I recently purchased a new HomePod mini to extend music into an unreached corner of the house. Having used multiple of the full size ones in the past, I pretty much knew what to expect and didn’t give setup a second thought. Things went pretty according to plan at first, with the usual Apple magic easily connecting via my iPhone and adding the HomePod into my Apple “Home”. The last screen mentioned that it needed an update before really working, which made sense. So off it went. I could see through the Eero app that it was downloading as expected. But then after some time (a half hour or more), it had stopped downloading and still said “Configuring” in the Home app.
Long story short, I spent the next couple of days trying various troubleshooting steps, combing the internet, and even talking with Apple support. Their support was very friendly but surprisingly unhelpful. They kept wanting to direct me toward rebooting my phone or changing my network, despite me offering clear evidence that the HomePod was successfully using the network and available in the Home app. It was obvious to me that the tiny little speaker was having issue getting from its out-of-the-box version of 14.4 all the way to the newest one, 18.2. But Apple didn’t offer any tangible help resolving that. It’s been the most frustrating and disappointing experience I’ve had with Apple overall, having enjoyed many good years of almost seamless use of their products and support.
Finally, I ran across this Reddit post and in particular this section:
“If you need to update the firmware, plug it into a Mac via USBC. It’ll flash Orange on top. After a minute, it should be visible in Finder. Select the HP and tap ‘Restore HomePod.” Disconnect when told to do so, and plug it back into it’s power supply.”
YOU CAN UPDATE IT BY PLUGGING IT INTO A MAC!?!?!? Why didn’t Apple support know or offer this!?!
I’m happy to say this is just what the doctor ordered. After following those steps my mighty mini was up to 18.2, and from there setting it up was a breeze.
TLDR: If your HomePod mini is having trouble installing its update over wifi, plug it into your Mac and let it give you a boost. It seems the tiny little toys just don’t have enough umph for some of the updates Apple is throwing their way.
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