Apple on Monday seeded the second beta of its HomePod software version 18.1 to developers for testing, but it has since pulled the beta from availability.
MacRumors reports some users complained that after installing the second beta on their HomePod mini the smart speaker went into a non-functioning “bricked” state. A small number of users said they had some success in restoring their HomePod mini using the Apple Configurator app on a Mac.
Apple pulled the beta on Monday evening and the beta is still unavailable as of the time of this article.
This marks the second time in recent history that an Apple update has bricked a device. Earlier this month, we reported that Apple stopped signing the iPadOS 18 update for the M4 iPad Pro, after some users reported that the update bricked their devices. The software is no longer available for download and installation to M4 iPad Pro owners at this time. Apple is working to resolve the issue and has held back the iPadOS 18 update from affected iPad Pro models until a fix is ready.