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treimche

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 16, 2012
145
48
Let's say I wanted to use HomePod at my shop where I don't have wifi, but use my iPhone as a personal hotspot, will it still work?
 
Yeah it’s a real killer at my dorm. Doesn’t play well with 802.11X. Had to connect both it and my iPad to a personal hotspot on my phone and control it from the iPad. Real convoluted PITA.
 
I'll probably mess around with it this weekend and see how it works. @AceFernalld does it all work fine if you use your iPhone as a hotspot and control with the iPad? I wouldn't mind doing that, since its still cheaper than having to somehow get internet to my shop.
 
So if you use your iPhone as a personal hotspot and want to use HomePod off of that, it does not work. I turned off my home network and tried it, and no go. Next thing I'll try is to do the same, but use my iPad to control HomePod and see if that will work somehow.
 
So if you use your iPhone as a personal hotspot and want to use HomePod off of that, it does not work. I turned off my home network and tried it, and no go. Next thing I'll try is to do the same, but use my iPad to control HomePod and see if that will work somehow.
You have to make sure you set the HomePod up with the iPad while the iPad is connected to your phone's hotspot so that's the network the Pod attaches to. Wicked convoluted.
 
For Airplay you shouldn’t necessarily need internet, just a WiFi network. Bring in a WiFi router and broadcast a network, not connected to internet, and you should be able to airplay to the HomePod. Initial setup of the HomePod needs internet though so I’m not sure if that’s a complication. Also when your phone is connected to the WiFi network you won’t have internet on your phone either.
 
You have to make sure you set the HomePod up with the iPad while the iPad is connected to your phone's hotspot so that's the network the Pod attaches to. Wicked convoluted.
That's what I'll try. Thanks.
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For Airplay you shouldn’t necessarily need internet, just a WiFi network. Bring in a WiFi router and broadcast a network, not connected to internet, and you should be able to airplay to the HomePod. Initial setup of the HomePod needs internet though so I’m not sure if that’s a complication. Also when your phone is connected to the WiFi network you won’t have internet on your phone either.
This won't work in my case if I want to use HomePod at my shop. In that situation, my iPhone is broadcasting wifi so it is the router.
 
This won't work in my case if I want to use HomePod at my shop. In that situation, my iPhone is broadcasting wifi so it is the router.

Ah ok, I mistakenly took your post to mean you just didn’t have internet set up at your shop, and you just wanted to airplay. If you want to play the HomePod directly, yeah phone hotspot is probably the way to go. Also not having internet on your phone (if using a non-internet router) would have been a huge downside.
 
Sorry for slight thread drift.....
Then what is the Bluetooth capability of the Homepod used for?

Airplay is network, streaming from iCloud or music service is obviously network, Siri is network.
 
Just initial setup I believe. :confused:


Yea not sure either but your probably correct.
I wasn't even aware it had Bluetooth until I looked at the specs on Apples website.

Amazing little speaker.......just picked up mine yesterday and enamored with it.
Getting a second one soon I like it so much.
 
Yeah it’s a real killer at my dorm. Doesn’t play well with 802.11X. Had to connect both it and my iPad to a personal hotspot on my phone and control it from the iPad. Real convoluted PITA.
Can you tell me more about it not playing well with 802.11x? Does it not work at all or only inconsistently? I have an 802.1X setup so would be good to know before pulling the trigger.
 
This is how I Connected Homepod to personal hotspot on my iPhone. I used an iPad logged into the same icloud account. I turned on the hotspot and connected the iPad to it. Then in the Home app in HomePod settings I switched the wifi network to that of the iPhone. From that time it remembers the hotspot and uses it when the home wifi isn't available.
 
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