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Apple to Re-Release Revamped HomeKit Architecture in iOS 16.4

chrono1081 said:
That's leetcode interviews for you, and Apple (and other big guys) do them. They favor people (generally college grads) who can answer tricky questions (since tricky questions are how you learn to code) over people who build real world, scalable systems each day for years. People doing the real work generally don't have the time to go back and review tricky questions just for interview purposes.

It's really stupid how the software dev field has become.
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I think this is just a lack of testing, pure and simple. Testing is expensive and slow, and it’s the first thing to go when a project is behind.

I’m curious about what you consider tricky questions. I’ve been in IT for decades and interviewed developers for a good chunk of that. I like asking “tricky” questions because they usually separate those who have read about something from those who have actually done something and found the pitfalls, but maybe we’re talking about a different level of detail.
 
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I had so much trouble after upgrading that I unpaired all my devices, deleted the home, and then restarted from scratch. It was a huge pain, but I live in a small NYC apartment, so likely not as many devices as most of you have. Everything does work now though, so I hope another upgrade doesn't break things again.
 
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MacRumors said:


Apple in its upcoming iOS 16.4 update will re-introduce the revamped HomeKit architecture it originally pulled in December due to widespread issues, MacRumors can confirm.

homekit-showdown-2-thumb.jpg

Backend code indicates that Apple is ready to re-introduce the updated Home architecture that was released with the iOS 16.2 update, only to be pulled a week after launch because of bugs and installation issues.

At the time, Apple said the removal was temporary and that the upgrade option would "return soon," but new code references discovered by Nicolás Álvarez (@nicolas09F9) indicate that the architecture will indeed return with the release of iOS 16.4, beginning with the first beta that could arrive as soon as this week.

Apple says that the update improves the reliability and efficiency of communication between smart home accessories and Apple devices, and it is something that Apple has been working on since iOS 16 was announced at WWDC in June 2022.

When the Home architecture was first released, it caused some ‌HomeKit‌ devices to disappear from ‌HomeKit‌ setups or to become stuck with a "configuring/updating" status. It also resulted in invitations to share the Home with others failing, and it broke ‌HomeKit‌ Secure video recording for some users.

Article Link: Apple to Re-Release Revamped HomeKit Architecture in iOS 16.4
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This, for the Pirhana Brothers, was the turning point.
 

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I could (almost) forgive Apple for releasing an update that borked HomeKit - if they'd had a solution or rollback available within a matter of hours. However, the fact that they've so far taken weeks to fix what has been a catastrophic failure for some users has probably done irreparable reputational damage to HomeKit and home automation itself.

It also gives a very clear message on how serious Apple is about HomeKit.
 
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The same issue that befell Apple when Europe ruled on the USB C Charger will happen again when europe and other countries rule that all domestic devices should be able to operate under common prootcols, negating waste while boltering product developent and efficiency - best Apple plan for that, rather than trying to hobble along with this dead end closed ecosystem.
 
Really hope they fix remote access to HomePod alarms in this version. Not being able to manage alarms remotely makes HomePod alarms completely useless, especially recurring ones.

I live in an apartment so if I go travelling and have forgotten to turn my recurring morning alarm off then f**k my neighbours I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

NightFox said:
the fact that they've so far taken weeks to fix what has been a catastrophic failure for some users
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Try months, it'll be 2 months since the "new architecture" launched on monday.
 
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chrono1081 said:
I don't think this is the case. 16.2 has some serious flaws. Many people had no issues but the rest of us did. I can't plug in a HomePod without it bringing down my entire network.
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Same. Tried yesterday and allowed the HomePods to update to 16.3.1, but everything was still “Updating…”, so I unplugged them again. My lights and switches came back about 30 seconds after I powered them down.
 
dugbug said:
does anyone know what the "new homekit architecture" is? What was pulled and coming back, do I care? Like is it something user-facing?
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I'm pretty sure the main thing the new architecture does is implement Matter, along side HomeKit's proprietary architecture. There's nothing user facing, except for the ability to use Matter devices. The interface and the experience are the same from my use with the new architecture. I am one of the lucky ones that didn't have any issues making the upgrade.
 
