Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

tvOS 26 Changes 'HomeKit' References to 'Apple Home' in Settings App

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,836
39,778


The fifth tvOS 26 beta changed several "HomeKit" references to "Apple Home" in the Settings app on all Apple TV models compatible with the update.

homekit-showdown-redux.jpg

For example, Israeli website The Verifier reported that the "AirPlay and HomeKit" menu on the Apple TV is now labeled "AirPlay and Apple Home."

MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris spotted other examples, such as the one below.

Before:
Your Apple TV won't connect with iCloud and HomeKit until you add a new default user.
Click to expand...
After:
Your Apple TV won't connect with iCloud and Apple Home until you add a new default user.
Click to expand...
As a refresher, Apple Home refers to Apple's overall smart home app and ecosystem, whereas HomeKit has been the name of the company's underlying smart home accessory framework since 2014. Of the two names, HomeKit sounds more technical.

Does this serve as evidence that Apple is slowly phasing out its HomeKit brand in favor of Apple Home, or did Apple simply realize that Apple Home was the better wording in these instances? It could be the latter, but it would not be surprising if Apple eventually did retire the HomeKit name in favor of the more generic Apple Home for both its smart home app and framework, especially as the company prepares to launch an all-new home hub.

For now, there are still plenty of references to both HomeKit and Apple Home across Apple's website and software platforms. One day, though, perhaps the HomeKit name could be folded into Apple Home entirely for streamlined branding.

Article Link: tvOS 26 Changes 'HomeKit' References to 'Apple Home' in Settings App
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/08/09/tvos-26-homekit-changed-to-apple-home/
e-coli said:
I never, not once, got HomeKit to work with even the most basic stuff. Seemed like an absolutely confusing mess.

Curious if others actually got it to work.
Click to expand...

I have many HomeKit smart plugs from TP-Link and some Philips Hue lightbulbs. And a TV that is HomeKit compatible too. It all works great. And my Apple TV is the HomeKit hub.

I previously had a bunch of plugs and bulbs from SmartThings before Samsung acquired them. Those never worked great.

But I've always had great luck with HomeKit plugs and bulbs.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: TokyoKiller, haragog, michaelnugent and 5 others
turbineseaplane said:
I watch Apple TV+ on Apple TV on my Apple TV, which also provides Apple Home.

Apple Home is on my Apple TV which is in my home.
Click to expand...

I used to purchase iBooks on the iBook Store to store on my 12” iBook. But my iBook wasn’t great for ebooks.

Now I can have the Apple TV connected to my TV to play Apple TV+ content bundled with the Apple One subscription. Which is fantastic, especially when covered by AppleCare One.

Gone are the days of using macOS on the TV from my Mac Mini, because I went with the Mac Pro (rather than the iMac Pro) back when the base Mac Mini wasn’t even enough Mac for macOS.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: Porco, 211, hmmmmmmm and 2 others
e-coli said:
I never, not once, got HomeKit to work with even the most basic stuff. Seemed like an absolutely confusing mess.

Curious if others actually got it to work.
Click to expand...
My entire home is done with HomeKit. Automations, every light, every switch, motion and presence sensors, garage, door locks, garage…you name it, it is working with Apple HomeKit. I don’t know what your issues was, but I would say that if you were trying to use “Matter” accessories, that might be your problem. Matter devices always gave me problems. But when I switched to dedicated things with hubs, it all worked like magic and I have never had an issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: haragog, KeithBN, philstubbington and 1 other person
e-coli said:
I never, not once, got HomeKit to work with even the most basic stuff. Seemed like an absolutely confusing mess.

Curious if others actually got it to work.
Click to expand...
Never have had a problem, it’s pretty drop dead simple for most things. Latest thing I’ve setup was my aqara doorbell camera, think it took maybe 10 mins.
 
  • Like
Reactions: haragog, noraa and KeithBN
turbineseaplane said:
I watch Apple TV+ on Apple TV on my Apple TV, which also provides Apple Home.

Apple Home is on my Apple TV which is in my home.
Click to expand...

