HomePod mini keeps disconnecting

Question

HomePod mini keeps disconnecting

As reported by many others, my HomePod mini keeps disconnecting.

The Home App then reports that the HomePod is not responding and I lose remote control of Homekit accessories.

It's been like this since new, and is under a year old. Upgraded to the July '25 firmware v18.6 but this doesn't fix the problem and it still randomly disconnects.

Disconnects would be okay if it automatically reconnected, but it doesn't. It sits there dumbly, waiting to be added back in with the App, or to be rebooted which works most of the time.

Will there ever be an actual fix for this problem?

Posted on Aug 4, 2025 12:48 PM

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Answer 1

Mpainesyd

Level 1

101 points

Aug 11, 2025 08:17 PM in response to TheRhinoceros

Some old tips...

The wifi optimising features of some modern "smart" routers might confuse Homepods. Try disabling this in the router settings (I see you have already tried disabling "mesh").

Try assigning a static IP address to the Homepod in the router settings.

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Answer 2

Vancouver22

Level 8

37,154 points

Aug 4, 2025 04:11 PM in response to TheRhinoceros

If you bought it under a year ago it might still be under warranty. You should get in touch with Apple to see about repair or replacement options. Check your coverage status

The Apple Limited Warranty covers your HomePod and the Apple-branded accessories that come in the box with your product against manufacturing issues for one year from the date you bought them.HomePod Repair and Service - Apple Support

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Answer 3

Vancouver22

Level 8

37,154 points

Aug 4, 2025 04:55 PM in response to TheRhinoceros

Sorry I forgot the title said it was a mini. I would look into getting it replaced before the one year expires!

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Answer 4

Aug 7, 2025 12:35 PM in response to TheRhinoceros

So I took the HomePod Mini to Apple today.

They performed a factory reset and then installed the latest firmware.

I dropped it off at the remote location and re-applied the configuration.

Then got home to find the "Home Hub not responding" error yet again.

This is by far the most unreliable Apple product I've ever had!

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Answer 5

Aug 7, 2025 01:14 PM in response to TheRhinoceros

Returned to the Home Pod Mini location. Asked Siri a question and it responded to the effect that the Home Pod was having WiFi connection difficulties.

Added it in again using the Home App.

What's the point of a Home Pod being able to act as a Home Hub when it can't hold a connection ...

No other co-located devices lose their WiFi connection.

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Answer 6

Vancouver22

Level 8

37,154 points

Aug 8, 2025 10:14 AM in response to TheRhinoceros

They occasionally do lose connection but it’s only temporary. A few seconds later it will respond. Try to avoid resetting and setting up again. Instead you might try just unplugging it for about 10 seconds to restart it. Reboot your wifi modem also if the issue persists.

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Answer 7

Aug 8, 2025 11:29 AM in response to Vancouver22

"They occasionally do lose connection but it’s only temporary ..."

That's not my experience; it seems to work reliably when I'm on site actually using it for listening.

The problem is the lost connections when I'm not there. It doesn't recover, and a remote reboot of the WifI Router doesn't help. A remote WiFi Router reboot when the Home Pod is working results in the Home Pod not re connecting.

Most of the time rebooting the Home Pod doesn't work - it needs to be added back in with the Home App.

I've also tried forcing it to use 2.4G WiFi only, and tried 5G WiFi only. That doesn't help either.

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Answer 8

Rudegar

Level 10

178,788 points

Aug 9, 2025 03:41 AM in response to TheRhinoceros

if it was me then I would check if there were a firmware update for the wifi router, if it's firmware is old then that could result in it not playing nicely with some newer devices

and another end of the line troubleshooting I would try would be to try to set it up at a friend/relative or the likes network and if it behaves the same there then it's obviously a periodic hardware defect in your homepod which if not under warranty would mean you might as well recycle it, or if it is attempt to make apple realisize the fact.

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Answer 9

Aug 9, 2025 03:48 AM in response to Rudegar

There is a firmware update for the Router, released a few days ago, and I'll be trying that. But I have no reason to suspect the Router since all the other devices connected to it work flawlessly.

It's under warranty to late 2026, so I'll be running it for a month and then if not stable, back it goes again.

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Answer 10

Rudegar

Level 10

178,788 points

Aug 9, 2025 03:56 AM in response to TheRhinoceros

The fact that other devices have no problems is never a guarantee that a firmware would not resolve it

if the homepod somehow operates with timings slight off the std. but still within the protocol and the router had more narrow timing limits, and your other devices is not slight off, and the firmware update made the router more "compatible" with devices it could explain it.

That is also why sometimes restarting a device where 1 app misbehaves but other apps have no problems still resolves the issues for (computers, phones, tablets and tv boxes)

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Answer 11

Aug 10, 2025 12:47 PM in response to Rudegar

Well, I added an ethernet-connected Apple TV to work as a Home Hub and that seems to be reliable.

I can actually see now the HomePod status and it keeps disconnecting, unless I'm on the premises.

Back to Apple again this week ...

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Answer 12

Aug 10, 2025 03:13 PM in response to TheRhinoceros

Now, this is interesting. Having added a wired Apple TV box, I can see the AppleTV has an IPv4 address from the router. The HomePod mini has no IP address from the Router, but is working.

It looks as if the HomePod mini is connecting to the Apple TV via WiFi with IPv6. The Apple TV box is the primary Thread Border Router.

I wonder whether disabling IPv6 on the Router will force the HomePod to connect via WiFi directly?

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Answer 13

Aug 10, 2025 06:12 PM in response to TheRhinoceros

Update

Enabling / disabling IPv6 on the router makes no difference
Setting the WiFi bandwidth makes no difference

What does seem to have made a difference and the Home Pod Mini automatically connected was to disable WiFi Mesh. Now, I've no idea why that should be the case, but that does seem to have at least enabled the Home Pod connection (I'm working on this remotely, I'm not on site with the Home Pod).

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Answer 14

Aug 12, 2025 12:12 AM in response to Mpainesyd

"Some old tips..."

I tried these. Yesterday I renamed it, reset it and added it back in to Home. It connected on 5GHz and I have it using a reserved fixed IP from the DHCP pool. It ran okay for the rest of the day.

The Home Pod is not at my usual home location, but another location connected by a VPN, so I am able to 'ping' it from home when it's working. By this morning it's disconnected again - no 'ping' and also the climate sensors on board the Home Pod are not sending data to the Home App, so definitely off-line.

No doubt next time I'm there it will be telling me it's having WiFi problems and to look in the Home App. But there's nothing in there I can do to fix this.

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Answer 15

Aug 12, 2025 12:22 AM in response to TheRhinoceros

I do wonder whether the problem is fundamentally that the Home Pod Mini won't connect automatically when it re-starts.

When it disconnects, the Home App does say that it will connect again when the WiFi is available, but the WiFi is available and it doesn't connect.

So I'm wondering whether the Home Pod Mini goes to sleep, and when it wakens up it can't connect.

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