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Apple Adds iOS 16.2's Home App Upgrade to Internal List of Major Issues
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Initially everything was great. I was thrilled that scenes using Hue (Zigbee) devices were working instead of instantly saying a device didn’t answer while a few seconds later the device would respond. I figured with the HP Mini and ATV doing all the work there wouldn’t be those issues anymore.
Instead, after a week some of my scenes will only set the on/off state and the brightness, but not the color, which was a problem I’d had occasionally for years but now consistently is an issue. Automations to turn on devices (as opposed to setting scenes) at sunset are a 50-50 chance they’ll run.
You’d think that Apple’s public betas would make up for the fact they seem to only develop and test in house in ideal environments with only the newest software, but…
Instead, after a week some of my scenes will only set the on/off state and the brightness, but not the color, which was a problem I’d had occasionally for years but now consistently is an issue. Automations to turn on devices (as opposed to setting scenes) at sunset are a 50-50 chance they’ll run.
You’d think that Apple’s public betas would make up for the fact they seem to only develop and test in house in ideal environments with only the newest software, but…
It's more of that great work-from-home software. Apple software has been going downhill for the last few years. Seems they rather push out super buggy software and then be like "we might fix this in a future update" rather than iron the bugs out (to where it at least functions as intended) before pushing it out.
Yep, Apple’s obsession with secrecy above all else has led to this. One of the easiest ways to keep things secret is to have everyone, no matter the problem, follow the exact same steps. That has led to Apple support being: erase and reinstall then RTA to engineering, just so engineering can tell you to keep your device up to date. It may not actually help customers, but it ensures no one can actually figure-out what the problem may be because everyone is treated exactly the same.
Glad I waited on the upgrade … HomeKit on 15.7 has been rock solid for me with about 30 accessories.
Wonder who takes the fall for this rushed mess they rolled out? Clearly people developing must live by themselves with one bulb to turn off/on.
Wonder who takes the fall for this rushed mess they rolled out? Clearly people developing must live by themselves with one bulb to turn off/on.
These are proximate explanations, not ultimate explanations.
SW is hard for everyone, but only HK has been so bad for so long. There seems to be a cluster of issues ranging from
- unwillingness to use the SW themselves. Or, what's the same thing, continually adding features they don't use, so they then don't get tested.
- unwillingness to listen to anyone else. Complaints about how location is handled, or Automation-related issues, have been constant since HK shipped, but nothing ever changes. Whether the complaints are in public fora, in print, or via Feedback assistant, whether they are rants or nuanced technical explanations, doesn't matter, they're uniformly ignored.
The technical points you describe (multi-homes, inviting guests) while true, even if fixed won't fix the ATTITUDINAL problems that seem so strongly embedded in this team.
OMG, so true!
An even worse version of this seems to occur with Automations. It's hard to tell what is design defect and what is bug, but there seem to be cases where you can create an automation, but there is then
- some long long period between the creation and whatever has to be done (store it on Apple server? propagate it to home hub? insert it into some hash table of trigger/responses?) with no feedback as to what's happening. Result is you can diddle with the Automation endlessly but it seems like it does not work.
Couple that with incorrect feedback as to what's displayed in the UI and no good logging or error tracking and it's a recipe for going mad.
Apple refuses to see HomeKit as something that should be a DEVELOPER-level product, like XCode. The question should always be "suppose a BUILDER wanted to build a house on our product and sell that house for an extra $20K based on its set of automations - would that work?" Answer was and remains, absolutely not.
The developer can't CREATE the automations because of terrible Automation tools (language, error tracking/logging, debugging, weirdness in when scripts start working, ...).
The developer can't TRUST the automations after they're developed because they randomly stop working for reasons that are obscure (some seem to be database corruption, some seem to be loss of security tokens, along with the usual generic HomeKit flakiness of not seeing packets and not handling failed requests).
HomeKit is over 8 years old. THAT is why there is so much fury at it and contempt for its programmers. This is not a case of the usual sort of small bugs that creep into any sort of 1.0 product; it's a case of a bad design 8 years ago that was not fixed (nor its many bugs) for 8 years, only to be replaced with something that seems to have learned NOTHING in the past 8 years.
HomeLog is definitely useful for trying to figure out what's going wrong with automations. But it's also very limited. It tells you the set of "inputs" going into HK which is a start, but it doesn't tell you things like WHY HK responded as it did, or why an Automation that you expected to trigger did not trigger, or anything like that.No diagnostic tools is definitely a classic Apple move. I fear for when they remove the port on iPhone. Diags will be impossible by the end user.
