HomePod Mini Owners Report Random Internet Connectivity Problems

Apple was terribly late to the smart speaker party and even when the HomePod finally landed, it was initially a disappointment when it came to Siri's usefulness and control of smart home appliances. It definitely got better over time but its competitors have moved on to bigger and smaller smart speakers. At long last, Apple finally bit back with the HomePod mini but the smart speaker is reportedly giving new owners more headaches than the $99 speaker is worth because of intermittent and inexplicable Internet connection problems.

A smart speaker is smart precisely because of how it connects to the Internet and other Internet-connected devices at home or elsewhere. While it might be possible to do things from a local network only, there are actions that only work if you have an active Internet connection. Without that, a smart speaker is just an overpriced speaker.

Unfortunately, that is exactly the experience that a number of owners are reporting with their new smart balls. They all report getting the same response from Siri when asking it to do something: "I am having trouble connecting to the Internet". Unfortunately, the large HomePod doesn't seem to experience the same issue so it's definitely not the case.

Even worse, no fix seems to be available for the issue. Users have reported trying all possible methods, including those advised by Apple, from resetting the speaker to even resetting their routers. If the HomePod mini started working again, it would only be for a day at most.

The one silver lining is that all HomePod minis are naturally still covered by their warranties but that doesn't exactly explain why it's happening in the first place. At this point, it could either be a software problem or, worse, a hardware one, and the latter is definitely harder to fix, especially on your own.