HomeKit Homekit Compatible with VPN?

[KevinSR]

Happy Saturday everyone. Hope you are all staying cool and healthy!

I have just set up my Eufy Indoor cameras to work with Homekit and Apple TV as a hub. I would like to use a VPN but wonder if installing one on any of my devices (all Apple) will interfere with Homekit. I'm worried that it will no longer detect Home since it was set up under a different IP address than the one the VPN will use. Thoughts?

 

[clamss]

Should not be a problem.

I have vpn on my Apple TV connected to US that acts as a hub and I have HomeKit on my iPad that’s connected to Japan via vpn.

I can control HomeKit on my iPad with no issues.

 

[KevinSR]

Should not be a problem.

I have vpn on my Apple TV connected to US that acts as a hub and I have HomeKit on my iPad that’s connected to Japan via vpn.

I can control HomeKit on my iPad with no issues.

Thanks so much. That's exactly what I needed to know.

 

[andyw715]

I have used both software (cisco anyconnect) and hardware (meriaki) VPN solutions at home with no ill effects with HomeKit

 

[Pug72]

I can never get a live stream on HKSV with VPN activated.

 

[KevinSR]

I can never get a live stream on HKSV with VPN activated.

That's interesting. I've set up this system 3 different times. I've read everything I can locate online on how to set it up and use it. But as soon as I start using a vpn on the same TV as the hub it stops connecting. I have it set up to stream and allow recording when I'm away and did not receive the usual notification that that Home had "changed to streaming and recording because everyone had left." The cameras in the Home app always say OFF, even though they have been turned on in the Eufy app. I've been trying to get this going for several weeks and I'm just about at my wit's end. I'd hate to have to go back to using Eufy's videos but sure enough, I came home today to find a maintenance worker in my apartment which is illegal in my state and I have no proof. I just disconnected my vpn and restarted my Apple TV. Instantly got notices of the cameras being onlline again. So apparently for Homekit to work I have to disconnect my vpn and restart the hub every time I leave the house 😡

 

[jedimasterkyle]

I can never get a live stream on HKSV with VPN activated.

While using WIFI and battery cameras, in my experience, using a VPN with HKSV doesn't kill it completely but it does slow it down a lot. When I have ExVPN activated on my AppleTV and someone or something walks past my front door, the preview of the camera will show up on my TV but it wont be in real time. When I turn off ExVPN on my AppleTV though and someone or something walks past the camera, the stream is in near real time.

Same thing when I have ExVPN enabled on my iPhone and I try to view my camera streams through either the Eufy app or the Home app. Having the VPN makes the video streams come to a crawl and is almost unusable but then I have to remember how much rerouting is happening behind the scenes.

Happy Saturday everyone. Hope you are all staying cool and healthy!

I have just set up my Eufy Indoor cameras to work with Homekit and Apple TV as a hub. I would like to use a VPN but wonder if installing one on any of my devices (all Apple) will interfere with Homekit. I'm worried that it will no longer detect Home since it was set up under a different IP address than the one the VPN will use. Thoughts?

I dont trust Eufy to encrypt anything, hence my insistence on using HKSV. The trade off though is that with HKSV, the video is already being encrypted on iCloud so running an encrypted VPN to watch an encrypted video stream is, IMO, redundant and possibly overkill because you're having to go through two layers of encryption instead of one.

I guess it depends on if you plan on using the VPN while you're at home or if it's exclusively while you're away. If you're using the VPN at home with HKSV, you should be ok. I have three Eufy indoor cameras running 24/7 to keep an eye on my dog while I'm working upstairs and I have a VPN running on my Mac (w/ethernet) at the same time and the stream is perfect. However, if you're trying to watch the HKSV stream while on the VPN away from your home, I could see it being less than ideal.

I get WHY you'd want to use a VPN with HKSV but it will only frustrate you in the end.

In short, streaming HKSV with wireless cameras over VPN = 50/50 if it works or not. Streaming HKSV with wired cameras over VPN = Zero problems (at least for me).

 

[KevinSR]

Thanks for the detailed response. My cameras are wired and I am not using a VPN with HKSV. There's no reason to. I only use it with certain streaming apps and my iPad. I use it on a different streaming device on the same TV the Apple TV is connected to. The TV itself is not connected to the internet.

It doesn't make sense that the VPN would interfere with HKSV if it's on a separate device but it does. I've set it up 3 different times from scratch even uninstalling the VPN app completely and as soon as I reinstall it, reconnect the VPN and turn the Eufy cams it stops HKSV completely. I have HKSV set up to only stream and record when I'm away so when I drive off and don't get a notification that Home is now streaming and recording I know I forgot to disconnect the VPN and restart Apple TV. I'd hate to wear out my Apple TV by restarting it all the time because I love it as a streaming device.