There’s an app that generates logs for HoneKit. I have no idea how well it works but it is the first of its kind. The dev’s other apps are solid tho, for what it’s worth…
The iOS app logs only when the app is running in the foreground. The Mac variant can log in the background.
HomeLog for HomeKit
HomeLog is the best way to track and find issues in your HomeKit homes over time. Log changes in your HomeKit accessories, track when a device is unreachable and Features: • On the Mac, you can log changes even when the app is hidden with our specially crafted powerful logging system. • A...apps.apple.com
I know this isn't much of a solution, but I had the same problem, which I managed to resolve. So I have a router that doesn't work with homepods, nothing wrong with it, but homepods are just picky. I got myself a wifi extender by tp-link, and I effectively copied my wifi with it, just with a different name. Both the extender and router are in the same room, which makes it look like a comedy, but after moving homepods and my iphone to that new network everything works well. Again nothing wrong with my main router, all other devices never had any issues.
Thanks for the detailed reply. Eufy cameras working fine here. Somehow my problems were not nearly so severe.
With the exception of removing the ability to assign a specific home hub and the issues width added family members dropping out of the system, problems have been really inconsistent. That’s what makes this update so strange. It seems to be broken on some fundamental level but able to work under just the right conditions.
What would go a long way is if they would enable the ability to backup a home to my iCloud just like we do a phone or iPad.
Needing to restore a backup if things go pear shaped is one thing - but needing to start from scratch, including disassembling sconce lights and getting out ladders and crawling under cabinets to get to devices to add them back to the home - that’s not good.
That was my fear this time around is that I was going to have to start over and not all my devices are easily accessible - so that would be a major undertaking.
Needing to restore a backup if things go pear shaped is one thing - but needing to start from scratch, including disassembling sconce lights and getting out ladders and crawling under cabinets to get to devices to add them back to the home - that’s not good.
That was my fear this time around is that I was going to have to start over and not all my devices are easily accessible - so that would be a major undertaking.
I was really looking forward to this. I’m so glad I didn’t upgrade the architecture right away.
My network is Eero 6 routers. I have tons of problems with the new HK architecture.
I am not sure there is such a thing as a “HomeKit compatible router” specifically.
Can you share what makes you believe this is the case?
It appears in Home app and you can restrict access to all accesories that communicate through the Internet when it’s not necessary or unwanted. I don’t need my cams to call home when I am using them exclusively in HKSV.I am not sure there is such a thing as a “HomeKit compatible router” specifically.
Can you share what makes you believe this is the case?
The poster is referring to https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210544 but I don't believe there is any reason to expect that routers that support this feature are any more "reliable" for HK than alternatives. Of course there are so many bugs and design flaws in HK, and so few reliable logging/error tracking mechanisms that WTF knows?
So, per Apple, HomeKit users have just one router to choose from? https://www.apple.com/home-app/accessories/#section-routers
HomeKit works with literally any WiFi.
Some routers offer extra features *with* HomeKit.
For reliability all you need is a solid signal and keep your router firmware updated.
Also - many HomeKit devices don’t use WiFi - many use things such as Bluetooth, Zigby, ZWave, or now - Thread.
Don’t confuse the fact that a WiFi device is called a “Router” and there are also HomeKit “routers” or Thread “routers”. The word “router” is overloaded in these various contexts.
However - some WiFi routers are better and more reliable than others, and if you have a weak or flaky WiFi setup you should not expect your stuff to work well, including but not limited to HomeKit.
Some routers offer extra features *with* HomeKit.
For reliability all you need is a solid signal and keep your router firmware updated.
Also - many HomeKit devices don’t use WiFi - many use things such as Bluetooth, Zigby, ZWave, or now - Thread.
Don’t confuse the fact that a WiFi device is called a “Router” and there are also HomeKit “routers” or Thread “routers”. The word “router” is overloaded in these various contexts.
However - some WiFi routers are better and more reliable than others, and if you have a weak or flaky WiFi setup you should not expect your stuff to work well, including but not limited to HomeKit.
You can do this with almost every WiFi router in existence since the late 90s.
These just have a fancy button in the UI labeled “HomeKit”.
I would bet all it does is turn on and off firewall rules, or _maybe_ does that _and_ sends a particular message to the device…
Just for the record: you do NOT need a so-called HomeKit router! They absolutely will not and cannot guarantee any better service.
HomeKit is fundamentally flawed at the backend, no type of router can mitigate this.
HomeKit is fundamentally flawed at the backend, no type of router can mitigate this.