HomeKit Homekit Secure Video cameras - how to fix things when it goes wrong

[stocklen]

Hi All

A little frustrated here.
Long story short - I have multiple Aqara G100 cameras and my HomeKit hub is a HomePod mini.

Last week, all the Aqara cameras updated to their latest firmware and the moment they came back online the problems started.

After a lot of messing about I can pretty much describe the issue as Apple Home is giving dozens of 'motion detections' which are completely ignoring my activity zone masking out, and also ignoring my 'types of motion' as they are set to Vehicles and People... all other motion should be ignored.

Now, ive done a LOT of messing about and research as to how and why this happens. In short Ive done all the steps that you can find online such as toggling motion settings, deleting and recreating activity zones, restarting the HomePod mini and my router and as a last ditch effort I deleted all the cameras from Apple Home and re-added them.

Sadly none of this has worked and the cameras continue to annoy me with incorrect detection.

According to online sources its something to do with how the HomePod has retained or corrupted information and yet all my steps have been unsuccessful in fixing it.

I guess my final option will be the nuclear option and not only delete the cameras again from Apple Home but also factory reset them and remove them from Aqara AND factory reset the HomePod mini and truly start again.
Obviously Im wanting to avoid this due to the extreme levels of faff required...

So does anyone have experience of this and suggest any more tweaks or things I can try before I do the nuclear option?

 

[StumpyBloke]

This might not help much, but activities zones quite simply do not work. They have never worked for me before or after I re-created my Apple Home from scratch.

Just my opinion, but they won’t work if you re-create yours either.

 

[stocklen]

This might not help much, but activities zones quite simply do not work. They have never worked for me before or after I re-created my Apple Home from scratch.

Just my opinion, but they won’t work if you re-create yours either.

thank you

Yes I have another 'home' where I have even more G100s though the difference there is that my home hub is an AppleTV which I believe is a far more capable device.

Although the cameras went through the same firmware update, it didnt cause the same problems.

I have indeed noticed that motion zones are a little unreliable but the issue at the other location is far worse in that its not only ignoring the zones... its also ignoring the type of detection I set it to - its just doing 'all motion' instead of People and Vehicles which would help a lot if at least that worked.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Perhaps upload a couple of screenshots here of how you’ve got it set up (for motion etc) just in case there’s something you may have missed?

 

[stocklen]

Perhaps upload a couple of screenshots here of how you’ve got it set up (for motion etc) just in case there’s something you may have missed?

Thank you

No need because ive done a fair few of these before and im pretty familiar with the settings.

For info, I have notifications set to 'when a clip is recorded' and I have recording settings set to 'when specific motion is detected' and the specific motion ticks are there for 'vehicles' and 'people'.

I have reset, toggled, fiddled with these multiple times in an attempt to make the HomePod re-do its motion settings for the camera as apparently its a thing for it to get stuck or confused - same with the activity zones you sometimes have to clear the zone, save the settings, wait a few minutes then re-draw the zone in order for the HomePod to refresh its settings.


Im pretty sure that the HomePod mini isnt really up to the job as a hub whereas the AppleTV seems far more capable and stable.


I do think im going to have no choice but to factory reset the HomePod and start again however I dont want to waste my time doing that if ive missed another important part of the process such as also factory resetting the cameras.

 

[StumpyBloke]

I always have my Apple TV 4K third generation as my hub as I like you, believe it to be more capable and responsive, and for a fact it is more powerful than the HomePod mini. Other than that, don’t know what else to say or suggest but good luck.

 

[stocklen]

I always have my Apple TV 4K third generation as my hub as I like you, believe it to be more capable and responsive, and for a fact it is more powerful than the HomePod mini. Other than that, don’t know what else to say or suggest but good luck.

thanks.

The 'home' where I am having the problems is my work premises and unfortunately I cant really have an AppleTV here as theres no TV to attach it to. HomePod mini is the only option really.

 

[erihp]

thanks.

The 'home' where I am having the problems is my work premises and unfortunately I cant really have an AppleTV here as theres no TV to attach it to. HomePod mini is the only option really.

Just an FYI, you don’t need to have it connected to a display for it to function as a hub.

 

[stocklen]

Just an FYI, you don’t need to have it connected to a display for it to function as a hub.

Thanks

No TVs at that location so cant really plug in and set up and connect to wifi etc.

Also, I know its a much better processor etc and probably wouldnt be giving me the problems the HomePod mini does... it just feels a bit off to have an appleTV box sat there.

That said, my home setup uses an AppleTV as the hub and no such issues when the same cameras updated their firmware.


Im kindof resigned to do a factory reset on the HomePod mini and see what happens.

 

[erihp]

Thanks

No TVs at that location so cant really plug in and set up and connect to wifi etc.

Also, I know its a much better processor etc and probably wouldnt be giving me the problems the HomePod mini does... it just feels a bit off to have an appleTV box sat there.

That said, my home setup uses an AppleTV as the hub and no such issues when the same cameras updated their firmware.


Im kindof resigned to do a factory reset on the HomePod mini and see what happens.

if its wired you may not need a screen, assuming dhcp and your wireless devices and cameras are on the same subnet.

that said my workplace would never allow foreign devices in the wired or wireless network in the first place

 

[macaddiict]

I struggled to get HomeKit Secure Video to work, and when it did seem to be working... I'd later find out it had stopped working. Years of frustration and now I use a cheap camera with an app instead. I'd really have liked to use HomeKit, it just didn't ever work reliably for me more than a week or so at a time (seems to not matter what home hub I'm using at the time)

 

[stocklen]

I struggled to get HomeKit Secure Video to work, and when it did seem to be working... I'd later find out it had stopped working. Years of frustration and now I use a cheap camera with an app instead. I'd really have liked to use HomeKit, it just didn't ever work reliably for me more than a week or so at a time (seems to not matter what home hub I'm using at the time)

Ive found the opposite at home at least.

My AppleTV is the home hub and I have 7 Aqara cameras and doorbell and no real issues. The odd glitch but nothing that isnt fixed easily.

The difference at work is the reliance on the HomePod mini as a hub and although its supposed to be capable of the job - and it has been pretty flawless for at least 6 months here - a glitch like this is super annoying especially as theres very limited troubleshooting you can do.

I have raised a support query with Aqara as its 100% their firmware update that triggered this issue... but Im also aware that as the cameras are working in their own app... they might not be of much help when it comes to the apple home setup.