In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to stream music from your iPhone, iPad, and Mac to your HomePod even when you have no Wi-Fi connection, and none of the devices are connected to a wireless network.
Until today, you may have thought that you could AirPlay to HomePod only when your iPhone and HomePod are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. And since HomePod does not support streaming over Bluetooth, you may think there is no way to play music from your iPhone or Mac to HomePod in the absence of a Wi-Fi connection.
Thankfully, there is a built-in way!
How it works
You can play music on your HomePod through AirPlay without needing an active Internet (Wi-Fi) connection on the speaker itself. This handy peer-to-peer AirPlay feature is turned off by default. So, we’ll help you turn it on and AirPlay audio to your HomePod without a Wi-Fi connection.
Previously, AirPlay used to require that devices be on the same Wi-Fi network. With iOS 8 and later, AirPlay devices can connect to one another without having to be on the same wireless network at all. This is called peer-to-peer AirPlay, and it works similarly to AirDrop, which is another peer-to-peer technology that uses Bluetooth for discovery and proximity information, and Wi-Fi technology to establish a direct ad-hoc wireless connection between devices to transfer data.
Your HomePod is an AirPlay receiver that supports peer-to-peer AirPlay. So, you’ll be using that.
Before you begin
- Make sure that your iPhone, iPad, or Mac is signed in with the same Apple Account used to set up your HomePod.
- The steps below may fail if you try following them when your iPhone and HomePod are not connected to Wi-Fi. So, if that happens, make sure your iPhone/Mac and HomePod are on the same Wi-Fi. Once you have activated peer-to-peer AirPlay, you can stream to HomePod from your iOS and macOS devices even when they are not connected to a wireless network.
AirPlay audio to HomePod without Wi-Fi
1) Open the Home app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, tap the three dots menu icon at the top right corner of the Home tab, and choose Home Settings.
2) Tap Speakers & TV.
3) You’ll now be presented with a set of AirPlay access options for your AirPlay devices, which let you control how others connect to all of your wireless speakers and TVs. Choose Everyone. This makes your HomePods visible to all devices, even if they’re not on the same network.
4) By default, everyone can see and play to the HomePod speakers in your home without needing a password. To limit AirPlay access, toggle on the option labeled Require Password and set a passcode.
People sharing this home (or anyone with the AirPlay password), including those who are not on the same Wi-Fi network, are now permitted to AirPlay to this HomePod.
You can send audio from your Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, or Mac to your HomePod speaker even if there’s no wireless network to connect to at all. To do that, tap the AirPlay icon on the media app’s screen or in Control Center and select your HomePod.
On Mac, you can also click the speaker icon in the menu bar and select your HomePod. The screenshot below shows that my MacBook is not connected to Wi-Fi, but I can still AirPlay to my HomePod.
Similarly, you can see this iPhone is not connected to Wi-Fi, but I can still AirPlay to the HomePod.
Extra info: Thanks to AirPlay 2, you can tap multiple HomePods to play audio across all of them simultaneously.
Important: If you’re unable to update your HomePod, change the above setting from “Everyone” to “Anyone On the Same Network” and then retry. After the update is complete, you can switch back to “Anyone On the Same Network.”
Also, check out: 24 tips and tricks every HomePod user should know