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iOS and iPadOS 16.2 Betas Overhaul Home App Architecture With Improved Performance

PauloSera said:
Because you're not supposed to need to set this preference, there are a lot of networking variables that could result in one device being promoted to primary in the Home hub list at any given time. That doesn't mean it is immune to bugs with other devices, like whatever bugs are afflicting your OG HomePods. Those need to be fixed. The idea behind multiple Home hubs is high availability that persists through common networking and routing issues. Letting you just choose one is not a better overall solution, even if it serves as a workaround for your immediate problem.
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If there are a lot of networking variables why isn't apple dynamically setting the primary hub intelligently then? A lot of us here have to restart home kit hub devices in a certain order to get our Apple TVs to become the "primary hub". That implies it's not basing it on network variables but order on the network.
 
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JoEw said:
If there are a lot of networking variables why isn't apple dynamically setting the primary hub intelligently then?
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They are. That's the entire point. You're just ignoring what it is they are actually doing, and focusing entirely on the problems you're aware of.
JoEw said:
A lot of us here have to restart home kit hub devices in a certain order to get our Apple TVs to become the "primary hub". That implies it's not basing it on network variables but order on the network.
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You shouldn't be doing that in the first place, there is no reason for you to try to "trick" Apple's own assignment algorithm to make a certain device temporarily the primary hub. If the reason you're doing this is because you imagine some kind of performance problems when another device is the primary, then those are either perception-based issues, or actual bugs with those devices operating as Home hubs. And if indeed the latter, then those need to be addressed. But that is unrelated to Home hub assignment.
 
I got my original HomePod to update to 16.2 but I can’t get my HomePod mini to see an update
*EDIT* I finally was able to get the HomePod mini to update as well
 
You need to turn off the Beta option in the home settings and you need to install the proper beta profile which you can find by searching google 😉
 
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PauloSera said:
They are. That's the entire point. You're just ignoring what it is they are actually doing, and focusing entirely on the problems you're aware of.

You shouldn't be doing that in the first place, there is no reason for you to try to "trick" Apple's own assignment algorithm to make a certain device temporarily the primary hub. If the reason you're doing this is because you imagine some kind of performance problems when another device is the primary, then those are either perception-based issues, or actual bugs with those devices operating as Home hubs. And if indeed the latter, then those need to be addressed. But that is unrelated to Home hub assignment.
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I fully agree, in an ideal world where bugs don't exist this should just be a "set it and leave it" kind of deal. But considering Apple is pushing heavy into Matter I don't really understand how this is supposed to work. OG HomePod will never be feature complete when it comes to supporting Matter as it's missing Thread on the hardware side of things. It will always remain a lesser capable home hub when compared to the HomePod mini and the Apple TV 4K Gen.2 and Gen.3.

Remains to be seen how this "upgrade home hub experience" will affect things, it might be that OG HomePod will no longer be preferred as the connect home hub and only act as a last resort in scenarios where no other options supporting Thread are available. Or perhaps Apple is going to do something behind the scenes, so even though an OG HomePod is the connected one, it will relay things via a Thread-capable home hub for all things related to Matter/Thread.

The fact that OG HomePods seems to have had this automation bug ever since audioOS 16.0 and we are now at audioOS 16.1 is worrisome to me. This is one of the rather few features of the OG HomePod, it's very strange for such a bug to not be noticed during audioOS 16.0 and audioOS 16.1 testing.
 
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RamGuy said:
I fully agree, in an ideal world where bugs don't exist this should just be a "set it and leave it" kind of deal. But considering Apple is pushing heavy into Matter I don't really understand how this is supposed to work. OG HomePod will never be feature complete when it comes to supporting Matter as it's missing Thread on the hardware side of things. It will always remain a lesser capable home hub when compared to the HomePod mini and the Apple TV 4K Gen.2 and Gen.3.

Remains to be seen how this "upgrade home hub experience" will affect things, it might be that OG HomePod will no longer be preferred as the connect home hub and only act as a last resort in scenarios where no other options supporting Thread are available. Or perhaps Apple is going to do something behind the scenes, so even though an OG HomePod is the connected one, it will relay things via a Thread-capable home hub for all things related to Matter/Thread.

The fact that OG HomePods seems to have had this automation bug ever since audioOS 16.0 and we are now at audioOS 16.1 is worrisome to me. This is one of the rather few features of the OG HomePod, it's very strange for such a bug to not be noticed during audioOS 16.0 and audioOS 16.1 testing.
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You can disable that OG Home Pod from being a Home hub. Problem solved.
 
What I was hoping for when I read this headline is availability of full automation features in Homekit.

The thing I don’t understand is why there are lots of underlying automation features available within Homekit but many of them are not made available in the native Home app.

I currently use “Controller for Homekit” to setup automation such as turning on my home ventilation every hour, unless my window contact sensors are in an open state. Or turn on my kitchen lights when I arrive home after sunset, unless I have other lights already on.

I always prefer to use 1st party apps and can’t fathom why Apple makes this type of functionality available in the Homekit infrastructure but it’s hidden away and you wouldn’t typically know about it unless you’re made aware that a 3rd party app can take advantage of it.
 
PauloSera said:
You can disable that OG Home Pod from being a Home hub. Problem solved.
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How do you do that? I was under the impression that wasn't an option (unlike with Apple TV), unless you fully remove the device from your account which would mean you couldn't then use it with any services like Apple Music on that account. I don't have an OG HomePod, but I've not yet found a setting for my mini that allows me to stop it being a hub.
 
Managed to get it all updated. Had to download the developer profile to each HomePod mini and update them both separately to iOS 16.2. Could then upgrade Home.
 
So far new HomeKit update has been working fine. No issues with Homebridge as well. Might be placebo but I don’t see as much no response issues like in the past
 
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PauloSera said:
You can disable that OG Home Pod from being a Home hub. Problem solved.
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How do you achieve this? There are no options for Home/Homekit on the OG HomePod. You either remove it completely and make the device useless, or you have it in Apple Home and then it will be added to the list of home hubs automatically without any settings controllable for the end user.
 
RamGuy said:
How do you achieve this? There are no options for Home/Homekit on the OG HomePod. You either remove it completely and make the device useless, or you have it in Apple Home and then it will be added to the list of home hubs automatically without any settings controllable for the end user.
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Strange. I looked for it myself and can't find it. Which is odd because it does exist on both Apple TV and iPad, where you can turn off the device as a Home hub.
 
I use IKEA bridge for my IKEA smart bulbs, and it’s HomeKit compatible. I would like to know if this change would break something. I guess I’ll hold off on upgrading until I know.
 
For those having a hard time updating your home pod to 16.2

You must update your HomePod to 16.2 before attempting upgrade or it will error out. To update the HomePod mini you need to unselect the automatic update option and search for the update manually. No need for a profile on the HomePod if your phone is on 16.2

Once you successfully upgrade to 16.2, then try updating the architecture.

Yes it seems way faster. Video feeds on HomeKit compatible cameras is much quicker it seems.
 
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sam3020 said:
You need to turn off the Beta option in the home settings and you need to install the proper beta profile which you can find by searching google 😉
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This worked for me. The disabling of beta update for my 2 minis meant they updated to the beta 😂
 
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