Level 1

20 points

Homekit Automations are broken in iOS 16

Since iOS 16 HomeKit automations aren't triggered reliably. Simple timed automations like "Open Shutters at 9am" are triggered randomly. All my Hubs, Homepods, iPhones, etc are up-to-date, restarted, reseted all the devices, recreated all the automations, but still not reliable.

My only solution at the moment is to schedule the automations with the accessories' own hub. (eg. IKEA light automations are set in IKEA's own app, and my Bosch smart home shutters are scheduled within Bosch's app) It works, but would be better to see everything within Apple's Home.

Posted on Sep 16, 2022 1:47 AM

Top-ranking reply

Glennch

Level 1

24 points

Posted on Sep 21, 2022 12:52 PM

I too suffered from my automations no longer working after upgrading my AppleTV's (4K and HD) to TV OS 16. After about 5 days of troubleshooting I cannot say what specifically is wrong but I can provide what seems to be a consistent way to create HomeKit automations that consistently work on IOS 16 / TV OS 16.

First, the iphone / ipad you run this procedure on must be running IOS 16 for this to work.
Delete the automation in question (either via the Home app or the Shortcuts app)
Create the automation in the latest version of the shortcut app (Do NOT use the Home App).
In the shortcut application when you create your automation, do not select your scene or accessory in the first menu, instead scroll down to the bottom and select "Convert to shortcut"
In the shortcut menu select your scene or accessory as you normally would.
Before hitting "Done" in the Shortcut menu, select the small arrow at the very bottom right of the screen to test your script. Assuming it works as desired you can select "Done" in the Shortcut menu.
Now don't panic, it takes approximately 3-5 seconds to copy the new automation to your home hub before it will be listed in the Automations screen.

This has worked consistently for me for both simple automations such as turning on a light at a certain time as well as complex automations based on location that SSH into a remote server.

Good Luck

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442 replies

Dec 14, 2022 10:29 AM in response to dMindFuse

This is interesting. For a week or so I’ve been running 16.2 on my HomePods but not my appletv. It seems like HomeKit defaults to homehubs that are running on the latest version so I think my homehub has been exclusively set to my HomePods for that time.

And since, my automations have been working fine.

I’m not sure if my appletv has updated yet. I’ll check. It’s not currently my homehub though.

Dec 15, 2022 5:15 AM in response to Kazemi88

I did the HomeKit upgrade and things seem to be working today (knock on wood). I did notice that all the AppleTV's show up as hubs on Standby (even the ones I had disabled).

My new problem is that I can't add family members to the Home. The invites show up, but they get error messages about conflicting home names and the invite simply disappears on my end. Oh well, for another thread.

Jan 23, 2023 9:23 PM in response to jbadham

Any ATV or Homepod that is setup with the same Apple ID as your iPhone and is on the same wifi network will become a Home Hub - either as active or on stand-by. Hubs are listed in Home Settings in the Home app (iOS or macOS).

You can change the ATV settings to disable this but you cannot disable a Homepod. For troubleshooting purposes you need to unplug Homepods.

Jan 23, 2023 11:17 PM in response to wArch

It was the homehub software (HomePod and appletv) that broke stuff, not iOS.

It’s just that people aren’t aware of their homehubs updating in the same way they are of their personal devices updating.

Automations run on the homehubs.

Yenickhe

Level 1

8 points

Feb 14, 2023 1:19 PM in response to MEGATOMI

Well, my iPhone 12 Pro runs iOS 16.3.1, my AppleTV 4K runs 16.3.2, all Philips Hue lights and virtually all the homekit devices in my Home are up to date. Still, half of my automations DOES NOT WORK! "Turn lights on sunset" works, while "turn lights off at sunrise" does not. Also, automations set to run at a specified time do not trigger.

I have tried literally everything I found on the web, forcing updates on everything, removing and recreating problematic automations, even deleting Home App from the iPhone and reinstalling again. Of course I set everything according to the suggestion in this thread and also many others. Nothing seems to help, it is still bugged. All automations work flawlessly in Philips Hue app, but not in the Home app.

It would be really nice if Apple could finally address this issue and solve it!

Cemento

Level 1

9 points

Sep 28, 2022 11:09 PM in response to MEGATOMI

same here. Got working back only by removing automation and re adding. Instead of reading manually I’ve restored them from a Controller backup and that worked.

Oct 20, 2022 1:43 AM in response to Michael Paine

Disabling AppleTV as a Hub ... well, Automations worked for about half a day! Grr!

jack0922

Level 1

4 points

Oct 20, 2022 5:52 PM in response to majapp

just re-install any speakers and the problem will go away

majapp

Level 1

31 points

Oct 21, 2022 3:35 PM in response to wArch

Interesting, but just to be clear: you say you are running iOS 16.0.2 (two) on your iPhone. Is there any particular reason why you are not updating to the latest iOS version 16.0.3?

orenk17

Level 1

8 points

Dec 4, 2022 7:24 AM in response to MEGATOMI

I noticed if I set up new automations with a single device only, they will work. This is not ideal. But then again this whole situation isn’t.

Kazemi88

Level 1

22 points

Dec 8, 2022 9:42 PM in response to solomani

Deleting the automation and re adding does fix it…..until you make a change and then it doesn’t work again. It’s all a hot mess

Dec 16, 2022 12:34 AM in response to dMindFuse

I’ve now got my appletv as the homehub. Eagerly waiting to see what happens.

Dec 16, 2022 11:18 AM in response to Jace Cavacini

FYI- a bit late but….

https://apple.news/Az8L28C59SPe848YFDv2aBA

Mucci

Level 1

40 points

Sep 16, 2022 7:36 PM in response to MEGATOMI

Same here. On 16.0 (20A362) and my automations are broken. I:

restarted my phone
restarted my hubs
restarted the Philips Hue hub
disabled and re-enabled existing automations
deleted and recreated some automations

Nothing has resolved the issue. I too will need to setup these automations in the 3rd-party branded hub the accessories are connected to until they fix this.

IPK

Level 1

17 points

Sep 19, 2022 11:59 PM in response to MEGATOMI

Same here, just to tell you that automations are restored with daily restarts on the homepod mini just to stop to work some hours later. Terrible.

Again Apple continues to think about HomeKit as a toy instead of a very serious thing.

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Homekit Automations are broken in iOS 16