A short while ago (a couple of weeks?), the B&O app on my screen always-on remote controls —an iPad and a Fire Tablet— alerted me that there was a software update for my Beoplay A6. I ignored it, until this weekend.
Since the Fire is the one closest to my reading armchair, I tried to update from there, using the Product settings > Software update option. I stayed at the Updating … 0% phase for several minutes, then reported the update was complete (it wasn’t), and kept on pointing out an update was available. The Android version is 5.3.0.230901-49921 and it is the most recent available on the Google Play Store. Fire OS 8.3.1.9.
I brute-force unplugged the A6 and re-plugged it.
I then tried with my other remote, an iPad 6 with iPadOS 17 encased in a Beoplay A3, always on with the latest B&O: 5.3.1.23092740039. Same behaviour. Just for kicks I then tried with one of our real iPads, a 6th generation iPad Pro (released 2023), and with a late-model iPhone Pro Max. Same, of course.
Both the iPad and the Fire are set to YES – Automatic updates in the A6 settings, by the way, not that it does any good.
Fortunately, I suspected what the solution would be.
As you know, if in the B&O app you select your product (the A6 in this case), you get a host of options controlled from your Android/iOS device, including the aforementioned and useless “Software update”… but if you select “Configure” you are presented with the old-style, original web page being served by the device —which one can also access from any web browser. It is a funny-looking page, because its old interface no longer quite matches the current B&O app looks.
But it does have a native UPDATE PRODUCT SOFTWARE section, which works very well indeed, I can happily report, despite the modern app completely failing at it.
.
