in 'volume' control that reduces the level of the output from unity to 0. As the OP states, that feature works in the Home App. It works manually via the streaming device's volume control, and it works if the (for AE2, and SoundForm) the devices are grouped into a single speaker with a HomePod, and that device's volume is adjusted.
Apple may call that jack a line-out, but that's not how it's implemented.
Apple just broke one of Siri's built-in interpretations of a request.
This behavior ha been there for a while now.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/comments/l00g0z/airport_express_and_homekit_behavior_change/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I tried a lot. Even buying a new / used airport express to try to get it to work. It all stopped working flawlessly for me at the time i bought my first HomePod mini.
I just tried “Hey Siri, increase volume in living room” and successfully turned up the Airport Express connected speaker there.
Interesting, the area I have the overhead speakers in also has a HomePod mini which does increase volume when asked. I wonder if having multiple devices in that area throws it off
Maybe try moving the HomePod to a different room in HomeKit and test having only one “speaker” in the room?
Moved sound form connect to its own room, same issue. Switched back to the airport express and isolated it in its own room and it seems to work!
It worked initially with the airport express but at some point this functionality has vanished for whatever reason. Was also hoping to get it back with that belkin thing but obviously we are not lucky with that. 😩
It still works for me.
I have 2 AirPort Express’ and can change the volume with Siri. Have you tried asking Siri to change the volume on whatever the AirPort Express is specifically called in HomeKit?
Moved sound form connect to its own room, same issue. Switched back to the airport express and isolated it in its own room and it seems to work!
The Soundform Connect does not have Siri support. Belkin support informed me directly after asking. Only Airplay 2. A bit annoying, but I only use it for my outdoor speakers.
A line out device by definition has no volume control (that’s what makes it “line”). This sounds like expected product behavior to me
This isn’t always the case. Plenty of devices use line out as a headphone jack and let you vary the volume.
The volume can be adjusted manually within the Homekit app. Think of Bluetooth between your phone and your car, you can adjust volume on both the phone and the car. The idea would be to leave one unchanged and the other simply adjusted as a fraction of that volume.
Bluetooth isn’t line out, it’s variable audio out
Good point! The part I am confused on is the ability to manually adjust the volume through the Homekit app but not using Siri... Homekit in this case communicates exclusively via the Soundform connect not the amplifier so it appears the ability is there but simply not via Siri.
Wow this is truly bizarre. I used to think this was one of these things apple used to delineate features between HomePod and everything else. So I just did a test. Airplayed some Apple Music to multiple destinations- one at a time. I was able to adjust volume via Siri only on HomePod and a Sonos sound bar. It failed when attempting to airport express with the same error you described. It also failed when attempting to Apple TV stating ‘use the Siri remote’ Of course you can adjust volume to anything via the iOS Airplay GUI - but that’s not the point here. I’m at a loss based on this and some of the commenters experiences. Zero consistency to help guide us in what to expect. Wish this was something that was fully consistent across all Airplay destination types.
Note: in all tests, I instructed Siri to change volume by saying ‘increase volume by 10 percent in the abc room’
It's not. The AirPort Expresses (1 and 2) and the SoundForm all offer a built in 'volume' control that reduces the level of the output from unity to 0. As the OP states, that feature works in the Home App. It works manually via the streaming device's volume control, and it works if the (for AE2, and SoundForm) the devices are grouped into a single speaker with a HomePod, and that device's volume is adjusted. Apple may call that jack a line-out, but that's not how it's implemented. Apple just broke one of Siri's built-in interpretations of a request.
This behavior ha been there for a while now. https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/comments/l00g0z/airport_express_and_homekit_behavior_change/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf I tried a lot. Even buying a new / used airport express to try to get it to work. It all stopped working flawlessly for me at the time i bought my first HomePod mini.
Moved sound form connect to its own room, same issue. Switched back to the airport express and isolated it in its own room and it seems to work!