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First HomePod Jailbreak Stokes Speculation About Smart Speaker's Hacking Potential

You wouldn’t catch me dead trying to jailbreak a HomePod. I can’t tell you the amount of restores I had to do at various times because of jailbreaking, with the HomePod having no way to restore the device I’m at the mercy of how well the jailbreak developer tested their software.
 
Xmitman said:
The lack of simple Bluetooth connectivity makes these devices have limited functionality for me. I just picked up the mini yesterday and I am very disappointed that I can’t connect so many devices to use as a speaker. Even my 4th gen Apple TV devices don’t work. I only have a single device that works with it, a 4K Apple TV which I do not need connected to the mini as it is fully amped through my living room TV. I don’t use my phone or iPad for external sound, only use through AirPods once in awhile. Just disappointed in Apple locking down Bluetooth. So I welcome this hack that may open up a feature that should have been a default for all users. Apple open up your Bluetooth now!
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It has never been listed or sold as a BT speaker, so why you buy then if this so important to you?
 
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Reactions: G5isAlive, moulderine and SDJim
I’d do this if they added an equalizer. I can’t believe it doesn’t have one already.
 
mnsportsgeek said:
Ya, you got it. Good job. Some people have friends, and it would be nice for them to be able to share a playlist if they want when they come over. And believe it or not, there are people out there who have other products besides Apple in their house that they'd like to use their homepod with.
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Wow. Guess I hit a nerve. I simply asked what applications there were in this use case for bluetooth. Thankfully, other people gave answers without feeling the need to be so condescending. I won't apologize for enjoying the Apple environment. There are alternatives, I don't go around criticizing other people's choices for speakers if they don't support Airplay 2. But hey you be you. I also have SONOS speakers and their utility for me increased with their support of Airplay 2.
 
G5isAlive said:
Wow. Guess I hit a nerve. I simply asked what applications there were in this use case for bluetooth. Thankfully, other people gave answers without feeling the need to be so condescending. I won't apologize for enjoying the Apple environment. There are alternatives, I don't go around criticizing other people's choices for speakers if they don't support Airplay 2. But hey you be you. I also have SONOS speakers and their utility for me increased with their support of Airplay 2.
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Nice of you to acknowledge those people who responded to your question and started a dialogue with you. Oh, you didn’t because you were just trolling and already knew the reasons why Bluetooth would be useful.
 
Now that HomePod has been discontinued, maybe someone should figure out away to enable bluetooth pairing on this since once Apple drops sever side support for this, it's AirPlay only...
 
ouimetnick said:
Now that HomePod has been discontinued, maybe someone should figure out away to enable bluetooth pairing on this since once Apple drops sever side support for this, it's AirPlay only...
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why would apple drop support? They announced that they would continue support, continue to update the OS. so unless you are talking about something else....NO. Bluetooth sucks relative to airplay, so why would that even be a want?
 
MauiPa said:
why would apple drop support? They announced that they would continue support, continue to update the OS. so unless you are talking about something else....NO. Bluetooth sucks relative to airplay, so why would that even be a want?
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Bluetooth actually doesn't suck compared to AirPlay. AirPlay can be very finicky depending on your network. I've had mostly good luck with it, but it hasn't been perfect. There are other examples of people having drop outs with AirPlay as well (not just on HomePod)

What's wrong with having options? It would be nice to have bluetooth enabled since the hardware is already there. I would also allow you to use it in places where there is no wifi.

As far as support, how long are we talking?? Bluetooth devices will last indefinitely. I reset one of my HomePods and unplugged my modem. I couldn't set it back up with out internet access. What happens when Apple makes a server side change and you can no longer set up your HomePod?

The original Apple TV (2007-2010) was dropped like a rock. You can't even access the iTunes Store anymore since Apple made server side changes shortly after discontinuation. I still have 3 of them around somewhere. :) The 2nd gen Apple TV from 2010 suffered the same fate.
 
The HomePod has superior sound; but for me, it's otherwise been useless. I've even had problems streaming to it from a few feet away, so I packed it up and stuffed it into the attic, in favor of Sonos products.

But, if I thought I could jailbreak the unit and there were more/better options, I would be all for it. I would love (and prefer) to use it as a dedicated speaker.

Anyone else?
 
forrie said:
The HomePod has superior sound; but for me, it's otherwise been useless. I've even had problems streaming to it from a few feet away, so I packed it up and stuffed it into the attic, in favor of Sonos products.

But, if I thought I could jailbreak the unit and there were more/better options, I would be all for it. I would love (and prefer) to use it as a dedicated speaker.

Anyone else?
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Don't know what you are possibly doing wrong as not to be able to get the HomePod to work. It works flawlessly for me, and I absolutely love it. Sorry to seen them be discontinued, hope they are replaced with something else a little more robust than the minis. I have multiple pairs of Homepods and a pair of minis. You can place the mini and a HomePod across the room, play the same music and then move toward and away for the speakers. The tonal characteristics are right on (Bass is not as heavy on the minis though).

So useless? It must be something about how you are using it. I go Mac to HomePods, iPads to HomePods, appletv to HomePods, iPhone to HomePods, play music natively using pandora, Apple Music (and some radio can't remember the name - has a native app Heart radio I think).

Now I will tell you, if there is a lot of radio interference, that could effect any wireless radio. My son in law keeps his CB radio on all the time and the antenna is too close, that used to cause problems, but got fixed with an update about a year ago.

Cheers
 
I've had problems streaming from my MacbookPro 16,1 -- just a few feet away. It worked fine until I updated to Big Sur.

As for useless, what I meant is that I don't use all the other features -- just the sound. I'd be happy to jailbreak it, possibly using other features or whatever it's capable of. The sound is amazing. You cannot, for example, stream to multiple brands and have it consistent -- like mixing a Sonos and HomePod for sound, it suffers from jitter. Sonos has proprietary algorithms. But for a single environment, the HomePod has really great sound.
 
forrie said:
I've had problems streaming from my MacbookPro 16,1 -- just a few feet away. It worked fine until I updated to Big Sur.

As for useless, what I meant is that I don't use all the other features -- just the sound. I'd be happy to jailbreak it, possibly using other features or whatever it's capable of. The sound is amazing. You cannot, for example, stream to multiple brands and have it consistent -- like mixing a Sonos and HomePod for sound, it suffers from jitter. Sonos has proprietary algorithms. But for a single environment, the HomePod has really great sound.
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Have you updated HomePod and MacBook, is your router glitchy? I have no problems have never had, I use homepods in three different houses with no issues. I am on Big Sur developer beta program and HomePod beta program. Even worked seemlessly on earlier betas

some routers with too many connections get glitchy, too close to radio interference on wifi channels, overloaded channels from neighbors. I would check there first
 
I have a Netgear Orbi Wifi 6. There are lots of devices (Sonos, etc), but they are very low bandwidth while idle (I'm the only user here). Maybe I need a good WIFI diagnosis tool that can automatically look around and identify any problem.

I don't have any issues with Airplay and my TV, or Sonos streaming, etc.
 
Kobayagi said:
I'm sure they would sell more of them too then. Their ''my way or the highway'' approach is what often turns off a lot of potential customers.
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Apple’s always gone after a subset of customers. I’d wager that if there was no one making a high quality bluetooth solution, Apple would be in there making one for Apple systems. As it is, Apple can focus on an AirPlay solution (of which there are far fewer than bluetooth solutions) and leave the entire rest of the market to cover the range of prices and features from teeny $10 speakers to multi-thousand dollar behemoths.
 
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