HomeKit After 16.2, any one have luck upgrading the architecture?

[Alpha Centauri]

My bridge is on the same SW version.

From my understanding, yes any device on iOS 15 will no longer be able to control the Home.

Thank you for confirming this.

I've had a heck of a time with compatibility of the Hue App, Bridge and Mesh routers to achieve out of home control with Internet LED always blinking. Controlling from iOS Home always worked though. Well, since current Bridge update it finally all works so this, plus my old SE then not functioning is giving me thought to leave as is.

Are you seeing any benefits after having upgraded?

 

[Alpha Centauri]

See I don't want to update my 8-plus as it's starting already to slow on 15.7. I dread what 16.2 would do to it. If isn't not broke, I'm not fixing. Don't force me to update Tim!

I slowed mainly as was hitting full memory (64GB) and Apps i.e. Hue, Mesh routers were crawling on my 6yr old SE, something I mistakenly attributed to Dev development. I couldn't go beyond iOS15. Same Apps now fly with more RAM on the new Ph and the bad WiFi calling quality/ drop outs horror is also finally gone.

 

[Morac]

Are you seeing any benefits after having upgraded?

Not really. I had a few things break which I eventually fixed, so things are working more or less how they used to.

I only have 26 accessories according to Siri and most are bridged so I don’t think their was a lot of network traffic to begin with. People with a few hundred accessories would probably benefit.

 

[TonyC28]

What a freaking joke. Hey thanks Apple for this awesome update that bricked my Home until I reset all hubs. And also thanks for clunky process of re-adding my wife back to our Home after your awesome update kicked her out. The six interns working on HomeKit really knocked it out of the park this time. So pathetic

 

[splifingate]

Just a basic arrive home automation

Thank you.

 

[operationsphere]

My set up is still saying "Cannot complete Update" "There are no available HomePod updates" even though every single thing I own is now updated

UPGRADERS BEWARE... After spending an hour with a Senior Tech @ Apple yesterday and getting disconnected with no callback, here's where we are.

Updated our 3 Apple TVs, 4 HomePods multiple Macs on OSX 16.2.... The architecture is updated and working 'perfectly' on my iPhone 13 PRO. My whole family is kicked off AirPlay and our Home. They only have the option to create a new home. They cannot use AirPlay now at all, and cannot hand off their music to the HomePods or use voice commands.

Also - I cannot delete them from our HOME and add them again, or make any adjustments to their HOME profiles even though they have 'RESIDENT' status on the "new" HOME architecture. "Cannot Modify User's Access' error message."

Any HELP would be GREATLY appreciated. Basically this upgrade has cost my family Apple HOME and device access.

Guess I will call Senior Tech again and fish around for someone who knows if this can be fixed before the next updates that hopefully will solve the update pain the butt issue.

Best Regards.
Early Adopter Woes

 

[Morac]

Are all your family’s devices updated to iOS 16.2? They need to be.

The only thing I can suggest is to unplug all but one Home Hub and then reboot that one device and use just that one. Then restart all your phone, macs, etc.

You can have the family members leave the Home themselves if you can’t remove them.

Worse comes to worse, you can delete the entire Home and set up a new one. If that doesn’t work, there is a profile out there that will completely wipe all Home data from your devices and iCloud account. That’s basically the nuclear option though and is a last resort.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/comments/yy2oy7

 

[operationsphere]

Are all your family’s devices updated to iOS 16.2? They need to be.

The only thing I can suggest is to unplug all but one Home Hub and then reboot that one device and use just that one. Then restart all your phone, macs, etc.

You can have the family members leave the Home themselves if you can’t remove them.

Worse comes to worse, you can delete the entire Home and set up a new one. If that doesn’t work, there is a profile out there that will completely wipe all Home data from your devices and iCloud account. That’s basically the nuclear option though and is a last resort.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/comments/yy2oy7

Thanks MORAC... appreciate it. Will go through this and try... Yes... everything we own has been upgraded. My wife cannot be removed from our home by me, and she does not show our home anymore on her iPhone... so she cannot leave.

 

[Itinj24]

Thanks MORAC... appreciate it. Will go through this and try... Yes... everything we own has been upgraded. My wife cannot be removed from our home by me, and she does not show our home anymore on her iPhone... so she cannot leave.

There are reports of a second home within HomeKit causing these types of issues. Could that be the case? Are you or your wife tied into a second home?

 

[operationsphere]

There are reports of a second home within HomeKit causing these types of issues. Could that be the case? Are you or your wife tied into a second home?

Thanks Itinj24 > Nope... 2nd home is non-existent.

On the line with another senior tech running diagnostic tests on both my iPhone 13 Pro and my wife's iPhone 10XR to elevate to Apple Engineers.

Appreciate your posting... wish it was that.

 

[operationsphere]

UPGRADERS BEWARE... After spending an hour with a Senior Tech @ Apple yesterday and getting disconnected with no callback, here's where we are.

Updated our 3 Apple TVs, 4 HomePods multiple Macs on OSX 16.2.... The architecture is updated and working 'perfectly' on my iPhone 13 PRO. My whole family is kicked off AirPlay and our Home. They only have the option to create a new home. They cannot use AirPlay now at all, and cannot hand off their music to the HomePods or use voice commands.

Also - I cannot delete them from our HOME and add them again, or make any adjustments to their HOME profiles even though they have 'RESIDENT' status on the "new" HOME architecture. "Cannot Modify User's Access' error message."

Any HELP would be GREATLY appreciated. Basically this upgrade has cost my family Apple HOME and device access.

Guess I will call Senior Tech again and fish around for someone who knows if this can be fixed before the next updates that hopefully will solve the update pain the butt issue.

Best Regards.
Early Adopter Woes

UPDATE - on the line with another Senior Tech doing diagnostics on iPhone 13 PRO & iPhone 10XR to send over to Apple Engineers...

 

[Itinj24]

Thanks Itinj24 > Nope... 2nd home is non-existent.

On the line with another senior tech running diagnostic tests on both my iPhone 13 Pro and my wife's iPhone 10XR to elevate to Apple Engineers.

Appreciate your posting... wish it was that.

No worries. Best of luck 👍.

 

[Morac]

UPDATE - on the line with another Senior Tech doing diagnostics on iPhone 13 PRO & iPhone 10XR to send over to Apple Engineers...

Hopefully the engineers can help you.

I’ve given up on Apple support though as it seems like none of them want to actually give support. Senior techs have no knowledge on how Apple products work (I’ve had a number give me flat out wrong information). Their only suggestion is doing factory resets. The last one was supposed to call me back in 3 days and never did.

 

[Itinj24]

I called support when iOS 16 first launched and he told me they’ve been very busy lately. This whole release has been a nightmare.

 

[oarx]

good lord! I seem to be have resolved my issues but... I can't believe how many people have had it even worse than I did.

resetting absolutely everything seems like a monumental hassle! I do use a combination of Alexa and Siri at home, but I would say 90% of our commands end up going to Alexa because all we get from our HomePods is:

on it...
still on it...
this is taking longer than usual..
im having trouble connecting to the internet...
you dont have anything like that in your home...
or some random other thing happening that was not even close to what we asked

Thank you all here who have shared their issues and their solutions!

OH, and for me: the additional homes that I initially deleted, that don't have anything in them, have somehow come back...
I have a Home, a House and a My Home... only "Home" has things in it and is used... im not sure what other app keeps adding the other two, but when I delete them, they somehow come back!

 

[valkraider]

Yeah, this HomeKit architecture “upgrade” has been buggy as h e double hockey sticks.

Note: I think the new architecture works well. It’s the upgrade process that is borked beyond belief. I work in IT, if we released a system update like this I would be job-hunting right now.

Second Note: everyone should be crystal clear - you can update all your devices to iOS, iPadOS, TVOS, and HomePodOS 16.2 - and MacOS 13.1 - without doing this HomeKit architecture “upgrade”. The two things are related but not the same.

16.2/13.1 offers a lot of good stuff and important security patches - don’t let all these HomeKit architecture nightmares keep you from updating the OSs.

Just wait on the HomeKit home app architecture “upgrade” for a couple more versions…

 

[Itinj24]

Yeah, this HomeKit architecture “upgrade” has been buggy as h e double hockey sticks.

Note: I think the new architecture works well. It’s the upgrade process that is borked beyond belief. I work in IT, if we released a system update like this I would be job-hunting right now.

Second Note: everyone should be crystal clear - you can update all your devices to iOS, iPadOS, TVOS, and HomePodOS 16.2 - and MacOS 13.1 - without doing this HomeKit architecture “upgrade”. The two things are related but not the same.

16.2/13.1 offers a lot of good stuff and important security patches - don’t let all these HomeKit architecture nightmares keep you from updating the OSs.

Just wait on the HomeKit home app architecture “upgrade” for a couple more versions…

Seriously, how can they get away with some much bugs and be proud of their product? I’m not just talking HomeKit. All the Apple OS’s have been crap lately. I feel like a perpetual beta tester.

 

[dotme]

Just wait on the HomeKit home app architecture “upgrade” for a couple more versions…

Solid advice IMHO. I'm firmly in the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" camp. My HomeKit setup is working. I have no automation troubles, no smart button troubles, no AirPlay troubles and no additional member troubles. My Home app loads status on everything within 1-2 seconds of force-closing and reopening the app.

From what people seem to be saying, if you have reliability problems before upgrading the Architecture, that upgrade is unlikely to resolve them... but it may introduce more problems. I'm holding off on the Architecture update for now because I see no advantage but plenty of risk. The last thing I need moving into the Holidays are broken switches, automations and a wife getting kicked from the home. Stunned at some of the problems I'm reading about, with people having to download "profile deletion" software etc. Sounds like a nightmare.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

I don't own many Home connected devices but do use my newly retired OG SE to control those sometime. I cannot move beyond iOS15.7.1 with this but am wondering what the technical limitation of the new architecture are, that iOS16.2 the minimum requirement is?

 

[Morac]

I'm reading about, with people having to download "profile deletion" software etc. Sounds like a nightmare.

FYI, it’s not really software per say, it just exposes a hidden button in iOS that nukes all HomeKit data locally and in the cloud.

The upgrade doesn’t really do much but potentially make the Home app respond faster. I’m not sure why it seems to be causing all kinds of issues unless it’s just exposing previous corrupted HomeKit data that just happened to be working. Apple doesn’t handle edge cases well at all.

 

[Morac]

I don't own many Home connected devices but do use my newly retired OG SE to control those sometime. I cannot move beyond iOS15.7.1 with this but am wondering what the technical limitation of the new architecture are, that iOS16.2 the minimum requirement is?

Yes it requires software changes made in 16.2. I don’t know why Apple couldn’t make it backwards compatible to revert to the old mechanism for older devices, but they must not have wanted to make the effort to do so.

 

[hagjohn]

There are reports of a second home within HomeKit causing these types of issues. Could that be the case? Are you or your wife tied into a second home?

I have this issue with one smart bulb. It is there because I can't add it but it doesn't show up anywhere. I just haven't had time to deal with it yet, so I use HUE app.

BTW, what bulbs are people buying now? I've started to buy innr bulbs and strips (all with color) because they are cheaper than HUE equip but work with HUE app and Home app (you have to make sure you are buying the HUE comp versions). You cannot get the innr bridge in the US though, I think.

 

[Itinj24]

I have this issue with one smart bulb. It is there because I can't add it but it doesn't show up anywhere. I just haven't had time to deal with it yet, so I use HUE app.

BTW, what bulbs are people buying now? I've started to buy innr bulbs and strips (all with color) because they are cheaper than HUE equip but work with HUE app and Home app (you have to make sure you are buying the HUE comp versions). You cannot get the innr bridge in the US though, I think.

I use Hue for main lighting with Nanoleaf strips for ambient stuff. I absolutely love the adaptive lighting feature and whatever lighting I get must support it.

 

[Someirishguy]

I’m about to pull the switch on upgrading the architecture for my Home (with 42 connected devices)…

 

[Edelheid]

the additional homes that I initially deleted, that don't have anything in them, have somehow come back...
I have a Home, a House and a My Home... only "Home" has things in it and is used... im not sure what other app keeps adding the other two, but when I delete them, they somehow come back!

Try checking any manufacturer app with a cloud sync feature that comes to mind. I had something kind of similar happen, except it’s whenever I rename my home it keeps reverting to the old name. Turns out it’s because the Nanoleaf app has the old name in the cloud and it keeps fetching that data.

Even now my Nanoleaf cloud sync has a second home (no clue how the came to be) synced to it that’s practically nameless even though I’ve only ever setup one home and never joined any other, but either way I don’t see that phantom home in my Home app.