HomeKit That's it. I'm done. I'm out.

[BF1M]

HomeKit can kiss off. I have been on this journey with Apple for too long to be this frustrated. Yet again, HomeKit has forgotten how to tell the difference between the words "lamp" and "light.

Every single ****ing time they update their software it's like Russian roulette what will happen with your HomeKit set up.

1000s of dollars and I never know what will happen when I tell Siri to do something.

I'm out.

 

[Juicy Box]

I have been frustrated with HomeKit on a few things. I could never get my LiftMaster MyQ Home Bridge for my wall mounted garage door opener to work. I spend so many hours trying. Looking up tips on the internet, how-tos on YouTube. Nothing.

Lately, it has been about cameras. I bought my single family home over a year ago, and wanted to get a HomeKit camera set up for outside, but the options are very limited.

I am close to jumping ship myself.

To be fair, my Weiser Premis Touchscreen Smart Lock by Kwikset has been flawless with HomeKit. I just wished there were more outdoor camera options.

1000s of dollars and I never know what will happen when I tell Siri to do something.

I notice a lot of inconsistencies with Siri over the years, and it really gets frustrated. Using Siri with CarPlay for directions is risky in my experience. You never know where you will end up.

 

[Itinj24]

Usually, I don’t get these departure posts. It’s as if the OP is waiting to be talked off the ledge.

But… this Post gets a pass. I’m having a hard time talking myself off the ledge but I don’t know where else to go. Amazon? Yeah right. Google? Not a chance. Don’t have the time to tinker with real home automation solutions like Home Assistant and such. The Apple eco system integration is just so damn good… if it worked like it should all the time.

I feel your frustration and anger. I think most of us do. The HomeKit department at Apple is probably the first step before moving on to bigger things in the company. The pre-grad summer internship lol.

Maybe hang in for bit when Matter rolls out and that upgraded architecture that’s supposed to improve HomeKit performance. Maybe they had some of the senior guys mentoring the interns 🤷 😁

Best of luck to you wherever you end up.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I'm convinced that Apple is just trying to do way too many things at once and they don't have the depth of skill and talent across the board to accomplish it all. Additionally, they seem to insist on keeping to timetables for marketing purposes and end up pushing out things that flat out are not ready or polished enough.

Nearly every product line or offering, especially on software side, has major frustrations in some area or another.

 

[Itinj24]

I'm convinced that Apple is just trying to do way too many things at once and they don't have the depth of skill and talent across the board to accomplish it all. Additionally, they seem to insist on keeping to timetables for marketing purposes and end up pushing out things that flat out are not ready or polished enough.

Nearly every product line or offering, especially on software side, has major frustrations in some area or another.

💯 I can understand if new software features bug out until they’re polished but the worst part of all of this is when previously working software features also break with new updates. Then those are generally forgotten about and stay broken.

For example, my work address is on a highway but for some reason when I tried to navigate to that address, it took me somewhere else in the city. After months of back and forths with Apple support, sending pics of mail with the address on it, tons of pics of the area and showing proof, they finally fixed it. This was during iOS 12…
Now with iOS 16, “Hey, Siri, navigate to work.” Guess it were it takes me. Hint, it’s not my work 🤣. I just don’t want to go through that fuss again.

 

[TonyC28]

Your frustration is shared by many. It's a good question: Why do iOS updates cause Siri to stop understanding things? Unfortunately it still feels like HomeKit is a side project for Apple.

 

[BF1M]

So same old **** from Apple when asked for help, known issue etc. Their suggestion? Either turn off all my iOS 16 devices when home or turn off all my iPadOS 15 devices. Seriously. Apparently it’s a conflict between the two.

****ing ridiculous. My wife is at the end of her patience with it so seriously, it’s going out.

This part is funny though. HomeKit currently thinks all my Hue lights, every single one, is a speaker….that it can’t find.

 

[BF1M]

Your frustration is shared by many. It's a good question: Why do iOS updates cause Siri to stop understanding things? Unfortunately it still feels like HomeKit is a side project for Apple.

Why? Because they are more concerned with selling you the same phone for 3 years in a row than actually making their crap do what they say it will.

 

[TonyC28]

Why? Because they are more concerned with selling you the same phone for 3 years in a row than actually making their crap do what they say it will.

Yea. It is what it is, but HomeKit isn’t a money-maker for them.

 

[actcyclist]

I recently moved and didn’t set up my lights again. I’d forgotten how nice it is to just use a physical switch after years of HomeKit.

