HomePod mini with VPN

it's because the way vpn works is that your iphone use a tunnel across the internet provided by the vpn server

and now appear on the network of the vpn provider, rather than on your home lan where the homepod connects

there are cases where vpn can be useful but for most cases it's going to give you trouble like this

you can read more

HomePod not connecting from Mac when conn… - Apple Community

HomePod + VPN? : r/HomePod (reddit.com)

MacBook can't "see" HomePods when connected to VPN, but iPhone can | MacRumors Forums

I use a VPN all the time with no problem. When I initially setup my HomePod mini’s, I had to turn off my VPN. Once I had everything setup on the same network and same Apple ID, I was able to turn on my VPN and have not had any issues. I have an iPhone 15 pro, IPad Pro, and MacBook Air M3, an older Mac mini - all with active VPN’s. I actually have 3 different VPN’s to switch between depending on how strict I want my connection to be. No problem with any of the VPNs and accessing my HomePods.

If you own your own router, the issue may be there. I refuse to use my internet provider’s router.

I have my own router. It has the ability to combine the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz under a single name. This lets your device pick the router frequency that works best for the device. For a while this was not an issue with my HomePods. After several months I started having all kinds of issues with my HomePods.

I finally used separate names for my router frequencies. I set all my Apple devices to the 5 GHz frequency and have not had any issues since.

I use a VPN all the time without any problems connecting to my HomePods, or any other devices on my home network. I use the 5 GHz frequency on my router. I have my own router. It has the ability to name each frequency the same so that your device can choose what works best for that device, and it simplifies connecting devices for people.

Initially that worked for me, but after several months, it caused problems. So I gave separate names to the frequencies and no longer have any problems.

I actually have 3 VPN’s to switch between. As a test I used a different VPN on three devices and connected to my HomePods with no problems. One of the VPN’s was NordVPN on the strongest setting.

I even have a door lock that I can control while using VPN.