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I'm surprised how so many people here are correcting typing "HomeKit" (capitalized H and K), but in the past, so many would type "Iphone", which drives me NUTS! 🤣 Looks like laziness has not yet taken hold. Hope for the human race persists! 😃
 
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My HomePod minis quit working on my main home network (wife was mad at me because she thought I was messing around and broke it. lol ). For me, the issues started happening with 16.3. After spending a couple of days trying to reset everything, my router, reinstall HomeKit, everything, I called apple support. After an afternoon with them basically trying everything I already tried, they sent me two new HomePod minis at no charge. They of course did the same thing once they updated to 16.3.

Luckily for me, I have a secondary ‘extension’ router to expand my coverage to a shed on my property that we tried. And the HomePods work on that for some reason. But I basically got two additional HomePod minis for free, doubling my HomePod minis I have now. Whenever this gets fixed, I’ll be happy. But at least I can still use them using the secondary router even though the signal is weak.
 
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Deepshade said:
The same issue that befell Apple when Europe ruled on the USB C Charger will happen again when europe and other countries rule that all domestic devices should be able to operate under common prootcols, negating waste while boltering product developent and efficiency - best Apple plan for that, rather than trying to hobble along with this dead end closed ecosystem.
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That would be terrible.
 
siddavis said:
Then there's the promised "features" that either never materialize or come 6-12 months later.
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Actually, if you read the fine print of the beta releases, Apple does say that any feature may be pulled at any time. For the most part, WWDC is a preview of the next release and anything they deem that may not be ready or doesn't fit the overall roadmap anymore can be pulled (something like that).

I'm not trying to defend them in saying that it's fine, I'm just trying to point out that any feature can be pulled or changed at their whim, one example is Stage Manager.
 
Deepshade said:
The same issue that befell Apple when Europe ruled on the USB C Charger will happen again when europe and other countries rule that all domestic devices should be able to operate under common prootcols, negating waste while boltering product developent and efficiency - best Apple plan for that, rather than trying to hobble along with this dead end closed ecosystem.
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Failure to parse. Error on line 1.

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With that said, USB C charger is unrelated to code. I believe apple has implemented (or is implementing) the Matter protocol (which may have been the issue with the 16.2 release?). Also apple, google MS et al were involved in creating the Matter protocol so... in that regard they (apple) are trying to be more open.
 
scottlitch said:
I'm pretty sure the main thing the new architecture does is implement Matter, along side HomeKit's proprietary architecture. There's nothing user facing, except for the ability to use Matter devices. The interface and the experience are the same from my use with the new architecture. I am one of the lucky ones that didn't have any issues making the upgrade.
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Matter implementation is independent of the new architecture. Matter was first introduced with 16.1.

new architecture changes the how our idevices communicate with a homekit home.

new architecture - primary homekit hub keeps contact with and controls all HomeKit accessories. Our phones, watches iPads get accessory states from the primary HomeKit hub and use the primary hub to control accessories.

old architecture - the primary hub is mostly used to connect HomeKit to the internet. Our iPhones, watches, iPads contact each and every HomeKit accessory separately (basically every time you open or refresh the home app) to display state (on/off, dimming, etc) as well to control them. Much more lag and points of failure.
 
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Deepshade said:
The same issue that befell Apple when Europe ruled on the USB C Charger will happen again when europe and other countries rule that all domestic devices should be able to operate under common prootcols, negating waste while boltering product developent and efficiency - best Apple plan for that, rather than trying to hobble along with this dead end closed ecosystem.
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Unfortunately in your rush to post you've missed the somewhat important fact that probably the most significant change in Apple's new HomeKit architecture is that it now supports Matter - a common, unified and open home automation protocol.
 
Reading through the GitHub link (this is the matter/CHIP repository) how can anyone be sure the 16.4 reference is to a new HomeKit architecture and not just updates to homekits matter implementation coming in 16.4? The 2 are separate things and apples CHIP/matter support is not (at least not yet) dependent on the new architecture.
 
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