HomeKit secure video not recording

This is a joke. Apple is failing us. You can’t purchase and install this kind of equipment, which you count on to work, just for one update to screw it all up….these are security cameras for goodness sake, there’s a purpose for them. Super disappointed with Apple right now, and quite frankly, they are making me question my decisions to stick to their platform. Security cameras are useless if they aren’t reliable. WAKE UP APPLE AND FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!

Hey Batfink *and any others with this issue...

Try the short fix below first, then the long one...

Description: We had a similar problem... and then had a new problem where, when trying to set up the camera again, we got "Accessory Not Found" for HomeKit.

Our setup is...

Eufy Indoor Pan & Tilt

Multiple Homepods and Homepod minis and Apple TVs

A Eero mesh network

I took some elaborate steps which fixed it instantly. Though, I'm not sure if all the steps I took are necessary. Just in case, I'm going to include the full fix I used below.

But to start, maybe a shorter one that could be key. I didn't try this, only thought of it afterward. If this first short one works, please let others know. And here it is...

A POSSIBLE SHORT FIX FOR HOMEKIT NOT WORKING WITH EUFY CAMERA...

Delete the camera from HomeKit, if you haven't already.

Open iOS Settings and in the main menu and enter "Eufy" into the search bar at the top (newbies, you need to pull down in

Settings to show the search bar). When it comes up, select "Eufy Security."

Under the iOS Settings menu for "Eufy Security," look for the "Home Data" switch and turn it off.

Now reboot your phone. Don't skip this step.

Go back into the iOS Settings, follow the same step to get back to the Eufy Security list of permissions, and turn "Home Data" back on.

Now try going to the Eufy app and adding the camera by the "HomeKit Portal" menu again.

I'm not sure, but I think this is like throwing out the old permissions and forcing the phone to create new, fresh ones.

Now, here's the actual FULL process I followed to get our Eufy camera back up and working in HomeKit, complete with Home Secure Video recordings. And the result was instant.

THIS LONGER VERSION TOOK A WHILE, BUT IT DID WORK...

1) First, I deleted the camera from both the Eufy and Home apps.

1a) I also reset the Eufy camera to factory by holding the setup button for 10 seconds (until it beeped twice).

2) I went around and unplugged everything that could be a HomeKit hub. So, the Apple TVs, the Homepods, and the minis. I also unplugged the camera and our Eero router.

3) Once I was sure nothing was online, I went back and plugged in just the Eero router and waited for it to connect again.

4) The Eero allows you to pause the 5ghz band for 15 minutes, so devices that prefer 2.4ghz -- like the Eufy cam -- can connect. (If you're unsure how to do this, see here).

5) I then plugged in just ONE of our HomeKit hubs -- an Apple TV that happens to be near the camera -- so I could be sure the Eufy camera would use that one to join Home.

6) Once that Apple TV was online, I plugged in the camera and when through the regular setup process in the Eufy app, adding the camera back in from scratch. See here.

7) From here, do NOT hit "HomeKit Portal" yet in the Eufy app. Instead, follow the steps I mentioned earlier for purging "Home Data" settings from your phone.

To repeat them here...

2) Open iOS Settings and in the main menu and enter "Eufy" into the search bar at the top (newbies, you need to pull down in Settings to show the search bar). When it comes up, select "Eufy Security."

3) Under the iOS Settings menu for "Eufy Security," look for the "Home Data" switch and turn it off.

4) Now reboot your phone. Don't skip this step.

5) Go back into the iOS Settings, follow the same step to get back to the Eufy Security list of permissions, and turn "Home Data" back on.

6) Now try going to the Eufy app and adding the camera by the "HomeKit Portal" menu again.

Try that... and let everyone know which one (if either) worked!

Again my fix was instant, with HKSV working right away.

Hi JTF, I just tried your short version above and it works (at least for me) so great job! I copy it here again for anyone to test. If it doesn't for a new tester please read JTF's full long version. Again thanks for your help and hope you areaway I past this here. Its from JTF!!

¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨paste from JTF¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

Delete the camera from HomeKit, if you haven't already.

Open iOS Settings and in the main menu and enter "Eufy" into the search bar at the top (newbies, you need to pull down in

Settings to show the search bar). When it comes up, select "Eufy Security."

Under the iOS Settings menu for "Eufy Security," look for the "Home Data" switch and turn it off.

Now reboot your phone. Don't skip this step.

Go back into the iOS Settings, follow the same step to get back to the Eufy Security list of permissions, and turn "Home Data" back on.

Now try going to the Eufy app and adding the camera by the "HomeKit Portal" menu again.

¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

Posting my recent experience with this in case it helps someone else. This is nothing very different from what has already been posted in this thread, but a slightly different approach.

My relevant setup:

• 2 x Eufy cameras
• 1 x Logitech Circle View Doorbell
• Multiple HomeKit Hubs (Apple TV, OG HomePods, HomePod minis)

After a network outage where I had to reset my wifi routers, all cameras worked with live views, but there were no recordings regardless of recording settings. Motion detection for notifications did work, but only on the any motion setting - the settings requiring more analysis (person, vehicle, etc) did not work. An additional symptom was that the status light and night light settings on the Circle View Doorbell did not work - both were stuck to always on.

