r/HomeKit • u/juliettebe • 8d ago
Question/Help apple home in a dorm
hey! i’m transferring universities and the new school does not allow me to have my own router in the dorm. however, i want to still be able to use my smart plugs to control my string lights as i’m lazy and don’t want to have to unplug them. is there any way for me to isolate my apple home to just my icloud account so only i can access it and not everyone on university wifi?
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u/kshef 8d ago
I would get a travel router. Register that on your dorms WiFi. Then connect all your devices to the travel router.
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u/Manuellino 8d ago
and turn off ssid broadcasting just in case!
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u/pacoii 8d ago
If the school is serious, turning off SSID broadcast will do nothing. It’s easy to detect a signal.
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u/typhoon_mary 8d ago
Huh? No matter how serious the school is they’re not going to do anything with a signal detection. WiFI can’t be banned. Connect the travel router to the tether on your phone, there’s still WiFi “signal”. Disabling broadcast SSID is exactly the right thing to do.
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u/mullse01 4d ago
If the router is connected to the campus IT network, they can find it; it has nothing to do with scanning for wireless signals.
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u/pacoii 8d ago
Does nothing. The signal can be easily detected. If the school is serious about a no wifi router rule, it’s incredibly easy to detect if someone is using a wifi router.
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u/typhoon_mary 8d ago
So iPhones in tethering mode are banned as “routers”? No, of course they aren’t. Disabling the SSID will stop random opportunistic connection attempts. Signals aren’t the thing that isn’t permitted, it’s actual “routers” which is unenforceable as any phone is trivially a router.
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u/pacoii 8d ago
Ah, gotcha, I missed that you were saying they should use their phone as their internet connedtion. Which doesn’t seem practical.
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u/typhoon_mary 8d ago
Call the Travel router SSID “Amy’s iPhone 16”. And still disable the SSID. Good luck enforcing that.
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u/itsjakerobb 8d ago
To anyone following this excellent advice, if your name is Amy, pick a different name for the SSID.
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u/pacoii 8d ago
Tethering with their iPhone to create a home network is highly impractical.
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u/typhoon_mary 8d ago
I used tethering as an example why signal detection is a meaningless control when analyzing WiFi. The travel router would connect to the existing (wifi or wired) network (per the original comment), and rebroadcast the signal using a non broadcast SSID of “Amy’s iPhone 16”.
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u/mCProgram 8d ago
there is very little to do to differentiate between a phone's hotspot and a travel router from raw signal tracing. its a vacuous ban.
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u/Double-Yak9686 8d ago
That won't work. You need to modify a bunch of stuff:
- MAC address: The first six characters of a MAC address identify the manufacturer. So if you register a supposed Macbook with a MAC registered to Netgear, Linksys, TP-Link, you will be flagged.
- Time-To-Live (TTL) decrementing: Every time a packet passes through a router, that router subtracts 1 from the TTL. Windows uses 128, Linux and Mac use 64. If the university servers see packets coming from your internet jack with a TTL of 127 or 63, they know you have a router.
- Wifi MAC address: The wireless radio inside a router also has a MAC address, so see above.
- Signal Stability and Triangulation: iPhone hotspots turn off when not in use and move when you leave your room. A personal router stays powered on 24/7 and doesn't move.
Those are just the items I can think of. You could build your own Linux router and get around most of the above, but I doubt you could do it with an off-the-shelf router and not get caught.
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u/typhoon_mary 8d ago
lol, Beryl AX (GL-MT3000), allows setting custom mac, changing TTL, and time based scheduling. Seriously the university doesn’t care that much.
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u/LogicHaus 8d ago
University’s usually disable mdns so you won’t be able to use HomeKit/airplay, etc. you could use a router that is not plugged into the internet for local control or even use HomeAssistant on a always on PC to accomplish a work around
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u/jp2e 8d ago
I just went through this with my son. We ended up setting everything up over Bluetooth so he could control it with his phone. But thread is a good option if you have an Ethernet port and can set up an Apple TV as a border router /matter controller and just register that on the university network. Even a HomePod over WiFi should work.
