AirPlay to HomePods not working with Smart Connect

[aellsworth]

I’ve had this router for a year now. For the first four months it worked great, but the last 8 months I haven’t been able to use the Smart Connect feature. When enabled I’m unable to AirPlay my music and podcasts to my HomePods. From what I can tell, it looks like HomePods / Apple TV’s on the same band appear on my phone. Had anyone else had this issues? Is there any solution other than turning off Smart Connect and having everything on 2.4GHz?

[Christian_R]

Hello aellsworth, 

I would check to see if your RAX80 is due for a firmware update. 

Christian 

[aellsworth]

Hi Christian,

Thanks for the suggestion, but I check and apply updates every week.

[Christian_R]

Hello aellsworth, 

May you provide me wit the current firmware version number your router is on.

Thanks,

Christian 

[aellsworth]

V1.0.3.106_1.0.50

[mixmaven]

Same issue, broke Apple HomeKit as well (again).  Engineers seem to break homekit about every other release!     V1.0.3.106_1.0.50

[ik8sqi]

See my post from last year - Netgear broke HomeKit from their 1.0.3.88 firmware and up. None of the newer versions are able to work with HomeKit when SmartConnect is enabled:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-Routers-with-WiFi-6-AX/RAX75-1-0-3-88-firmware-broke-Home... 

If you're willing to sacrifice the security updates, you can downgrade to firmware v1.0.2.76 which is the last version I found able to work with HomeKit/SmartConnect.

[frenchcamp49er]

Have you tried disabling 'Smart Connect"?

[mixmaven]

Yes, smart connect and OFDMA is disabled.   It was a firmware issue. 

[frenchcamp49er]

Are your Homekit smart devices still working?