Oliver Haslam·

iOS 12 Beta 2 Shows AirPlay 2 Update For AirPort Express In Home App

When Apple released iOS 12 beta 1 a couple of weeks ago it was noted that Apple’s AirPort Express, which was recently discontinued, showed up in the Home app.

Although it could not be added as a peripheral via the usual setup process, the very fact that it appeared at all suggested that there may be more to this than a simply bug.

Now, with iOS 12 beta 2 in the hands of developers around the globe it seems things have moved on somewhat, although AirPort Express devices can still not quite be configured.

As users with iOS 12 beta 2 installed have begun to note, the AirPort Express continues to appear in the Home app, but now the app suggests that a new update needs to be applied to the device. However, there is no update actually available for download and the setup then fails as it did before.

The last time the AirPort Express received an update, was back in December of 2017, and Apple’s AirPlay 2 was not available at that time. The appearance of the AirPort Express in the Home app does however now suggest that we could be in for added AirPlay 2 support at some point in the future, giving owners of such devices an easy and relatively cheap way to get AirPlay 2 into their homes by adding speakers.

Of course, it’s also possible that the AirPort Express will simply disappear from the Home app in a future iOS 12 beta or even the final release, but we’ll just have to hope that doesn’t happen for now.

This is now the third time that AirPort Express devices have appeared in the Home app after it was also in, and then removed from iOS 11.3 betas before its official release to the public.

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