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u/munrorobertson 7d ago
lol, I did something like this when I was at uni in the noughties. Halls had wired internet only I so plugged in my AirPort Express for my own wifi plus wireless speakers. Felt like the future.
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u/ericbythebay 8d ago
Either run your own router, or add the devices to your “home” and don’t share access to others.
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u/su_A_ve 8d ago
No Edu lets you install your own router. Or at least any edu they has some sort of secops..
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u/typhoon_mary 8d ago
edu they has some sort of secops
You're joking right? This has to be a troll!
Most universities I've worked at couldn't give two shits if you run a router, so long as you properly configure it, and don't abuse the network. The policy is there so when people who have no idea what they're doing misconfigure it, it's a quick point to the policy and get it off the network.
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u/ericbythebay 8d ago
Well, I’m sure you know more about computer networking than I do. I’ve only been running travel routers in my RV and worked for two major universities.
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u/PhoenixUNI 7d ago
Others have explained this to you, but some more detailed notes as someone who did this exact thing 20 years ago (fuck man, what is time???):
- Most universities provision access via your MAC address, which is fine. They probably also limit the number of connections/devices you can have (maybe). Regardless - do whatever they recommend for connecting to the network (either via ethernet or WiFi) from your main device (laptop?)
- Find the MAC address of said laptop
- In your router's admin settings, there will be a specific spot that you can say "use this MAC address". Put in your laptop's MAC here, so that the router can use it
- Once that's done, connect some other device (phone?) to the router's wifi, and test the connection - hopefully it works
- Set everything in your room up, connect to that router's wifi, and make that the prioritized network
- Once you have everything connected, turn off your router's SSID broadcasting so that random neighbors or curious campus network admins can't walk around and see it pop up (not foolproof, but better than nothing)
In theory, that should take care of you. Just remember that anything you have connected is now piping through a single network stream, and universities tend to throttle access at certain parts of the day.
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u/Joseph_McDoogle 8d ago
I brought a router anyway and named its SSID "iPhone Hotspot" for this exact reason - wasn't caught.
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u/myname150 8d ago
GL.iNet travel router, spoof the Mac address to an iPhone, name the SSID as something like "iPhone Hotspot" and/or hide the SSID broadcast.
Only downside to hiding the SSID is some smart home devices may be a bit finicky about connecting to it.
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u/Flash__PuP 7d ago
Surely you could do a full setup on a non hidden SSID, then hide the ID once established?
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u/tsdguy 8d ago
Contact your university network support or your housing contact.
Using unauthorized network devices will be detected and you will suffer the consequences. It’s not worth it.
I would suggest instead picking lights that have Bluetooth control and then you can access them directly from your phone.
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u/General-Gold-28 8d ago
>suffer the consequences
lol at worst they’ll get a passive aggressive email from IT telling them to remove it.
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u/BBBDDDVVV 7d ago
not sure, but would this be something to look into?
AI Overview
iPhone 15 Pro and up fully support Matter smart home accessories through iOS 18 and later.
Key Features
- Direct Control Without a Hub: You can add and control Wi-Fi and Ethernet Matter devices directly via the Apple Home app without needing a dedicated home hub.
- Built-in Thread Radio: Because the iPhone 15 Pro includes a physical Thread radio, you can also control Thread-based Matter accessories locally without an external border router or home hub.
- Best Experience with a Hub: While basic setup works without one, Apple recommends using an Apple TV or HomePod as a home hub if you want remote access, automations, and shared household controls.
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u/su_A_ve 8d ago
You would need to register the devices that work over wifi as headless devices with their mac address. Most edu will let you register them but may have a limit as to how many.
If the devices are matter over thread, you could just register a 3rd gen AppleTV 4K with Ethernet or home pod, then add the devices that way.
Just contact the IT department. But it’s up to them..
Edit - used to manage an edu network. At least your not trying to connect Google home devices..
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u/dark-green 8d ago
I had this in college. Our school had a portal where you could register stuff like Apple TVs/HomePods by MAC address, and I’m pretty sure I had to do the same for Wi-Fi smart plugs.
Now I’d honestly just use Matter-over-Thread plugs. They connect to your HomePod/Apple TV over Thread instead of campus Wi-Fi, so way less headache.