Last night, we had a nice little gathering to watch the Super Bowl. As everyone got settled in to watch the game, they pulled out their phones, as one does.
Suddenly, an alert appeared on my phone, one I’ve never seen before, asking me if it was OK to share my WiFi password with one of our guests. I tapped OK and they were logged on to our WiFi.
I’d heard about this behavior (I believe it shipped with the very first version of iOS 11), but never encountered it before. It felt a bit like opening an AirPods case near my iPhone. The alert just popped up, took over the screen.
Benjamin Mayo did a writeup of this behavior back in June 2017. If you follow the link, you can see what the alert looks like.
So what does this have to do with HomePod? Fair question.
Imagine that you lived next door to a big guy, a big guy with a beard who loved Heineken and Ozzie. We’ll call him Jim. What’s to prevent Jim from AirPlaying in to your HomePod, blasting Ozzie at top volume any time he liked?
As far as I can tell, you have to be on the same WiFi network as a HomePod in able to AirPlay in. So if Jim is not on my WiFi network, he has no access to my HomePod.
But suppose he comes over for coffee that one time, and I give him access to my WiFi in the scenario described above. Short of my changing my WiFi password, what’s to prevent Jim from Ozzying up my HomePod any time he likes?
There is a pairing process that is required to set up your HomePod, tie it to an Apple Music account. One question is, is that initial iOS device required in order to play music on HomePod? From everything I’ve read, it seems the only requirement for access is being on the same WiFi network as the HomePod.
To bring this all home, a second question is, once someone gains access to your WiFi, do they then have access to your HomePod? Does the scenario at the top give temporary access, say, for one day, or is it permanent access to your WiFi network?
It’s all about trust.
Just to be clear, I’m not worried that this is some sort of security hole. Just as Apple deals with this sort of protocol between other devices, I feel certain that there is a solution in place. I’m just curious about the details.
I’ll dig into this more once I get my paws on my very own HomePod. Meanwhile, if you know the answers to any of these questions, please do ping me.
in my best JFK: “These are serious questions…”
If that is your only concern giving a stranger your wifi password…
That’s how Sonos works by default. Anyone on your Wi-Fi can control your Sonos.
Why not set up guest access on your AirPort Extreme? It separates your devices on the main network from those on the guest network. Seems the simplest and most obvious solution. Also pretty sure Access Control will let you kick selected devices off your network.
They don’t see the password. The visitor’s phone is automatically logged in. In the past they had to know the password. Now they don’t.
https://www.imore.com/wi-fi-password-sharing-ios-11
We never have guests. Problem solved.
I wonder if it should work as well that the guest’s phone doesn’t remember the network after a certain period. Grant access, the phone gets on the network and remembers the password for 24 hours or some configurable number. Guest never sees the password, gets access from you conveniently, but access isn’t permanent. Probably very hackable, though.
Does the person not need to be in your contacts?
“you have to be on the same WiFi network as a HomePod in able to AirPlay in.”
Typo. Replace able with order?
I’ve not yet seen an article about this WiFi password sharing that mentioned if or how you rescind permission to your WiFi. Does it drop when the other person is out of range and then they need to request again when they return? I’m not enthusiastic about using it until I know. I do have a guest account, though, and I can change that password as I please.
they have to be in your Contacts, and thus are not a stranger. just not seeing the concern here.
they do need to be in your contacts, and you need to give them permission.
tho it didnt work for my buddy who is in my contacts and on the latest iOS; it just never asked me.
“What’s to prevent Jim from AirPlaying in to your HomePod, blasting Ozzie at top volume any time he liked?”
Uhh… If you don’t let him login to your Wi-Fi network, he CAN’T AirPlay ANYTHING to your HomePod (or to anything else that uses AirPlay on your network)!!! ?
Yes, and also Bluetooth needs to be active on both devices.
Most important thing: “Ozzy”, not “Ozzie”.
“But suppose he comes over for coffee that one time, and I give him access to my WiFi in the scenario described above”
Given the fact that HomePod and its competitors are “always listening” I’d say surveillance is right up there with WiFi security.
Seems like the exact same problem as if you gave them your password. Which is what you did.
You could change the password, of course, but if a friend is abusing this you should probably also change your friend. 🙂
if you trust that stranger enough to not use your wifi for other nerfarious activities (that iphone could have been jailbroken or otherwise hacked to exploit your network, or to he could download bad – for you – pornography, or use your home-automation…), I wouldn‘t worry about the homepod.
btw., I tried that password sharing yesterday, but it took some time until the alert showed up. just when it did a few seconds in, i already had gotten inpatient and did something else with the „master“ phone, so it appeared with the o.k. symbol under my thumb just a split second before i hit the screen. I‘d love to have those alerts as notifications, to come back to them if this happens – or an undo for those white-background pop-ups. it was not the first time i accidentially hit o.k. or cancel because it arrived just at the worst possible time.
it‘s like siri always rearranging the app suggestions just a split-second before I tap the app I want to. shakes fist at heaven or hell, wherever steve is now
If you’re that worried about your annoying neighbor Jim, and you give him your WiFi password, you should ask yourself why you did something so stupid. Or skip that step and change your WiFi password.
The post is about the feature where you can let someone on your wifi without telling them the password. Is that connection allowed forever, is there a way to revoke access without changing the wi-fi password, etc.
This is one of those features that sounds cool but is of really limited use except for people who have crappy LTE reception at home. If I’m on my iPhone at any friend’s house I have LTE which is plenty of speed for what I need to do. Sure, there are edge cases – because of some account I have, I can stream X that my friend can’t and we want to watch it without burning up my LTE allotment, things like that. But those are by definition rare.
Even so, it would be good if the permission expired after, say, 24 hours just as a security measure.
I’ll put you on my curmudgeon list, Mo. 🙂
Well, there’s that. Plus, we’re godawful housekeepers. Hooboy.
Problem solved!
Right. They don’t see the password. But you grant access to your private network.
So they might have access to more than just a speaker.
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I know this article is about important things like security but this was what concerned me the most!
For that feature to work the person has to be in your Contacts. A friend in your contacts is very likely not going to harass you by sneaking outside your door and sending music to your speakers. It’s just a stupid concern.
Nah, I always always prefer wifi to cellular. Especially if I’m getting large files, youtube, I’m overseas, or my friends are overseas. Wifi in our homes is almost always better.
It’s a good feature.
This is why I like Apple’s approach to things. It’s honest.
Once that WiFi password is on your friend’s device, you have to assume they have it forever. It’s not quite public, but you have to assume it’s known to your friend. Pretending you didn’t receive it later is security theatre, not security.
Require Airplay passcode like on AppleTV to stop just anyone.