Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Confirms iPad Will No Longer Be Supported as a Home Hub in iOS 16

An iPad has to be turned ON and/or plugged in to currently operate as a hub. Turn it off and hub capabilty goes away, unless it is plugged in. So the iPad was always just a so-so (at best) option for a hub seeing its limitations. If Apple was not willing to make it work while OFF and unplugged, then it really wasn’t that great of an option. I think a plugged in device that is always in the home is best for a hub, but I’m sure many others will start yelling for another class action lawsuit, as usual. If you want to complain at Apple, complain about the lackluster list of accessories that work well with HomeKit and the ridiculously low number of features offered within HomeKit. Amazon is kicking their Apple core hole in the home automation market.
 
  • Like
Reactions: G5isAlive, jwdsail, imnotthewalrus and 18 others
AJTC said:
Surely this will be a cause for returns/lawsuits if customers bought an iPad because of the home hub functionality? I recently told a friend to buy some Homekit accessories instead of Amazon/Google stuff because I said she could use her iPad as the hub. That completely ruins her purchase/choice if her iPad upgrades to iOS 16.
Click to expand...
Not a big fan of them removing functionality like this ... but to be honest? When I first tried to set up HomeKit at my previous place, I really disliked the idea of trying to use an iPad as the home hub. It seems like a hub that's helping control devices around your house should be a non-portable/mobile device. What good is the iPad for home hub functionality if somebody is going to regularly grab the thing and take it with them someplace?

I suppose there are people out there who bought an iPad and installed it someplace on a wall like a kiosk. But that's odd and kind of a waste of the functionality one was designed for, if you're not a business.

Even if you say you only plan on using the iPad around the house, like for reading in bed or checking email while sitting on the couch, you run the risk of running down the battery on it and then, no more home hub until it recharges.
 
  • Like
Reactions: G5isAlive
I’ve used my 4th Gen iPad mini as a HomeKit hub for the last 3 years without issue and I’d rather not buy a HomePod mini since I have no use for it.
Also why can’t an iMac or mini be a HomeKit hub? Those don’t leave the house and my mini is a PLEX server so it’s always on, what’s the reasoning behind not having those be HomeKit hubs?
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: G5isAlive, blob.DK, bobcomer and 5 others
iSightG5 said:
I’ve used my 4th Gen iPad mini as a HomeKit hub for the last 3 years without issue and I’d rather not buy a HomePod mini since I have no use for it.
Also why can’t an iMac or mini be a HomeKit hub? Those don’t leave the house and my mini is a PLEX server so it’s always on, what’s the reasoning behind not having those be HomeKit hubs?
Click to expand...
Yeah, you can easily make an iMac or Mini an update caching server for your home network - why not a home hub? Good question. They stay plugged in 24/7.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jwdsail
russell_314 said:
With these replies it's almost like people didn't even read more than just the title of this post... 🤦‍♂️
Click to expand...
It looks like the article just says that iPads are being removed as HomeKit hubs and that Apple has not said why. There doesn't seem to be much more information that isn't in the title. There is some speculation about Matter but nothing to indicate that that is relevant. It's not surprising if people are unhappy with what seem like an arbitrary decision that looks like it would force people into getting HomePods or Apple TVs.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: freedomlinux, bobcomer, Shadowcatz and 2 others
PlayUltimate said:
I think the potential to have the iPad leave the house would be a huge problem for a home hub device. And for the price, it makes sense to use other devices.
Click to expand...
keyword "potential". I've seen people cheering this change because they assume that every iPad user will be confused and annoyed that their iPad is not acting like a hub when they inevitably leave the house with it.

Assumption 1: all iPads are used outside the home.
Assumption 2: users could not understand that an iPad outside the home might not be able to connect to the home devices.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jwdsail and TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
An odd choice? The hardware, especially the M1 versions, should obviously be more than capable.

Honestly, the Homehub feature was the only reason why I found myself considering buying an iPad recently. I had one once upon a time and never really found it useful for me? My phone and laptop were both better at what I’d use the iPad for… The iPhone was better as a mobile device, and the MacBook Pro was just better and had better software for what I wanted to do that the iPhone couldn’t…

Using the iPad as a Homehub was a major feature that had me considering buying an iPad for the first time since 2014?

I guess Apple just saved me some cash.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bogdanni
Tagbert said:
It looks like the article just says that iPads are being removed as HomeKit hubs and that Apple has not said why. There doesn't seem to be much more information that isn't in the title. It's not surprising if people are unhappy with what seem like an arbitrary decision that looks like it would force people into getting HomePods or Apple TVs.
Click to expand...
I literally quoted the part of the article that said the possible reason but somehow you didn’t see this? I know it’s not as let’s get the torches because Apple is forcing us to buy stuff it’s just terrible kind exciting but it’s something
 
  • Like
Reactions: G5isAlive
I don't think this is a reasonable move.

If indeed Apple wants to stop allowing iPads to be home hub, the better method is to continue to allow existing models being sold on the market to be home hubs until no more iOS updates apply to those models. In addition, any new models of iPad will not support home hub.

I think that is a more reasonable solution because it will still allow existing iPads to be Home Hubs, especially since I bet many users who are using iPad as home hubs continue wanting to do so until their iPads no longer can be updated to a newer iOS. I'd be very upset if I used my iPad as a Home Hub and suddenly I'm required to buy an AppleTV to manage the Home Hub or consider not upgrading my iPad OS.
 
Last edited:
  • Haha
Reactions: G5isAlive, Think|Different and Macative
Macative said:
The answer is probably because its terrible as a Home hub, and this use case is extremely uncommon.

It is very unlikely that any person has a serious home automation setup and they are depending on an iPad that stays home for Home hub functionality.
Click to expand...
Obviously I have no data about such situations, but I can't imagine why an iPad is necessarily a bad device for home hub. I can imagine families where they share an iPad that is used only as an at-home device, primarily say because the iPad is used for watching YouTube clips and other movies.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jwdsail
minik said:
I never understood the use of iPad acted as a home hub in the beginning. HomePod and Apple TV make more sense as they tend to be in home location and less likely to switch networks.
Click to expand...
Neither does Apple, which is why they are removing it. It was added in the early going when HomePod didn't exist, and fewer people had Apple TV. There isn't much reason for it to still exist. They also probably find that iPad doesn't work well as a Home hub (it doesn't), and would rather not encourage bad user experiences, nor maintain this particular code any longer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: G5isAlive
msackey said:
Obviously I have no data about such situations, but I can't imagine why an iPad is necessarily a bad device for home hub. I can imagine families where they share an iPad that is used only as an at-home device, primarily say because the iPad is used for watching YouTube clips and other movies.
Click to expand...
Apple was able to imagine that too which is why they made it into a Home hub...back when Home Pod didn't exist and Apple TV marketshare was much lower. Doesn't mean it ever worked well as a Home hub.
 
  • Like
Reactions: G5isAlive and Think|Different
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back