 

[w5jck]

Yep, Homekit sucks, Alexa system sucks, etc. There just isn't a good one out there I would trust in my house. Until there is more standardization where all device manufacturers are on the same page, it is going to be a major fail. I have a lot of KASA devices I use with Alexa and KASA updated its app a few days ago. Now nothing works correctly with those devices. They screwed up the app so bad, even Apple doesn't eff up apps that bad, although they get close sometimes. Sometimes I think it would be better to just go back to the old toggle switch era of the Apollo spacecraft and dump the computers... My parents generation managed to get the Apollo spacecrafts to the Moon and back with a computer that had less processing power than a 1970s TI calculator, but Apple and others cannot get these stupid home devices to work correctly with all the computing power we now have. Totally pathetic...

 

[Analog Kid]

Your frustration is shared by many. It's a good question: Why do iOS updates cause Siri to stop understanding things? Unfortunately it still feels like HomeKit is a side project for Apple.

Yea. It is what it is, but HomeKit isn’t a money-maker for them.

Often the way programs like this are run is they get investment within the company budget to get off the ground, then need to feed off their own revenue to grow. I feel like HomeKit is stuck in that limbo where it's not better because it's not resourced, it's not resourced because it's not making revenue, and it's not making revenue because it's not better...

I so want HomeKit to thrive though.

 

[TonyC28]

Often the way programs like this are run is they get investment within the company budget to get off the ground, then need to feed off their own revenue to grow. I feel like HomeKit is stuck in that limbo where it's not better because it's not resourced, it's not resourced because it's not making revenue, and it's not making revenue because it's not better...

I so want HomeKit to thrive though.

It definitely does feel stuck. It's a shame because there is so much potential, but as long as it remains a hobby the only things we can look forward to are better hardware from third-parties and Matter which may or may not ever happen.

 

[AL2TEACH]

For me, HomeKit is one of those things that's on the horizon or in an infant stage along with many products for it. I have only two lights, a TV and a pair of HomePods with HomeKit, it's not stressed and all is good and I don't ask Siri to much, lol. Maybe this Matter will make a difference.

 

[zinacef]

Really happy to have found this thread!

For me HomeKit has been a disaster as I’ve found that my automations only work 1% of the time, and lately with iOS 16, my Schlage Encode Plus has been finicky within HomeKit including notifications which are sometimes coming through.

I’ve removed the lock from HomeKit and re-added it numerous times only to have the same results. When it connects to HomeKit, I’ve found that I’ve been having to check the Home app numerous times throughout the day to see if I lost the lock or not. This obviously is causing me lots of anxiety!

The Schlage Encode Plus was working well with iOS 15, but automations still wasn’t.

HomeKit has been so unreliable that I‘ve resorted to using the native apps for my devices which are only 2 - LiftMaster and Schlage Encode. I was hoping to take full advantage of HomeKit with the lock but that hasn’t been the case so I’m thinking of going back to my regular deadbolt. Plus the batteries have been draining fast on the Schlage so not sure why that’s happening.

Like the OP, I too have been thinking to dump it!

 

[WP31]

It's 50-50 for me. Sometimes things works, sometimes they don't. Sometimes updates wreck HomeKit accessories, scenes, and automations, sometimes they don't. Etc. Here's the real indicator that it's just not good enough: my children routinely ask "Why doesn't Siri work?". They are not old enough to understand what the magic lady in the speaker is, just that she is not reliable enough to routinely play music, turn on/off lights, or tell us the weather.

 

[dotme]

HomeKit can kiss off. I have been on this journey with Apple for too long to be this frustrated. Yet again, HomeKit has forgotten how to tell the difference between the words "lamp" and "light.

I feel like this is more a Siri issue than a HomeKit one. I've been there. For a few weeks last year, "HomePod Siri" saw no "lights" in one room in my house, but plenty of "lamps"

"iPhone Siri" on the other hand saw "lights" in that room, and "HomePod Siri" saw "lights" in all the other rooms. It was crazy.

I don't envy the developers... We all get used to certain phrases with Siri, and then the learning engine or somebody at Apple introduces some new variable or interpretation of a word into the mix, and everything breaks down. It's infuriating and an awful user experience.

I don't ask Siri to do much these days with accessories. I invoke Scenes, or special light/lamp names ("Kitchen Island") and I have better luck. I've also tried really hard to make my home truly smart. I use lux levels along with presence to automate almost all lighting now. We don't need to tell Siri to do anything... if a room is dark and someone is home, the lights will turn on. The home feels like it's reacting to the environment, making it feel truly "smart" and I've been happy with that system for the past year or two.

 

[skaro]

HomeKit can kiss off. I have been on this journey with Apple for too long to be this frustrated. Yet again, HomeKit has forgotten how to tell the difference between the words "lamp" and "light.

Every single ****ing time they update their software it's like Russian roulette what will happen with your HomeKit set up.

