With the launch of iOS 14.4, Apple added a new feature for the HomePod mini that's designed to provide haptic feedback when your iPhone 11 or 12 is near the speaker to facilitate the simpler handing off of songs from one device to another.

HomePod mini iOS 14
When moving your ‌iPhone‌ closer to a ‌HomePod mini‌ after installing the iOS 14.4 update, the ‌iPhone‌ vibrates quicker and quicker as it gets closer to the speaker, and ‌HomePod mini‌ controls pop up on the screen. If you happen to keep your ‌HomePod mini‌ on a desk or another location where it's often close to your ‌iPhone‌, the proximity notifications can get frustrating fast.

If you've run into this problem and want the popups and vibrations to stop, follow these directions:

Open the Settings app.
Tap on "General."
Tap on "AirPlay & Handoff."
Toggle off "Transfer to HomePod."

With this feature, your ‌iPhone‌ will no longer attempt to transfer music or media to your ‌HomePod mini‌ when it's near the speaker, preventing the haptic feedback and song transfer interface from showing up. The haptic vibrations and transfer features are limited to the ‌HomePod mini‌ and the ‌iPhone‌ 11 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 models, but the option can also be disabled on other iPhones to prevent the standard transfer interface from coming up.

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Top Rated Comments

Apple_Robert

34 months ago

My phone vibrates every time when placing it on my Mac desk. Ir doesn't really bother me. I think it should only vibrate when there is an actual hand off possibility, instead of vibrating just because the phone is close. Maybe Apple will change that aspect.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

ProfessionalFan

I had to turn it off because I have my mini on my desk and it was happening constantly.

Populus

I like how, with iOS 14, Apple is releasing, step by step, new features on each update, instead of cramming all of them into the release build like they did with previous releases (we all remember the disaster of iOS 13 on its launch). This way they can keep polishing the operating system while they add, slowly, some of the remaining features along the year.

This might sound like a stupid/insane question, but is anyone using a HomePod (mini or otherwise) without Siri? I like the idea of a good AirPlay speaker but my wife and I just don't particularly care to have Siri on all the time.

I asked something similar in the past. Some said ”if you don’t want a smartspeaker why are you buying a smartspeaker?”, but there was a useful answer among all of them. Someone told me: “You just ask Siri to stop listening”. I hope this answers your question.