HomeKit HomeKit and Hue so slow, so very slow. Can I speed it up?

[Feek]

All my lights are Hue bulbs and I have motion detectors in various rooms to trigger the lights. These are generally decent but sometimes can seem a bit slow to register but that's not the end of the world.

It's the switches and buttons. If I have any Hue switch programmed to anything other than a simple on or off then there's a real noticeable delay.

For example, the switch in my bathroom has this shortcut:

If Light is Off
   Set light on
Otherwise
   Set light off
End If

It's a single push Hue button so this is the only way I can see to use it to turn the light on and off.

I push it, it can take a couple of seconds for the light to either go on or off.

If I were to reconfigure that to simply set the bathroom light on, it would be instant.

I could get around this by using a Hue dimmer switch so that the top button turns the light on, the bottom one turns it off but that's a more expensive switch and I don't need a dimmer in the bathroom.

I often get comments from friends "I pushed the light switch in your bathroom, nothing happened, I pushed it again, the light flickered on and off" which is clearly where its buffered the two pushes.

I've got these single button Hue switches around the house. My WiFi is good, it floods the house completely, my Hue Bridge is hardwired into the router. But yet they all do it.

Is there anything I can do to increase the performance here?

 

[Itinj24]

Are you using a HomePod (in any variation) as the hub by chance?

 

[solq]

I don't use HomeKit, I have Hue in two locations, one with a few devices and one bridge, one with more than 100 devices (3 bridges), works perfectly with the Hue switches (normal or tap), motion sensors and Hue app.

I find HomeKit frankly incomprehensible, I tried to create the homes in the app and add the bridges but it made a dog's breakfast out of everything, wrong rooms, cannot edit and fix etc. I gave up.

 

[Feek]

Are you using a HomePod (in any variation) as the hub by chance?

Probably.
That sounds vague.
I have seven HomePod minis, two original HomePods and two AppleTVs in the home. It could be any of them.

 

[dotme]

It's a single push Hue button so this is the only way I can see to use it to turn the light on and off.

I push it, it can take a couple of seconds for the light to either go on or off.

...

Is there anything I can do to increase the performance here?

I see the same "lag" so I know what you're going through. I have a couple of fans on a smart plug in a workout space that are toggled using the Hue button. I suspect that the delay is caused by the fetching of current status prior to issuing a command, similar to the delay when you first open the Home app and wait for everything to refresh. Polling even a single device seems to be a 1-2 second thing, and that's noticeable when you've pressed the button and are waiting for a result.

A question though - if your bathroom lights are all Hue as well, you might be better off bypassing HomeKit with that button and let the Hue bridge do the lifting here. Not sure if their button can be told to toggle natively, but I know I have one or two of them programmed with short-press and long-press as actions and those work well. I think I programmed mine using iConnectHue since they toggle an animation, but the response is near-instant compared to a HomeKit shortcut. So maybe short-press for on, long-press for off if they don't toggle by themselves?

 

[pup]

I'll second that recommendation - try the iConnectHue app. I think it will do single button actions like you want, and it like the post above says, it programs the actions into the hue bridge so they're quick. I'd avoid automations - anything I've tried with lights or locks is unreliable and painfully slow when it works.

If it doesn't, I think I'd just shell out the $25 for a Hue dimmer switch.

 

[Itinj24]

Probably.
That sounds vague.
I have seven HomePod minis, two original HomePods and two AppleTVs in the home. It could be any of them.

You can check in the Home app settings which device is the active hub.

I asked because when one of my HomePods is the active hub, I get the same lag you describe, using the same “if” statement shortcuts. I’m using LIFX switches that are controlling Hue bulbs. It can take up to 10 seconds for the light to come on. However, when one of my AppleTV’s is the hub (all of mine are hardwired), the lag goes down to no more than 2 seconds, if that.

HomePods are awful as Home Hubs is what I’m saying. If you can force an AppleTV to be the hub, see what happens. Reboot whatever HomePod is the hub.

 

[Feek]

I'll second that recommendation - try the iConnectHue app. I think it will do single button actions like you want, and it like the post above says, it programs the actions into the hue bridge so they're quick.

Not sure if their button can be told to toggle natively, but I know I have one or two of them programmed with short-press and long-press as actions and those work well.

I do have iConnectHue and could do this but that's really not very standard behaviour for a light switch, it's easy enough for the family to remember but if anyone else goes to the toilet, we'd have to remember to explain how to use the light switch before they go. I don't like that idea at all.

You can check in the Home app settings which device is the active hub.

HomePods are awful as Home Hubs is what I’m saying. If you can force an AppleTV to be the hub, see what happens. Reboot whatever HomePod is the hub.

Oh yes, I know I can check which is the active hub. I was being vague because it changes regularly. My AppleTVs get switched off overnight so even if I went through and manually restarted the HomePods one by one to force one of the ATVs to be the hub, it would always change back to being a HomePod every night.
When I said "it could be any of them", it wasn't down to ignorance or laziness on my part (I know you weren't implying that) for not knowing how to look or being bothered to look, it's a literal truth, it really could be absolutely any of them!

If it doesn't, I think I'd just shell out the $25 for a Hue dimmer switch.

That might be the easiest way actually.

I wish kinetic switches were cheaper, I'd replace the whole lot!

 

[Feek]

I wish kinetic switches were cheaper, I'd replace the whole lot!

I got a good deal on a three pack of kinetic switches.