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Why won't my Apple TV 4K work as a HomeKit Hub.

I recently upgraded from an Apple TV HD to the Apple TV 4K in my main living room and redeployed the old ATV HD to a separate TV room. I've been trying for the last 3 days to setup the ATV 4K as a Homekit hub to automate my smart switches that were working fine with my ATV HD previously. I've signed out of ALL ATV's and set them back up from scratch. I signed in to the ATV 4K with the same Apple ID that my Home is set up on, but no matter what I do, I can't get the ATV 4K to work as a hub. I've even set up the old ATV HD on a separate Apple ID to avoid any conflict. What's the deal here???!

Apple TV, tvOS 14

Posted on Aug 21, 2021 4:47 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 21, 2021 5:52 PM

First update all Software. (iPhone, ATV)

Try to sign out of iCloud in settings- Users & Accounts - Your name - iCloud .

Restart your ATV. Once it’s restarted go back into settings and sign back into iCloud. You should then see AirPlay & HomeKit prompting you to set that up. Follow the on screen instructions. Make sure to Allow Access and be on the same wifi network. Your Apple TV should then display in the Home App and be listed under Hubs & Bridges as connected or standby.


There should also be no conflict using the same Apple ID with other hubs, in fact you should be. - so sign the old one back in. If it’s a problem using Siri on the remote to use HomeKit, try rebooting your wifi


Set up your HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV, or iPad as a home hub - Apple Support


If your home hub isn't working as expected


7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 21, 2021 5:52 PM in response to iRonni

First update all Software. (iPhone, ATV)

Try to sign out of iCloud in settings- Users & Accounts - Your name - iCloud .

Restart your ATV. Once it’s restarted go back into settings and sign back into iCloud. You should then see AirPlay & HomeKit prompting you to set that up. Follow the on screen instructions. Make sure to Allow Access and be on the same wifi network. Your Apple TV should then display in the Home App and be listed under Hubs & Bridges as connected or standby.


There should also be no conflict using the same Apple ID with other hubs, in fact you should be. - so sign the old one back in. If it’s a problem using Siri on the remote to use HomeKit, try rebooting your wifi


Set up your HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV, or iPad as a home hub - Apple Support


If your home hub isn't working as expected


Aug 23, 2021 12:23 PM in response to iRonni

I would encourage you to use the ATV HD & iPad as Hubs as well. They are intended to take over if another fails (standby vs connected) Unless of course it’s bothering you that you can’t use the ATV Siri remote to perform HomeKit tasks with the Siri button but you can still ask Siri on your iPhone or on your Mac (if it has Siri). It’s not just Hubs that can perform the tasks. Any Apple device signed into the same Apple ID you’re using for your Hubs can, Apple Watch will as well. Having said that, keep all your devices signed into the same Apple ID. & connected to the same home wifi network (*some do experience better results having Apple TV connected to wifi) so you have continuous syncing.

  • If it is the Siri remote (you didn’t really say what the error was) it might be the remote that needs troubleshooting: If your Apple TV remote isn't working - Apple Support
  • As to your dead Homepod, if a full Reset (pressing the top method) didn’t fix it, make sure to remove it from the Home App if it’s still there and get it signed out if your Apple ID - you can check on this in iPhone settings- Your name- scroll through the device list and Remove it. If it’s still under warranty you can get in touch with Apple to have it replaced.

Aug 23, 2021 12:20 AM in response to iRonni

Do you have any other Apple Hubs like a HomePod for example? if you do, reset the HomePods. Sometimes you have to delete Home in the home app and set everything up,again, which of course is a pain. Resetting Apple TV is another option but this restores it to factory conditions. Otherwise it could be a wifi issue.


When you signed out on your other Apple devices make sure keychain got turned back on, on all devices. I signed out on an iPad once and HomeKit wasn’t working after signing back in , then I noticed keychain got turned off on the Mac.


I developed some issues with my lights, I use the Hue app made for the lights instead now. Some of the accompanying Apps offer advanced settings , one being to enable HomeKit & Siri.

Aug 23, 2021 6:35 AM in response to Vancouver22

No, no other Apple Hub. I had a HomePod mini many months ago but it bricked on updating. I had an iPad working as a hub initially too, but I transition to my old ATV HD and it work as my Home Hub for a few months until I just recently upgraded to the ATV 4K.

Thanks for the additional suggestions. I’ll give them a try.

Aug 23, 2021 12:30 PM in response to iRonni

Ok, I tried removing my Home entirely from my iPhone, factory resetting the ATV 4K, signing out and back in to my iCloud account on my iPhone and MacBook Pro. I setback up the ATV 4K and began reestablishing my Home setup on my iPhone. I then tried to make the ATV 4K the hub by following the onscreen prompts, but still nothing. I did see a message come up on the ATV 4K during the setup/sign-in process that said "...new features will be available once all the Apple TV's are updated to the latest software version...", but the other ATV HD I have is up to date and the third one I have is an old Apple TV 3 running version 8.4.4 that can't be upgraded any further.

Why won't my Apple TV 4K work as a HomeKit Hub.

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