Automations not working on Home App

Question

Automations not working on Home App

I have simple automations set up on Home App (lights on at sunset, lights off at 11pm) that simply will not trigger. They work fine manually or using "test this automation" in the automation edit screen, but will not trigger automatically. I've tried rebooting both phone and Apple TV 4K. All software (phone and Apple TV) are current. I've seen posts back in 2018 that showed this as a problem for several users, but no replies with a reliable fix. Is this just not a function in Home App that works?

Posted on Mar 16, 2019 9:30 AM

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Answer 1

Vancouver22

Level 8

37,622 points

Mar 16, 2019 12:47 PM in response to walterfromhouston

Verify you’re on the same wifi network and signed in with same Apple ID
Trobleshoot your network
setup Homekit in the separate app associated with the lights, check to see if there’s a mismatch error or if any software updates are needed for the bulbs or bridge.
Make sure the main is powered on ( light switch is on for example)

create custom home automations in the Home app.

Follow the instructions for Home App here:

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204893#delete-reset and more info https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT207057

if you continue to have trouble you can remove the accessory from Home App, then set it up again

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204893#delete-reset

Delete your home or remove accessories

To remove an accessory from the Home app:

On your iOS device: Press and hold an accessory, tap Settings, then scroll to the bottom and tap Remove Accessory.
On your Mac: Double-click an accessory, click Settings, then scroll down and click Remove Accessory.

If you remove your home from the Home app, all of its data, like accessories, scenes, automations, and people you’ve invited to control your home, will be deleted. You’ll also need to reset each of your accessories before you can set them up again. To reset your accessory, look for a button on the accessory, check its manual, or contact the manufacturer.

To delete your Home and all of its data from the Home app:

On your iOS device: Tap in the upper-left corner, then scroll to the bottom and tap Remove Home.

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Answer 2

Mar 16, 2019 3:41 PM in response to Vancouver22

Thanks for responding. Have done all of these over time, but the problem appears to be with Apple TV. My Apple TV seems to forget it's supposed to be serving as a Homekit hub. I have multiple Apple TVs at this location and after having Apple support on the phone, unplugged all and then plugged back, in one at a time. We managed to get the proper ATV to show it was serving as HomeKit hub, but that only lasted a day. I suspect that Apple has not worked through how to manage multiple ATVs in a common installation and one of the older ATVs is causing the HomeKit hub to fail. It is simply ridiculous to have to work this hard just to get Home App to do simple things that other apps do with ease. Really disappointed in Apple. Since I'm using iDevices, I just gave up on Home App and set up IFTTT commands to handle everything.

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Answer 3

Mar 16, 2019 5:01 PM in response to Vancouver22

Thanks, I kind of suspected the older ATV would be an issue. You make a great point, there should be a HomeKit Forum. Hope someone considers adding that!

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Answer 4

Vancouver22

Level 8

37,622 points

Mar 16, 2019 4:54 PM in response to walterfromhouston

It’s tricky. You’d need to remove the old ATV from your iCloud account, which of course is not ideal if you’re still using the Apple TV and then it requires changing your password, which again isn’t ideal.

You could also try asking in the iCloud Forum since it’s related to that and users there might have more expertise in that area . https://discussions.apple.com/community/icloud/icloud_on_my_ios_device

Unfortunately there is no HomeKit Forum in here.

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Automations not working on Home App

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