I had had something similar happen before, and power cycling all HomeKit hub devices fixed it. That did not fix it this time. Here is what I did to fix it:

1. Unplug all HomePods, leaving only the AppleTV powered on (following the advice from this thread). If you don't have any HomePods but have several AppleTVs acting as hubs, then just pick one AppleTV to start with I guess, these troubleshooting steps should still work.
2. After a minute or so, power cycle whatever camera you're testing with, so that it comes online using the only remaining hub.
3. Once the camera is back online, validate that recording and notifications work as desired.
4. Plug in one HomePod, give it a minute to make sure it comes online, then test the camera again
5. If the camera still works, move on to the next HomePod and test again.
6. If a HomePod comes online and the cameras stop working, there's something about that hub device that is messing up the cameras. For that HomePod, I removed it from HomeKit, thereby factory resetting it. Doing this from the home app worked for me, but Reset HomePod - Apple Support shows all the ways to reset them. For me, my faulty HomePod was in a stereo pair, so I unpaired them and then reset both.
7. Set up the HomePod as new in the Home app.

After doing all that, my cameras have been recording correctly for a couple of days now, so I think that fixed it.

I wish there were a way to specify which device to use as a primary HomeKit hub - my AppleTV is wired so therefore the most stable device to use. OG HomePods have been getting flakier and flakier lately, too.

I was able to get mine working again… I found that when I disabled the HomePods at the router and forced the AppleTV to be the only home hub, then everything was working. After a long process of trial and error, I reset (removed and added back) each HomePod one at a time. All seems to be ok again now. Hope this helps.

I found a different solution with less steps I think. Works for me. Note: only applies if you have a wired Apple TV

1. confirm Apple TV shows up in list as a home hub in Home app under Home Settings - Home hubs & bridges
2. power off all HomePods in list
3. confirm Apple TV is now connected as the hub in Home app
4. power cycle cameras. In the case of the eufy this means power cycling the bridge. In the case of a doorbell unmount it. Wait 1 minute or so and power back
5. wait a couple of minutes for the camera or hub to reconnect
6. confirm recording line now shows in camera view in home app
7. power HomePods back

I think recording works (better or at all) if Apple TV is the home hub.

hope this helps others.

Update for all others seeing issues with recording not working, I was seeing the same issues whenever my hub would switch from an Apple TV to a HomePod. As of late it is now working no matter what device is the hub.

My system has been pretty stable since I did the following.

1. power off all HomePods.
2. confirm Apple TV is the hub. If it is not restart the Apple TV. It might take up 15 minutes for the Apple TV to show up as hub in home app.
3. update Apple TV to latest version (just released last week at the time of this post)
4. add each HomePod one at a time and update to the latest firmware in home app
5. wait an hour or so
6. recording should be working again

Mine has switched hubs a few times in the last week from Apple TV to other HomePods and recording continues to function. I don’t know why the hubs switch. Apple TV is hardwired and set

to never sleep. HomePods obviously are not.

This SEEMS to be a good fix. I suspect the latest OS updates addressed it. You must update all your apple devices that interact with HomeKit though. iOS, tvOS, HomePods , etc.

Hopes this helps anyone else with this issue.

Make sure everything is updated. Then first, reset *every* device that is acting as a HomeHub (Apple TVs/HomePods).

Then, setup the Apple TVs first - verify recording is working again - then setup the HomePods.

I am having this same issue - have you been able to get your set up working? I have a mix of Eufy and Logitech cameras - all were working fine before the upgrade, but now none of them are recording to iCloud (HSK). My Dufy cameras at least are still recording to the Eufy homebase. I have tried all variations of power cycling, removing, adding back, logging out of iCloud, etc. Still nothing.

If anybody else has the problem where they work fine but nothing is being recorded all you need to do is enable motion detection in the eufy app and just turn off the eufy apps notifications.

Update: woke up this morning to Secure Video and the Night Vision and Camera Status Light settings finally working again on all the Circle View equipment.

I have 3 HomePods and 1 mini. 2 of the HomePods are a stereo pair. Last night before bed I ungrouped them, then factory reset each one and went back through setup, adding them back to Home. Put the phone on the charger and went to bed.

Took the dog out for a walk this morning and noticed the night vision lights on the doorbells were finally OFF (despite being set that way previously, they were both stuck ON - toggling in the Home app had no effect). Checked the camera and sure enough, recording was happening again.

I did nothing with the 3rd HomePod or the mini.

Ha! That lasted all of 24 hours. As soon as one of the other non-reset devices, including the Apple TVs, took over as the HomeHub we were right back to square one. So this morning I have reset everything: 3 Apple TVs, 3 HomePods, 1 HomePod mini. Added back 1 HomePod, it became the HomeHub and secure video started working again. I have now disabled HomeHub on all of the Apple TVs and have re-added the 2 other HomePods and the HomePod mini. We'll see if this gets me more than 24 hours this time.

Found the only way around this is to remove your HomePods from your house/accessories and set them back up. Once this was done, all my cameras (Eufy & Logitech) started recording/showing recordings.

I went through and reset all other items to see where the issue lied without resolution. Once the HomePods (both of mine) were reset, everything worked again. Taking in mind they were the homebase for my HomeKit it should’ve been obvious as to where the issue was. Oh well, process of elimination is always good.

I totally agree. I’m getting really fed up with Apple at the moment. Been a fan if their products for 3+ decades but now with HomeKit cameras being useless and the forever response from HomePods of ‘unable to connect internet’ I’m seriously thinking of getting rid of it all and switching to Alexa or Google. Really annoyed at the solution always being to reset it all. I have about 15-20 devices on HomeKit, I’m doing not doing that every couple of weeks 😡

Same here. 2 Circle View cameras and 2 CV doorbells - all worked fine until the Monday of the iOS 15 update release and now none are recording anything.