This funky workaround adds Bluetooth support to your HomePod

News
By Oliver Haslam
published

Homepod Mini Review
Homepod Mini Review (Image credit: Stephen Warwick / iMore)

What you need to know

  • A new video shows how people can add Bluetooth support to their HomePod and HomePod mini.
  • People will need a few things to get this working, not least a spare iOS device.

If there's one thing that most people would knock Apple's HomePod and HomePod mini for it's the lack of Bluetooth support. AirPlay is the only way to get audio from a source and into one of Apple's speakers — until now.

A new video posted to the Will It Work? YouTube channel runs through the steps that can be taken to get Bluetooth support added to a HomePod and while it isn't ideal, it'll work in a pinch — you just need to pick up a few accessories and a spare iOS device to get it all up and running!

Check it out!

In this video I'll show you how to stream Bluetooth Audio to Apple's HomePod mini, as well as other Airplay only devices, such as the Apple TV.

The gist? You're going to need a Bluetooth receiver, a dongle, and an app to turn incoming audio into an outgoing AirPlay stream. The video has the details!

Once you have this working there is little reason why it shouldn't also be just fine AirPlaying audio to TVs and other AirPlay-compatible speakers, so that might be something to keep in mind. And anyone on the lookout for a bargain HomePod mini to do all of this with should check out our list of the best HomePod mini deals available today before placing an order!

This kind of thing is going to be more useful to people who have devices that don't support AirPlay, like Android devices. But you never do know when Bluetooth support could come in handy!

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.