Homekit hubs appear in multiple homes - with separate networks, making devices not reachable. (homepod minis)

I created two completely separate homes in homekit. Both homes are in different locations and don't share the same network. In each home I setup one homepod mini, which makes it a hub to remotely control the home as expected. However, after a short while, both homepod minis appear as hubs in both homekit homes, one with the status "connected" and one with the status "Standby".


This was irritating for me, as I would not have expected, that the homepod mini would get shared with the other home. In fact, I thought that this might be even an unintended security issue, given the fact, that I can invite other people to this home in homekit as well.


I couldn't find any way to "delete" / or "block" the homepod mini that is not physically present in one home, from becoming a home hub also registered in the second home.


However the real issue appeared, when the homepod mini of one location decided to not be the "Connected" one anymore, but changed without any clear indication why into "Standby" mode. With this status change I can't access the camera in the second location anymore and I noticed problems also with some Ikea Tradfri controller, that doesn't react to Scene control commands via Homekit anymore.


It seems, that the homepod minis / or maybe any kind of Apples Homehubs tie themselves via the iCloud account to other homes, even though with this they create issues.


I read, that some people found solutions by creating a separate iCloud account for each home and then invited the main iCloud account. However, this would also mean, that if you want to use for example Homekit Secure Video, you'd have to buy subscriptions for each account - if don't have a family shared account - on top of the fact, that this seems to be quite and unintended hassle.


Does anybody have a solution for this? Is this a bug? (- ... it seems at least to me.)


Thanks!

HomePod mini, 15

Posted on Jan 25, 2022 3:23 AM

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Posted on Jun 25, 2022 7:10 PM

I was able to fix this issue. I'm not sure if my situation is applicable to everyone here, so your mileage may vary.


In my case, home B was set up after home A (in fact - it was created while I was physically at home A - not sure if that matters).


Over time I added home hubs (Apple TVs and HomePods) to Home B. I noticed that Home A only had hubs from Home A. But Home B had all its own hubs, AND every hub from Home A.


The fix was simple - I just re-setup all the hubs in Home A:

  • For Apple TVs, I removed them from Home (Settings -> AirPlay and HomeKit -> Room -> Remove From Home). It's worth noting that before doing this, the 'Home Hub' section of the 'AirPlay and HomeKit' menu showed both homes! I also logged out of iCloud (Users and Accounts -> Default User -> Remove User from Apple TV). Then I just re-added my iCloud user as the default user, and used my iPhone to set it up.
  • For HomePods, I just removed them from the Home app and set them up again.


In both situations, during setup it would ask me which home and room to associate the device with.


Since doing this, Home B only has the hubs for Home B, and same for Home A.


So again - I'm not sure why the hubs from home A were associated with home B when that home was set up. But setting them up again seems to have fixed it.



Similar questions

154 replies

Jan 26, 2022 10:55 AM in response to OrigamiFan1

Thank you very much @OrigamiFan1 for taking the time and responding to my Question.


I went through the links provided and can confirm that even though I thoroughly checked all the references and made sure that my setup is according to the described steps, unfortunately, the issue in my case persists.


I would also like to add, that in the meantime I even disconnected the homepod minis from each home in the Home app and completely reset both homepod minis, the issue is again present.


Any further help would be highly appreciated. Thank you in advance.


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Homekit hubs appear in multiple homes - with separate networks, making devices not reachable. (homepod minis)

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