Apple Pulls iOS 16.2 Option to Upgrade to New Home Architecture

[bwhite8889]

I still prefer Apple HomeKit to anything offered by Google or Amazon for privacy reasons alone. Not to mention how clunky both of those systems are comparatively. The reason to invest in Apple has always been that their long-game is unmatched. Once they get into a stride with HomeKit, they’ll fly past the competition.

Upgraded to 16.2 and overall the system seems to function smoother. I have 4X HomePod Minis, 2X Apple TVs, 12X Smart Bulbs, a Meross Garage Door Opener, 2X Light Strips, and a Smart Dimmer Switch. I’ve only run into two issues, both of which are fixable:

1. My wife was removed from the home and could not be added back - I unplugged all Apple TVs and HomePod Minis and plugged them back in (i.e. power cycle) Then was able to add her back no problem.
2. Some of my automation broke - I deleted and re-created said automation.

 

[Ion-X]

I’m no longer able to edit automations after updating to the new Home architecture… hope Apple doesn’t leave us in the ditch for too long.

 

[Shasterball]

Apple does not take HomeKit seriously and until they do it will be crippled.

I had huge hopes for HomeKit many years ago. I even bought some HomeKit enabled devices. It's all essentially useless. I switched away from HomeKit shortly after and I cannot imagine going back.

 

[vince22]

i nuked my homekit setup after new homekit architecture upgrade mess, started everything from scratch, now everything working smoothly, hopefully it gets better with Matter platform update.

 

[jicon]

Ultimately for myself, likely for the best. I make use of Home all the time. But given 3/4 of my Apple devices lost support for the latest OS this year (watch, phone, tablet all on prior OS), I'll cautiously say I'm a few years away from upgrading this feature.

 

[bwhite8889]

I’m no longer able to edit automations after updating to the new Home architecture… hope Apple doesn’t leave us in the ditch for too long.

What specifically is happening? I noticed it was taking a while to make changes (spinning load icon in the top right) but it would eventually process. Also restarting my iPhone seemed to help a bit.

 

[tgwaste]

I upgraded by switching to Google Nest and it's 1000x better.

 

[bwhite8889]

I had huge hopes for HomeKit many years ago. I even bought some HomeKit enabled devices. It's all essentially useless. I switched away from HomeKit shortly after and I cannot imagine going back.

That’s unfortunate because once you work through some of the glitches HomeKit is pretty fantastic for those with iOS devices. My experience with Google and Amazon has been horrendous, which is why I went to HomeKit. In fact, I still have Nest thermostats, which I hate with a passion. No HomeKit glitch will ever compare to the frequency in which Google randomly signs out of the Nest app.

Also for what it’s worth, we have a lot of company at our home. I’ve had several folks comment on how sleek it is to use Siri to control speakers/lights in our house. It’s seamless, instantaneous, and plays very well with everyone’s iPhone. Contrast that to those same folks who have nothing but horror stories with Alexa and whatever Google is calling their home automation these days.

Probably the only major downside I can see to HomeKit is the lack of options for smart devices. Matter will hopefully remedy this issue.

 

[bwhite8889]

I upgraded by switching to Google Nest and it's 1000x better.

Speak for yourself. Nest makes me want to rip my hair out with all the glitches it has.

 

[Justjay27]

Only issue I have is when I ask Siri to turn on/off my bedroom light it ask me to set up voice recognition (not sure why) however every other light, fan, and tv no issues at all when asking to turn on/off

 

[Premium1]

Some more of that high-quality "work from home" efforts. Lol..

 

[Justjay27]

I upgraded by switching to Google Nest and it's 1000x better.

i use to use Google Home, i miss the multiple commands at once, apple needs to bring that to siri

 

[bwhite8889]

Only issue I have is when I ask Siri to turn on/off my bedroom light it ask me to set up voice recognition (not sure why) however every other light, fan, and tv no issues at all when asking to turn on/off

You can enable/disable this by selecting the three dots in top right, going to Home Settings, selecting your profile, and it’s the first option. “Recognize my Voice”

 

[jonnyb098]

Apple doesn’t test stuff anymore. They do everything internal under Goldilocks scenarios and then release everything and see what sticks. Sadly I’m not liking this new way of doing everything in recent years.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

I started waiting to upgrade Apple software a few years ago, due to things like this. I usually wait until .2 or .3 updates with iOS and macOS to update my devices. I know it not possible to make perfect software, but it sure seems like Apple's QC software wise has been lacking as of late.

