XDA developers: How to factory reset an Apple HomePod or HomePod Mini

mercredi 31 août 2022

How to factory reset an Apple HomePod or HomePod Mini

Almost all of the time, Apple’s HomePod and HomePod Mini are simple to use and just get on with their job without fuss. But occasionally things go wrong. In those instances, you have options, like rebooting the HomePod. But in others, you’ll need to pull out the big guns and go for a full factory reset. You also need to do this before disposing off or selling your HomePod speaker.

Setting up the HomePod is such an incredibly simple process you’re probably hoping the same is true of resetting. That isn’t totally untrue, but as the settings and controls are designed to get out of the way, it’s not immediately obvious how to do it.

Never fear. Let’s dive in and explain it all.

What to try first if your HomePod is misbehaving

Resetting your HomePod should be the last resort if it’s misbehaving. There was a time also you would need to do this just to change to a new Wi-Fi network, but thankfully that isn’t the case anymore. But before resetting you should try simply restarting your HomePod to see if it fixes the problem.

You can do this in the Home app either on a Mac or on an iOS device.

Open the Home app.
On iOS, touch and hold on your HomePod. On Mac, right-click on it.
On iOS, scroll to the bottom and tap the settings cog. On Mac, select Settings from the right-click menu.
Select Reset HomePod.
Select Restart HomePod.

Your HomePod will now reboot itself and when it comes back to life hopefully rectified your issues. If it didn’t or you’re getting rid of your HomePod, then you’ll be looking at a full factory reset.

How to perform a factory reset on a HomePod

The process of doing a factory reset in the Home app is a little misleading. It involves following the steps from the previous section up to step four. But when you tap Reset HomePod you don’t actually have an option in the next menu that just says reset.

Instead, you have to remove the HomePod from your Home entirely. This triggers the factory reset. So, instead of choosing the restart option as above, select Remove Accessory instead. You can now set it up again as a new device and hopefully, your issues have been resolved.

Alternative methods to reset a HomePod

There are a couple of alternative methods to reset a HomePod that don’t involve the Home app. You shouldn’t need to use these, but if the app method isn’t working it’s handy to have something to fall back on.

The first thing you can do is hook up your HomePod to your Mac or PC directly using its integrated cable. On the Mac, you’ll see the device show up inside Finder, but on Windows, you’ll need to have the latest version of iTunes installed.

iTunes (Free⁺, Microsoft Store) →

Whichever you’re using when your HomePod appears, click on it, then click the box that says Restore HomePod. Your Mac or PC will now go through the restore process to put your HomePod back to factory settings. Once the light on the top is no longer orange, the process is complete.

Alternatively, you can try the hardware method.

Unplug your HomePod and wait for about 10 seconds.
Plug it back in and wait for the same time.
Touch and hold on top of the HomePod.
Wait for the light to turn red and keep holding.
When you hear a message from Siri about resetting followed by three beeps, release your finger.

As before this will restore the HomePod to factory settings and you can now set it up again using your Mac or iOS device.