After getting the message on this forum that Homepod mini cannot be used without wifi I forked out good money to get a wifi lan setup only to discover that you actually can use it without wifi or internet. It's very annoying that this info isn't easily accessible. Anyway, here's a helpful link for anyone who might be asking the same question.
https://itigic.com/use-homepod-without-an-internet-connection-or-wifi-network/
HomePod mini
The specific question would be can Homepod Mini be used without wifi. The answer is yes. The forums informed me that the answer was no, so I unnecessarily purchased a mobile wifi router. I thought that would be cheaper than ditching the mini and buying a bluetooth speaker outside of Apple. It turns out I never needed to. I'm just trying to put this info here for the sake of others who might have the same question that I had.
The specific question would be can Homepod Mini be used without wifi. The answer is yes. The forums informed me that the answer was no, so I unnecessarily purchased a mobile wifi router. I thought that would be cheaper than ditching the mini and buying a bluetooth speaker outside of Apple. It turns out I never needed to. I'm just trying to put this info here for the sake of others who might have the same question that I had.
In my current situation I need to use it to play music and I don't care about extra features. You miss the point I think. A reasonable number of people have asked whether or not the homepod mini can be used without wifi, and they've been told no. That's wrong information. It should be prominently displayed that they can.
If you only want the HomePod to play music, possibly you can . However many people need to use it as a Home Hub to run HomeKit, as well as various other uses which need wifi. It needs to connect to servers to perform these tasks and that needs the internet.
It would have been cheaper just to buy non-smart bluetooth speakers. While you can do some things without WiFi, even the article you linked to says that without an internet connection, you don't get the most out of your purchase.
Thank you for sharing your information. However, it seems like there’s no specific question included in your message. If you need assistance or have a question, please let us know how we can help!
Personal hotspots are not recommended to use with HomePod. It won’t work for AirPlay. It can also be very expensive.
I don’t keep track of mine because I have unlimited data. Some have complained It’s quite a bit, but I wouldn’t know how true that is.
Liberty 456 wrote:
The specific question would be can Homepod Mini be used without wifi. The answer is yes. The forums informed me that the answer was no, so I unnecessarily purchased a mobile wifi router. I thought that would be cheaper than ditching the mini and buying a bluetooth speaker outside of Apple. It turns out I never needed to. I'm just trying to put this info here for the sake of others who might have the same question that I had.
I can also use my ICE car without gas. I can use it to store things, as a rain shelter and for as long as the battery lasts, to charge my phone. But, most people would probably find the answer "No, you can't use a car (ICE) without gas" to be fairly accurate in the vast majority of use cases.
I suspect that it's possible that, when you asked the question of the forum, you might not have specified exactly what you were trying to achieve. However, as I have no access to your original question, I can't say for certain what happened.
If you want your car just for driving without storing anything then you need gas. My situation was that I had two homepod minis set up to play audio. That's all that I need them for. It was working perfectly until my internet connection changed. My only access to the internet is with mobile data. I was hot spotting from my iPad which had a data only sim. I found out that it was cheaper to just use data from my phone account and ditch my data only sim. Unfortunately though, when I used my iPhone as the hot spot it rendered my iPhone incapable of sending audio to the homepod minis. I assume there's some kind of clash between the wifi and the audio streaming.
I don't want to fork out hundreds of dollars for a Bluetooth speaker if there's a possibility to get my two Homepod minis up and running. I forked out for them, and they were working perfectly until my internet connection changed.
Liberty 456 wrote:
I don't want to fork out hundreds of dollars for a Bluetooth speaker if there's a possibility to get my two Homepod minis up and running. I forked out for them, and they were working perfectly until my internet connection changed.
This sounds rather like the inverse of "When you have a hammer, everything is a nail." You have a nail, and you want everything to be a hammer. I'm more of a "use the appropriate tool for the job" sort of person. But, you do what works for you.
It worked for me. It was the right tool for the job. I was very happy with them. The problem has arisen because of the change in my internet connection. If there's a way to make it work, then that's what I'd prefer rather than to rush out and make a 5 or 600 hundred dollar purchase. Your response is less than helpful.
Thanks. I can get an 80gb prepaid data sim that's valid for a year. I'll put that in my mobile wifi router for setting up the mini. Hopefully once that's set up it will free up my iPhone to access the mini, because it will no longer be the wifi hub for the mini.
Hi, I do have a specific question. How much data does an Homepod mini use when connecting to the internet over time? I assume it would be very little?
Homepod mini CAN BE USED without Wifi
