HomePod HotSignals EAP correction (2026-11-01)

TL;DR

Kitchen HomePod was moved to HotSignalsInYourArea after a bad Check 2 recommendation. Home then showed No Response. HotSignals is WPA2-EAP; the known-good path is The LAN Before Time (WPA2-PSK) with UniFi network=IoT and fixed 192.168.7.124 — same pattern already recorded in device VLAN mapping since the 2026-06-26 AirPlay fix.

Phase status

Area	Status
ZBF / iPhone VLAN	Healthy at last LAN diagnose
HomePod after HotSignals move	Broken — blank essid, stale last_seen
Docs / diagnose	Corrected to forbid HotSignals for this HomePod

What shipped

• Runbook Check 3
• diagnose-homekit-airplay.py FAIL on HotSignals / unassociated HomePod; OK note when on LAN Before Time + IoT

Known gaps / drift

• Cloud agent cannot re-query UniFi live; owner must confirm UniFi client after putting the HomePod back on LAN Before Time.
• 1s AirPlay stall root cause (Check 2) remains open once the HomePod is online again.

What remains

1. Owner: HomePod Wi‑Fi → The LAN Before Time; forget HotSignals on that device; power-cycle; wait for fresh UniFi last_seen.
2. Owner: re-test Home + ≥30s AirPlay from KrustyKrab.
3. Optional: clear Apple TV GenPop fixed IP.

Mermaid

flowchart TD
  bad["Move HomePod to HotSignals EAP"]
  drop["UniFi essid blank / stale last_seen"]
  home["Home app No Response"]
  fix["Rejoin LAN Before Time PSK + IoT override"]
  bad --> drop --> home
  fix --> ok["HomeKit / AirPlay path restored"]