HomePods are already making their mark in new homes across the country — but not in a good way.
Apple customers started noticing that HomePod can damage wood furniture by leaving a white ring after resting on a table for just a few minutes or days.
It’s unclear exactly what causes HomePod to mark its territory on wooden tables. Some HomePod owners on Twitter report that the ring can form in just 20 minutes. It appears that most of the markings go away after a few days.
#homepod left rings on my wood furniture in less than 20 minutes of use. Thanks #apple I am glad a paid $400 to make perfect etched circles on my more expensive furniture. Guess I can not move it now to cover up the mark. Evil geniuses you are. #applesupport pic.twitter.com/eZng16barS
— Guy San Francisco (@Guyinsf415) February 10, 2018
Apple confirms HomePod white rings
Apple confirmed the problem today in a statement to Wirecutter saying “the marks can improve over several days after the speaker is removed from the wood surface.” Apple also suggested owners “try cleaning the surface with the [table] manufacturer’s suggested oiling method.”
If the white rings don’t disappear, Apple says you can just refinish the furniture. Considering most people’s furniture costs more than the $350 speaker though, that’s not a very satisfactory solution.
Apple also recommends putting the HomePod on a coaster if you’re worried about the speaker damaging your table. We’ve reached out to Apple for more details on what causes the white rings to appear. We also asked what type of tables customers should avoid. We’ll let you know when Cupertino divulges more info.
For a full rundown on all the tips, tricks and hidden features on HomePod, check out Cult of Mac’s ultimate HomePod guide.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
13 responses to “HomePod leaves ugly white rings on wood tables”
I’m guessing it’s heat.
vibration.
I agree. Looks like normal wear and tear on old furniture. But it’s not. It’s accelerated wear from the vibration.
It’s a good warning for people to put something underneath it.
My mother would have a fit if that happened to one of her tables. LOL!
That table needs to be conditioned with linseed oil or something like that on a regular basis anyway and if they aren’t doing that, then they aren’t taking care of their furniture like they should. They should know that’s all that needs to be done. They should also know to use those protective dots that would stick on the bottom of the speaker or whatever you’re putting on the table. My mother had those little dots around all over the place and she would put little sculptures,ceramic bowls, vases on various furniture and she had those little protective dots all over the place. She had stronger double back foam tape to prevent certain things from falling off of shelves as she lost some art sculptures in an earthquake.
No quality control anymore at apple
Speakers should not leave rings, bad design.
iCoasters only $55
well, If people actually knew how to take care of their wood furniture, It probably would be easily rectified with some linseed oil. But obviously, some people don’t know use or know what the proper way to take care of their furniture.
It’s not a quality control issue, it’s a material choice, and it’s what they chose for the purpose.
seriously, you blame people that just dropped a few hundred and not apple ??Wow. Ok fanboi flabbergasted.
good job.
Um, there’s another article on another site that shows that Sonos speakers do the EXACT same thing. For adults that own wood furniture, it’s an automatic given that things can leave marks on it, and there are products you can use to properly treat, condition, etc. And the furniture mfg. should be able to give you that information.
Linseed oil,100%Tung Oil, etc. so call the mfg of the furniture and ask them what to use and then understand that lots of products can leave a ring or something behind.
Blaming Apple for something like this is just silly. Other mfg. products can do the same thing. Just learn what your furniture needs to solve the problem and then get those protective dots and use those on anything you put on your tablet that’s going to sit there for long periods of time, especially speakers that vibrate.
Yeah, I’m blaming the furniture owner, they should be an adult about it, and know how to treat and condition their furniture to solve the problem or prevent it.
My Invoke leaves no marks LOL
Yeah, and it also doesn’t sound very good either. Maybe you aren’t putting it on the same type of wood furniture that others are. Remember, it’s not leaving a mark on ALL wood furniture, only some.
It sounds fine, from what I hear on fanboi podcasts the Homepod is way too loud and does not have low volume control making it useless in many situations. At least my Invoke can play loud and soft so its useful.
The HomePod has a volume control. But most of these guys testing them are testing them at full volume. one test had a bunch of different products all cranked up to full volume.
Now, if you are sitting about 5 feet away, the HomePods went up to 85dB which is total comfortable listening levels and they didn’t hear any distortion and even when tested, there was no measured distortion at full volume. The Google Home Max could play at 96dB, but it was distorted. Some companies set the maximum level before it distorts and some don’t.
But you can adjust either by giving Siri commands to say play at 40% volume or 30% etc. etc. so you can do it via voice or press the +/- buttons on the top.
It all depends. No, it’s not a product for everyone, nor is anyone saying that it is. It’s aimed squarely at those that have Apple Music and are within the Apple eco system. If you aren’t in that, then don’t worry about it.
Damn. You automatically assume that the HomePod is for everyone. But your invoke isn’t for those with Apple Music or the Apple eco-system so it works both ways, so stop trying to act like if you are an Apple user and with Apple Music that your Invoke is going to work because it’s not.
Now, because the HomePod has Airplay, you can route other streaming music services other than Apple Music to the HomePod, it’s just that you can’t control it using Siri within the HomePod. You’d control it from your IOS device or Mac.
So you are misleading people once again, because you say it doesn’t have volume control yet it does. Damn. You really do have a problem understanding how the HP is positioned. NO ONE is suggesting that you have to buy one, not even Apple’s suggesting that.
I guess there’s no quality control at Sonos or Google either as some are saying it also happens to them as well.
Do some research before blabbing on about crap.