You can replace HomePod power cable with a figure 8-style plug

Instead of Apple’s proprietary power plug found on the original model, the second-generation HomePod brings a fully user-removable power cord.

Closeup showing a figure-8-style power cord plug into the second-generation HomePod — Any figure-8-style cord will do the trick | Image: Chris Welch/The Verge

What’s happening? Reviewers who took the second-generation HomePod for a spin found a fully user-removable power cable on the Siri-powered speaker.
Why care? If your HomePod’s cable breaks, you can now use a replacement instead of sending your speaker to Apple to service it.
What to do? If the original cable breaks, use any figure-8 one as a replacement.

You can now easily replace your HomePod’s power cable

The original HomePod was equipped with a color-matched woven power cable. Unfortunately, it came with a proprietary plug for reasons known only to Apple engineers. People found the cable challenging to remove without applying force. Worse, in case it broke, you couldn’t simply replace it with a ubiquitous power cord.

Apple took a lot of heat for that, so you might be pleased to know that the second-generation model, released on January 18, 2023, is equipped with a fully user-removable power cord. The new HomePod’s power cable is still braided and color-matched like the original model, but now you can swap it for any ubiquitous power cable with a traditional figure-8-style connector.

“I swapped the included braided cord for a ubiquitous black power cable from another product, and the HomePod worked just fine,” Chris Welch writes in his HomePod review on The Verge.

So, if the original cable breaks, you can replace it without sending your HomePod to Apple. You’ll no longer have the round cap found on the original cable that fully seals off the hole, but that’s a small price to pay for convenience.

HomePod tips and tricks

To get the most out of your HomePod, check out these tutorials from our archives: