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Apple Adds iOS 16.2's Home App Upgrade to Internal List of Major Issues

Maclver said:
I guess im one of the lucky ones who hasn't had any issues with the homekit upgrade and I have several devices in my home app. Fingers crossed things stay working!
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Same… I did the update the day iOS 16.2 came out and had updated all my devices. No issues with the upgrade when doing it.

After it completed, I had one device come back no response, and my wife couldn’t get access to our home anymore. Just had to power cycle all my hubs. Ever since then, everything has worked as expected. And we have like 40 HomeKit devices. Things do seem snappier in general too.

Hoping they get it ironed out for everyone who had issues.
 
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needsomecoffee said:
Something is broken re: Apple software development. I do not know how they architect/manage their different systems, but it appears to be broken (e.g. my experience of ever more bugs affecting MacOS releases). Not sure Apple mgmt cares since little seems to change.
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They seem to have gotten into a mindset of "Looks good enough, we can fix it later with an update".
 
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The upgrade part of mine worked flawlessly.

Unfortunately I live with my family and I haven’t been able to properly add them back to the home. I’ve tried everything I could find online (reboot all hubs, turn off all hubs but one, wait, rename home, wait some more, chant “Steve” seven times etc) with the exception of deleting my home and starting from scratch.

I’d hoped for a better solution than that last one, but I’m almost to that point…
 
I'm in the group that the Home Architecture Update went perfectly. All my devices are working fine and I've certainly seen an improvement in device reliability and much, much less of the dreaded 'No Response' messages.
 
I was able to update and it’s just as terrible as it was before the update. Even tried different routers and didn’t solve anything.
 
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Apple does so many things right. But the two things that they struggle with the most are the Siri voice response and the home assistant HomeKit. Home kit is so far behind that I don’t even try to use it. And Siri is just about in the same place. I never thought I would be in this place, but I use Amazon for both of these things and it just works.
 
Funny thing is, I don't recall if the update went through for my devices (which admittedly, aren't many).

I haven't seen any real issues with them outside one annoying automation never working quite right.
 
I’m also in the everything works post update group. I was impressed as much with the new update as of the laundry list of problems people had with it.
 
How I reset my HomePod's

Press the top of HomePod to reset it​

If you can't reset HomePod using the Home app, you can press the top of HomePod to reset it.
  1. Unplug HomePod or unplug the power adapter for HomePod mini. Wait 10 seconds, then plug HomePod back in.
  2. Wait 10 seconds, then touch your finger to the top of HomePod and hold it there.
  3. The white spinning light will turn red. Keep your finger down.
  4. Siri will say that your HomePod is about to reset. When you hear three beeps, you can lift your finger.
  5. Remove HomePod from the Home app.
This is what worked for me - I had forgotten this as a way to reset.
 
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MacRumors said:


Apple has marked iOS 16.2's Home architecture update as a major issue by adding it to an internal list of issues typically only reserved for widespread and noteworthy problems, indicating the update caused widespread and systemic issues to users' HomeKit devices and setup.

homekit-showdown-2-thumb.jpg

Earlier this month, Apple released iOS 16.2, which included an option for users to update their Home app to a new, more "stable" architecture. Apple previewed the new architecture in June, and it was offered as a user-initiated option for users as an update to the Home app following iOS 16.2's release.

Despite Apple claiming the update would improve the Home app experience, a significant amount of users reported their HomeKit devices, scenes, and setups were broken after the update. The widespread issues caused by the update forced Apple to ultimately pull the upgrade, saying it would return in the future.

Now, MacRumors has learned Apple has added the Home app update to a database of both hardware and software issues internally, a rare move for a software-related problem. The list, used by Apple, Apple Stores, and authorized service providers, typically only includes widespread issues faced by customers, including mostly hardware problems.

Apple claims the update improves the Home app to offer "faster, more reliable performance," alongside slight adjustments to the Home app design. It's unclear when Apple will fix the issues with the update and make it available to users again. Until the update is fixed, the company has provided instructions that users who are experiencing issues after the update should follow.

Article Link: Apple Adds iOS 16.2's Home App Upgrade to Internal List of Major Issues
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The biggest issue was all three other family members had to upgrade their devices or not have access to HomeKit. Then I discovered that when doing the update, two offices, each having their own “home” had to be updated and that meant upgrading them plus five others who access those sites. The others involved have their own homes and families which they would lose access to those unless they updated. This became a nightmare which still exists and I opted to disconnect myself from the company sites to restore order at my house.

In the midst of this, the wife wanted two more HomePod mini’s added to the house for holiday music and it took five days before the Apple-shipped units upgraded to 16.2 and were accessible on the home location. Kind of didn’t matter in the big scheme of things as two in my household couldn’t be added back into the home for several days.

Solutions - desperate ones - included other users posting suggestions from Apple to wipe out their homes, reset everything and start over. Yeah, no. Too much automation and too many devices and people to take that on.

I’d also recently retired the last Alexa standing in the household, but thought about bringing some back, not for the automation, but to save some face as the home admin and get the music originally requested. That would have worked out of the box.
 
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Alexa and Goggle have reported major loses and cutting back on staff. While total local control of voice assistants is slowly building steam e.g. Mycroft and Rhasspy.
 
I updated before they rolled it back, and everything works great for me, and the new architecture fixed a long-standing issue with Siri and Apple Music not being able to play my girlfriend's music and playlists even though it recognised her voice. I guess I just got lucky then. Hopefully they'll fix everything soon!
 
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I have over 100 devices in HomeKit, consists of Philips hue, Lotron, Aqara, Eve, 5 ATVs, and pair of HomePod mini. Everything seems working after update. However, the status updates have been significantly slower than before. Upon open the Home app, took about 10 seconds to get the device status to show. One odd issue, it always showing the last status before the app closed last time, then took a second or two to refresh to current status. Like many have said, why Apple is so secret about what has changed and why, it just make the diagnose issues far more difficult since we have no idea to define a baseline to compare to.
 
I guess I'm somewhat glad that I was too lazy to update two of my AppleTVs to 16.2 (for some reason they didn't update themselves). Otherwise I would have applied this upgrade and likely would have been screwed. By the time I got them updated, the new architecture had been pulled.
 
Completely broke my home. HomePod's kept saying could not authenticate, not responding, Nanoleaf thread lights wouldn't respond.

Luckily, complete deleted home and reset everything and working fine now. Upgrade was a total disaster.
 
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JMStearnsX2 said:
I'm glad I waited then, I've got several HomePods, Hue lights, Eve outlets and a Logitech doorbell. I'll wait until the general consensus deems it ready.

On a somewhat related note, Siri does seem to have gotten dumber, simple commands like "Turn off the dresser light" turns off the whole room....
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Same here. It told me I could update but when I tried it told me I couldn’t update. So I decided to just wait a couple of weeks before trying again. When I read all the comments I consider myself lucky not having been able to update.
 
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needsomecoffee said:
Something is broken re: Apple software development. I do not know how they architect/manage their different systems, but it appears to be broken (e.g. my experience of ever more bugs affecting MacOS releases). Not sure Apple mgmt cares since little seems to change.
Click to expand...
Sell their stock and then their tune will change. This is a total and unmitigated disaster. Their stock should reflect that.

The integrations and automations are the primary reason I (and many more) have invested tens of thousands of dollars in Apple products/software. There is more than one person who needs to get a pink slip for this train wreck of an update. The entire leadership in charge of HomeKit needs to get the ax. This isnt just a hiccup, its clearly a systemic disaster.
 
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This was the worst experience I’ve had with any iOS device setup anywhere. My perfectly working HomeKit setup got upgraded to the “better” one and then boom 💥 nothing working or responding. HomePods lost in translation, AppleTVs not acting as hubs. Other family phones not able to access lights or anything. Couldn’t even invite them back 😂. Had to delete and create a new home to get it functioning again. Thanks Apple!
 
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