1000s of dollars and I never know what will happen when I tell Siri to do something.

I'm out.

I feel your pain! My Homepod in my kitchen has decided it no longer knows how to “turn the kitchen lights on” and when I now say “hey Siri stop” instead of stopping music playing etc, she now just says something “there are no active calls”! Yet it can understand music commands just fine!

I find myself whispering into my Apple Watch now like a mad man when I need kitchen commands so the HomePod doesn’t hear me! 😂

 

[BF1M]

I feel your pain! My Homepod in my kitchen has decided it no longer knows how to “turn the kitchen lights on” and when I now say “hey Siri stop” instead of stopping music playing etc, she now just says something “there are no active calls”! Yet it can understand music commands just fine!

I find myself whispering into my Apple Watch now like a mad man when I need kitchen commands so the HomePod doesn’t hear me! 😂

I'll raise you this. Telling any HomePod in any room right now to stop music will turn off EVERY SINGLE HOMEKIT DEVICE in the room. Cameras, smart switches, everything.

It's a joke.

 

[cr972003]

So same old **** from Apple when asked for help, known issue etc. Their suggestion? Either turn off all my iOS 16 devices when home or turn off all my iPadOS 15 devices. Seriously. Apparently it’s a conflict between the two.

****ing ridiculous. My wife is at the end of her patience with it so seriously, it’s going out.

This part is funny though. HomeKit currently thinks all my Hue lights, every single one, is a speaker….that it can’t find.

I’ve wondered about the mix of iOS 15 and 16 devices being part of the problem. You’re saying Apple Support confirmed this?

 

[TonyC28]

I have can lights in my kitchen labeled as the "Main" lights for that room.

"Hey Siri, set the main kitchen lights to 100%"
All kitchen lights turn on to 100%. The main but also pendant and table light.

"Hey Siri, set the main light in the kitchen to 100%"
She gets it right.

If Siri wants to fight me about the plural throwing her off that's fine. The frustrating thing is that it worked a million times before.

Also, the Home app on my Mac isn't working. The cameras load but every single accessory is stuck on updating.

 

[BF1M]

I’ve wondered about the mix of iOS 15 and 16 devices being part of the problem. You’re saying Apple Support confirmed this?

Yes they did

 

[BF1M]

I have can lights in my kitchen labeled as the "Main" lights for that room.

"Hey Siri, set the main kitchen lights to 100%"
All kitchen lights turn on to 100%. The main but also pendant and table light.

"Hey Siri, set the main light in the kitchen to 100%"
She gets it right.

If Siri wants to fight me about the plural throwing her off that's fine. The frustrating thing is that it worked a million times before.

Also, the Home app on my Mac isn't working. The cameras load but every single accessory is stuck on updating.

Exactly. Siri knew the difference between lights and lamps before and I as long as the HomePod in the room I was in was taking the command I didn’t have to specify a room in the command. Thats why I bought 22 of the ****ing things.

 

[risenphoenixkai]

Siri is completely useless on HomePod. I gave it a chance for a year, but I’ve given up on it.

My partner’s personal requests kept toggling off automatically for no discernible reason, so she couldn’t add anything to our shared Reminders list using Siri and had to ask me to do it.

Siri would regularly respond to requests to turn lights on by happily announcing that they were off, or vice versa.

Siri would randomly become unable to stop or pause music, and would announce that fact when you tried. It’s like she was grooving to the song and didn’t want to stop.

It’s when Siri finally became incapable of even playing music upon request that I lost my last bit of patience with it.

I’ve turned off “Hey, Siri” on our HomePods, and my partner and I use our Apple Watches and iPhones for requests instead. It’s slightly less convenient than how Siri was supposed to work on HomePod, but at least this way it actually works at all.

 

[Itinj24]

Siri is completely useless on HomePod. I gave it a chance for a year, but I’ve given up on it.

My partner’s personal requests kept toggling off automatically for no discernible reason, so she couldn’t add anything to our shared Reminders list using Siri and had to ask me to do it.

Siri would regularly respond to requests to turn lights on by happily announcing that they were off, or vice versa.

Siri would randomly become unable to stop or pause music, and would announce that fact when you tried. It’s like she was grooving to the song and didn’t want to stop.

It’s when Siri finally became incapable of even playing music upon request that I lost my last bit of patience with it.

I’ve turned off “Hey, Siri” on our HomePods, and my partner and I use our Apple Watches and iPhones for requests instead. It’s slightly less convenient than how Siri was supposed to work on HomePod, but at least this way it actually works at all.

The random toggling off of settings is extremely annoying. This is happening with a lot settings in iOS 16. Screen Time is one of them.