HomePod Mini PROBLEMS

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Level 1

21 points

HomePod Mini PROBLEMS

My HomePod Mini stereo pair has basically become useless. It started a few days ago when I would ask for the weather and the Minis would ask 'Weather for where?' This was after months of working perfectly. I went through a variety of resets and fiddling around with location services and nothing worked. Then I plugged the Minis directly into my MacBook and reset them to factory spec. There was apparently an update installed because now the voice is different. The Minis now seem to be unable to connect to my wifi--again, after months of flawless performance--and the location services still don't work. I've now disconnected them and put them in the closet because I don't even want to look at them for a while. It's all extremely frustrating and I assume it all relates to a flawed software update. It's Xmas weekend and I don't expect I'll be able to do anything about this for a while. It's really too bad because I've been very happy with the Minis, up until now. I hope Apple is fully aware of this problem and is working to get the problem fixed--it's a software issue and nothing I can do seems to have any effect.

HomePod mini

Posted on Dec 25, 2021 10:44 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Vancouver22

Level 8

36,818 points

Dec 28, 2021 4:11 PM in response to DavidCSF

There’s a couple of places you can check Location Services are turned on:

On the device you set up HomePods - your iPhone - in Settings Apple ID- Find My -make sure “Share My Location” is on .

In the HomePod (be sure to check each HomePod ) - in the Home App, long press on the HomePod icon to bring up settings- scroll down to Location Services - enable.

…… While you are in this setting, scroll to the very bottom to see WiFi Address - you can tap on that to see the

network Name, If it’s there, you are connected but it’s acting up. When it acts up like this, it’s usually temporary, annoying but it will resolve itself. Sometimes power cycling the HomePods and wifi router might help.

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Answer 2

DavidCSF Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 28, 2021 6:14 PM in response to Vancouver22

Okay, after my last try at resetting the HomePods I decided to give it One Last Shot. I checked ALL of my devices (iPhone, MacBook Pro, iPad, iPod Touch) and found that there were software updates for EVERYTHING! This is only, what—10 days, two weeks since the last round of updates? Whatever it was, I updated the software on EVERYTHING and then I plugged the two HomePods directly into my MacBook (one at a time) and reset them both to factory preset (this takes about 7 or 8 minutes). THEN, with my newly updated iPhone 11 Pro in hand, I plugged the two HomePods in at the spots where I want them (either side of my bed)—again, one at a time—and set them up from scratch with the iPhone. I'm using them as a stereo pair and when they initially booted up the wrong one (the one on the left) was acting as the primary. I unjoined the pair using the Home app and then rejoined them again and the right one was acting as the master this time.

THEN (drumroll please) came the crucial moment: "Hey Siri, what's the temperature??" And believe or not the reply was "It's 32 degrees outside." NOT "The temperature where" or whatever. SUCCESS!!! Unbelievable!!

So, based on this entire saga I would say that the crucial thing is to make sure that ALL your devices are updated to the latest software version, even if you only did this a couple of weeks ago. It may or may not help to reset the HomePods to factory spec but if you want to make sure you're starting with a clean slate in this process it's probably not a bad idea. Of course making sure that the Location Services are set ON at all possible spots (iPhone, in the Home app, wherever...) is important too. But this WORKED!! I can relax at last.

Happy New Year!

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Answer 3

Vancouver22

Level 8

36,818 points

Dec 28, 2021 12:46 PM in response to DavidCSF

After the reset, if you set them up again with your latest iOS device, they should automatically connect to the same wifi the device is on.

See this thread also: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253509759

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Answer 4

DavidCSF Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 28, 2021 3:38 PM in response to Vancouver22

I reset my HomePods with my iPhone 11 Pro, which is up to date and connected to the same wifi as the HomePods should be. It didn't work. The HomePods were reporting trouble connecting to the wifi and the location services weren't working. The wifi router is only about 20 or 30 feet away from my bedroom, where the HomePods are/were set up, and the signal is perfectly strong. If I knew a way to reset the HomePods to the previous version of the software I would do that gladly, because they worked great before this latest update.

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Answer 5

DavidCSF Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 28, 2021 4:32 PM in response to DavidCSF

Nope--tried again. Nothing works. Location services have been checked and turned on (and off and on) in every location that they possibly can be, but it's still 'Weather for where?' when I ask for it. I also can't get the right HomePod to respond as the primary one (I want it to be the one on the right side of the bed and it's always the left, no matter what I do). So the pair has been unplugged again and back into the closet they go until Apple gets around to fixing this mess.

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Answer 6

DavidCSF Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 28, 2021 4:16 PM in response to Vancouver22

Thanks for your assistance. It's been a few days now--I'll give it a try again and see if I have better results.

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HomePod Mini PROBLEMS

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