How do I keep HomePods on a desired Wifi Network?

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How do I keep HomePods on a desired Wifi Network?

I've seen this question asked a few times, and the very unhelpful response of 'Why do you need more than one network?' To answer that, in modern household with remote working, it is very common to have an internet source/router designated specifically for work, and another designated for regular household use. I have the same setup in the motorhome, and if it's in range of the house, then i've got my HomePods bouncing among 4 networks. All my network equipment, for security and performance reasons, does a staggered reboot in wee hours of night, which i assume is when the HomePods are deciding to bounce around.

The question remains, is there a way to make the HomePods

use only a specific network? It's a real problem especially since I use a stereo pair for sound on my TV.

Posted on Oct 17, 2022 01:55 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

CharlotteRed Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 19, 2022 01:43 PM in response to Brian_P7

I don't have 'auto join' configured for any of the other networks on my iPhone or iPad, so my iDevices stay on the primary network, and if it reboots, they wait till it's back up. Only the HomePods jump to other networks, to which my iDevices are not connected. All my non-apple devices, TV's, weather station, Wemo plugs, thermostat, playstation, printer, etc. all have zero network problems. A lot of times I'll turn on the TV / AppleTV, and only one of the stereo paired HomePods will be working. I go in the home app, and it says one of the HomePods is not on the same network as my iPhone. I click the link to 'move to' the household primary network, then I get stereo again. It's the most frustrating thing to have to go into the home app and move the HomePods to the right network before every use.

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Answer 2

CharlotteRed Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 19, 2022 12:12 PM in response to hc1111

Unfortunately that is not the case. My iPhone and iPad and Mac all are set to use my primary household Wifi when I'm at home, and when I setup the HomePods, they were initially set the same. But almost every day when I go to stream music to the HomePods, I get the error 'Your HomePods are not on the same wifi network as your iPhone'. Sometimes they are on my Work WiFi, sometimes they are connected to the Motorhome's Wifi that's hooked up beside the house. This happens to all 4 HomePods in the house.

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Answer 3

hc1111

Community Specialist

Oct 19, 2022 10:44 AM in response to CharlotteRed

Hey there CharlotteRed,

Your HomePod is set up to use the same Wi-Fi network that your iOS or iPadOS device is connected to.

If you need help with changing HomePod settings, use this link: Change HomePod settings - Apple Support

Take care!

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Answer 4

Brian_P7

Community Specialist

Oct 19, 2022 12:49 PM in response to CharlotteRed

Hey CharlotteRed,

Change HomePod settings mentions the below information, but what it doesn't mention is what happens when your iPhone changes networks, which if you have 4 networks in a fairly confined area, could happen very often, in theory, if all are configured. For example, it's unclear if your HomePod will also change connections with your iPhone if the HomePod still has a strong and reliable connection to the network it was initially connected to.

HomePod automatically connects to the same Wi-Fi network as your iOS or iPadOS device.

With that in mind, have you tested with specific networks to see if the same change occurs when narrowing and isolating specific potential causes? If not, that's a great place to start.

Take care.

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

277,729 points

Oct 19, 2022 01:45 PM in response to CharlotteRed

Your known Wi-Fi connections sync via iCloud Keychain. Ideally your Keychain would only contain the setting for the network that you want your HomePods to connect to so that should they hunt for a better service they might switch to they cannot find one.

You could potentially experiment with MAC address filtering to limit which devices can connect to a given network, e.g. your work network could only allow connections from your work computer.

tt2

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Answer 6

CharlotteRed Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 19, 2022 02:16 PM in response to turingtest2

How would I edit the wifi networks in the keychain? I regularly use lots of different networks, but only ever have one set to auto join. I use the wifi when I'm visiting various family members, if I happen to go into the office, at friend's houses, and in the motorhome. I don't want to lose all those passwords to all my saved networks, so I'd need to selectively remove the other local networks. But as soon as I manually login to one of them to manage it's settings, won't it go right back into the keychain even if I don't have auto-join enabled for it?

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Answer 7

turingtest2

Level 10

277,729 points

Oct 19, 2022 04:04 PM in response to CharlotteRed

The only ones that matter are the ones visible where the HomePods are. You could forget any that you see other than the one that you want it to use. Of course that complicates the matter of using them when you need to for work. Depending on the routers involved you could potentially block the HomePods from connecting even if they have the credentials which might keep them on the correct network.

tt2

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How do I keep HomePods on a desired Wifi Network?

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