iOS 15.5 and HomePod wifi??

[ncsmith4]

The MacRumors article about 15.5 says it brings a feature that shows you the signal strength of the HomePod wifi connection. My iPhone and all 3 HomePods are on 15.5 and this feature isn’t present.

Is this an error in the MR article? I called Apple and the rep said that’s not listed as a feature… did it get stripped? Does anyone else have it?

 

[Blowback]

The MacRumors article about 15.5 says it brings a feature that shows you the signal strength of the HomePod wifi connection. My iPhone and all 3 HomePods are on 15.5 and this feature isn’t present.

Is this an error in the MR article? I called Apple and the rep said that’s not listed as a feature… did it get stripped? Does anyone else have it?

I also saw that mentioned on an YouTube video ...but my Pods aren't connected right now. Will follow this thread.

 

[Squillace]

It's not an error but the indication is very well buried in the HomePod settings:

 

[Itinj24]

You have to tap on the line that says “Wi-Fi Address” and it will pop up.

Don’t get to excited though. From what I understand, it’s not a dynamic icon. It’s just a glyph that shows that it’s connected to Wi-Fi. In other words, it won’t show your actual signal strength.

 

[ncsmith4]

You have to tap on the line that says “Wi-Fi Address” and it will pop up.

Don’t get to excited though. From what I understand, it’s not a dynamic icon. It’s just a glyph that shows that it’s connected to Wi-Fi. In other words, it won’t show your actual signal strength.

WHAT?? Then what’s the actual flippin’ point???


And thanks for the note about having to actually tap on the wifi line. That’s wild… how is ANYONE supposed to know that?

 

[Itinj24]

WHAT?? Then what’s the actual flippin’ point???


And thanks for the note about having to actually tap on the wifi line. That’s wild… how is ANYONE supposed to know that?

I could understand that glyph if the HomePod also had a LAN port and there needs to be a distinguishing visual cue but I don’t get it either. I have an eero mesh system so that app tells me what I need to know about connectivity but I understand not everyone has that.

I assumed that because the HomePod is extremely finicky when it comes to Wi-Fi, Apple added this so you know if you would have to move it closer to the router to get better performance but from the latest 15.5 videos I watched, it’s just a glyph. Makes sense since it’s greyed out like the rest of the text.

I would’ve never known to tap on the line unless I watched a YouTuber show this.

 

[Itinj24]

Ok ok, hang on a minute. As you were…

It is actually a dynamic icon. I had to test this out before I continued to further make myself look foolish. I was going off a YouTuber’s observation and what I repeated above is not correct (I believe it was Brandon Butch). I unplugged a HomePod and the gray Wi-Fi icon turned into a darker gray icon while it was unplugged. Then when it was reconnecting, it had an exclamation point so it may give actual Wi-Fi strength but I can’t test that because of my mesh system. I get good Wi-Fi coverage throughout.

Apologies for being misleading.

Edit* I wasn’t making this up. Fast forward to the 3:38 mark where Brandon discusses this. He generally knows his stuff and dedicated his channel to software updates.

My observations:

 

[ncsmith4]

I have one HomePod that shows the full wifi and two HomePods that when I tap, show the wifi network with no glyph?? But those are the two I have issues with so maybe that means they aren’t getting much signal.

 

[Blowback]

I have one HomePod that shows the full wifi and two HomePods that when I tap, show the wifi network with no glyph?? But those are the two I have issues with so maybe that means they aren’t getting much signal.

Perhaps another of those many 'works in progress...'?