 

[MrMacintoshIII]

I’m glad I didn’t wait. Everything is faster, more responsive, and fewer missed requests.

In fact, I’m glad I never wait.

 

[QuarterSwede]

The fact that I had multiple devices that can't get iOS 16 or Ventura, including other people in my house, meant it was a no-go to update for me.

I didn’t upgrade for the same reason and it’ll be awhile before I do, certainly not when 16.3 goes public, where the upgrade is still an option in the beta.

 

[xpxp2002]

It's interesting how varied the experiences are being reported for this, from horrific ones where the entire home had to be deleted and rebuilt, to ones where responsiveness improved and nothing broke.

For me, the architecture upgrade basically broke connectivity to Bluetooth HomeKit devices. August locks stop working in their own app and in HomeKit every few hours and have to have the batteries pulled to get them working again. Have had them for 4+ years, and it was never an issue until now. Fibaro water sensors are showing "no response" about half the time I check them. And my older non-Thread Eve Energy switches are slower to respond to on/off changes.

The only Thread devices I have are HomePod minis and one newer Eve Energy. Those seem to be working fine, as they were before the upgrade. And as far as Wi-Fi HomeKit devices, it didn't really affect anything for me. They aren't any more or less responsive than before.

 

[S G]

I regret updating - not only did I have to remove an older iPhone from my account, due to incompatibility, but I have lost connection to a light switch already 4 times in a week, requiring a complete reset each time. The new HomeKit interface is also not intuitive (tapping the small icon rather than the entire button to turn things on or off; small smartplugs with huge buttons, while switch for overhead lights with small buttons).

 

[xpxp2002]

I regret updating - not only did I have to remove an older iPhone from my account, due to incompatibility, but I have lost connection to a light switch already 4 times in a week, requiring a complete reset each time. The new HomeKit interface is also not intuitive (tapping the small icon rather than the entire button to turn things on or off; small smartplugs with huge buttons, while switch for overhead lights with small buttons).

You can resize the buttons when you go into edit mode.

 

[Criss P.]

Too late; I already did it and messed up all my home automations, after 2 weeks anything is working like it used to. They made a big one here and better they be working on fixing it.

 

[bwhite8889]

I’m glad I didn’t wait. Everything is faster, more responsive, and fewer missed requests.

In fact, I’m glad I never wait.

I agree. A few glitches here and there, but all with work-arounds.

Contrast that to Google Nest, which has been a goat rodeo of the same glitches for literally three years now.

 

[NightFox]

Aaaaand this is why I didn’t update my iPhone to 16.2 lol. Thank god!
If they work out some of the bugs and re-enable the option for 16.2.1 I’ll reconsider!

Just updating to 16.2 wouldn't have given you these issues, it was only if you additionally accepted the option to upgrade your Home architecture (which 16.2 brought support for).

 

[ikjadoon]

Anyone using the new architecture with Homebridge? And by any chance with the older version 1.5.1 (the newer doesn't work on Synology)?

Mine's working great on my Synology Homebridge Docker Container. Well, just as well as it did before, so:

Old arch: works 80% of the time
New arch: works 80% of the time

Oh...uh. Were we not supposed to update Homebridge? I'm already on 1.6.0. I'm using this version.

I believe DSM 7, once I upgrade, will actually allow a native Synology package from the official Homebrige repo and removes all the Docker stuff. But that's neither here nor there.

 

[bdsmith63]

I updated all my devices when 6.2 came out. Family members who were also updated lost access to the home. I ended up having to remove the home and all accessories and create a new home to solve the issue.

Before I removed the home I installed “Controller for HomeKit“ and created a backup then removed the home and added my bridges back then restored the backup. Thank god for Controller it added all my rooms, automation and scenes back and put all the accessories in the correct rooms. Highly recommend it you can also backup all your HomeKit codes.

I experienced the same issue as you did. I didn’t have any issues with updating all my devices, however, I forgot to update my spouses device and yesterday he experienced the same thing as you did. All his devices were gone, I spent over an hour yesterday evening trying to update the HOME app and it failed wouldn’t re-download after I deleted it, and when I did try to re-invite him to the HOME app it failed as well. So you are saying you completely deleted your HOME after using the “Controller for HomeKit” app to back up your configuration and reinstall it to a new HOME? Then shared it with your family and it worked?