SkippyThorson said:
I used to purchase iBooks on the iBook Store to store on my 12” iBook. But my iBook wasn’t great for ebooks.

Now I can have the Apple TV connected to my TV to play Apple TV+ content bundled with the Apple One subscription. Which is fantastic, especially when covered by AppleCare One.

Gone are the days of using macOS on the TV from my Mac Mini, because I went with the Mac Pro (rather than the iMac Pro) back when the base Mac Mini wasn’t even enough Mac for macOS.
Click to expand...
You two have now given me a headache
 
  • Haha
Reactions: turbineseaplane and Wx_Man
Hopefully this means they're going to spend a bit more time on making the Home app less buggy?

The video playback UI for cameras is so hard to navigate due to bugginess - move the timeline and maybe the video will start playing, or maybe it won't. Double tap the video to zoom in and maybe you'll get a zoomed in video or maybe you'll get a stuck image sitting over the top of the video playback. Scroll back in the timeline and it might jump to 7 days ago. Even the dates at the top sometimes have the wrong day names for the days of the week! (they'll be off by one day)

And it's even worse on macOS. Yesterday I tried to create an Automation on macOS in the Home app and used "Convert to Shortcut" to add an "If" statement, but was then unable to edit anything in the Shortcut view. (after some searching online, it appears this is a common problem with the Home app on macOS that has existed for years and still isn't fixed) It works if you do it on iOS, though.

And my favourite of all: the Home app thinks my Home is in the wrong location (a home I used to be at) and there's no way to fix it. I've tried all the usual recommendations like changing the Home location in Maps and my Contact card, logging out and back in, turning devices/routers off and on, and even setting up the Home again from scratch. Nothing will make it fix the location, and there's no way to just tell it what the !@#$!$ street address of the home is!

With this kind of bugginess, it's no wonder that people become frustrated using Home for anything more than just a couple of devices. I sincerely hope that their plans to release a "home hub" device mean that they've also been overhauling the Home app and it just wasn't ready for the "26" OSes.
 
HomeKit is a nightmare for my Lifx lights.

If it works it offers reduced functionality (on/off, basic colours only).

And if (most of the time) it doesnt work, I have to wait about 15 minutes for HomeKit to give up before the Lifx app can add the device.

Painful and frustrating.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MasterControlProgram
e-coli said:
I never, not once, got HomeKit to work with even the most basic stuff. Seemed like an absolutely confusing mess.

Curious if others actually got it to work.
Click to expand...
I have 8 smart light switches, a couple smart plugs, a tv, a motion detector and a camera integrated into my Home system, using a HomePod mini as the hub. All of them were easy to get up and running and have worked flawlessly since day one. I have automations tied between the motion detector and light switch, and a few automations to set lighting the way I want at given times, all work fine with no glitches. All the devices are on Matter except for the tv and Logitech camera.

My system is admittedly not anywhere near as extensive or complicated as some, but it works fine for my needs and was simple to set up - scan the QR codes, name it and assign it to a room. and include it in any automations I want. I've had it up and running for about 5 months and have never once had any of the devices go unresponsive and require intervention. I can access and control them via my Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad and/or iMac, and the functionality is the same whether I'm 1000 miles from home or sitting at my desk in my home office.

I'm no networking or home automation guru, I started out knowing basically nothing about any of it. I watched a few YT videos, read up on it at Apple's website, and read the instructions on the boxes as I was installing things. It was basically all 'learn as you go' for me. I spent a lot more time researching which devices I wanted to use and learning what things like "Matter" were than I did actually setting up the system.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TVreporter and KeithBN
entropys said:
HomeKit should just work with any protocol. That is its biggest downfall.
Click to expand...
It does if you use the bridge function with something like homebridge or homeassistant. The idea behind HomeKit and matter accessories getting native support was apple didn’t want things dependent on factors they couldn’t control, like companies deciding something isn’t profitable enough and shutting down all the cloud **** needed to make their stuff work. In many ways, apple was right to worry about that. We are seeing that happen over and over again but HomeKit and matter stuff just keep on working.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back