Airfoil, the Mac app that sends audio to AirPlay speakers, can no longer play through an Apple TV or HomePod once that device installs its 27 update, according to developer Rogue Amoeba. Its status page puts the fault with Apple: “Apple’s tvOS 27 and HomePod OS 27 updates contain a bug which breaks the ability of Apple TVs and HomePods to play AirPlay streams sent by Airfoil.”
The warning sits at the top of Airfoil’s entry on that page, last updated September 14, the day Apple released tvOS 27 for Apple TV 4K. Apple has not acknowledged the problem on any release note or support page.
What Rogue Amoeba says broke
In a support article, the developer narrows the fault to “a bug which prevents AirPlay 1 connections from working correctly.” Apple TVs and HomePods on the new software, it says, “will fail to play audio streams sent by Airfoil.”
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
Rogue Amoeba says it has “done all we can to get things working, without success,” and that “the bug here is on Apple’s end.” It has filed the issue with Apple as Feedback report FB24452968 and asks affected users to file their own reports for Apple TV and HomePod, quoting that number. Apple’s feedback page at apple.com/feedback takes reports for both.
The company saw this coming. A blog post dated September 10 warned that Apple’s “forthcoming” updates carried the bug, four days before they shipped. The Mac itself isn’t the problem: Rogue Amoeba lists the current Airfoil release as fully compatible with macOS 27 Golden Gate. The failure is on the receiving end.
Which Apple TVs and HomePods are affected
Only devices that have installed the 27 software. Apple’s Apple TV user guide says tvOS 27 supports the Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) and Apple TV 4K (3rd generation), and that “previous models of Apple TV are no longer software-supported.” An Apple TV HD or first-generation Apple TV 4K can’t install tvOS 27, so by the developer’s account it is not affected.
HomePod is murkier. Rogue Amoeba names a HomePod OS 27 update, but Apple’s HomePod release notes page still ends at HomePod Software Version 26.6, published July 30. To see what a speaker is running, open the Home app, choose the More button, then Home Settings and Software Update. Apple says that screen shows the installed HomePod software.
The developer’s advice: turn off automatic updates
Rogue Amoeba says an Apple TV or HomePod that hasn’t updated yet “will continue to play streams from Airfoil just fine,” and suggests owners who want to keep it that way stop the device from updating. Its steps for Apple TV:
- Open Settings on the Apple TV.
- Go to System, then Software Updates.
- Set Automatically Update to Off.
The developer says to repeat this on every Apple TV. The path matches Apple’s own guide, which uses the same Automatically Update switch. For HomePod, Rogue Amoeba’s steps run through the Home app on an iPhone, iPad or Mac:
- Open the Home app.
- Tap or click the More button (three dots) in the Home tab, then choose Home Settings.
- Tap or click Software Update.
- Under Automatic Updates, turn off the switch next to HomePod.
According to Rogue Amoeba, that one switch covers every HomePod in the home. Apple notes that HomePod and HomePod mini install updates automatically by default, so a speaker left alone installs whatever update Apple ships next.
Weigh the trade-off before following that advice. Holding back an update also holds back its security fixes, and Apple’s tvOS 27 security page lists fixes for 89 CVEs. If you do pause updates, turn them back on once a fix ships.
If a device has already updated
There is no way back. Apple’s security releases page says that once a tvOS update is installed, “it cannot be downgraded to the previous version.” Rogue Amoeba says Airfoil will send to Apple TVs and HomePods “as before” once Apple corrects the bug, and adds that there is “no guarantee on if or when” that happens. Its support article also points to SoundSource, another of its own apps, which it says streams through a different system built into macOS and avoids the bug.
For now, the step within an owner’s control is the one Rogue Amoeba asks for: report the problem to Apple and cite FB24452968.
