iOS 16.2 Homekit problem - other users cannot access the home

Yeah, that's what mine said. Try some of the things I did:

1. Signing out of cloud, restarting, then signing back in
2. Toggle the Home setting under iCloud
3. Completely wiping that particular user's [the one that can't be removed] HomeKit configuration with this profile: http://appldnld.apple.com/iOSProfiles/HomeKitReset.mobileconfig
4. Wiping the device and restoring from a backup.

Maybe one of those options led to my success?

[This is a Direct Download Link]


I had the same issue. My wife could receive the invite but could not join. Nothing happened after accepting. Her phone was updated after switching to the new Home architecture. I thought nothing worked until I did this:

(I was able to delete my wife from homekit users on my admin phone)

1. turn off all iphones
2. unplug all hubs (reboot is not sufficient)
3. wait couple of minutes
4. plug in all hubs
5. start up iphones
6. the wife was instantly able to access our home again

Hope this helps someone.

I finally got it fixed. What I did:

• turn off every apple devices, unplug all hubs
• turn on the hub closest to Wi-Fi, in my case Apple TV in living room
• turn on mine and my wife’s phone
• finally I can remove her and add back again
• plug all hubs back

Same issue here. I hope I don’t have to delete my home and reinstall everything.

There are other reports for the same problem, like identical:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/comments/zlgt59/homekit_new_architecture_pending_invites/

https://www.macuser.de/threads/ios-16-2-eingeladene-homekit-user-sind-aussen-vor.912781/

glad I am not the only one - chances are higher now for apple addressing/fixing this issue.

I've got a similar issue, but not exactly the same.

I have a "house phone" that has a guest iCloud account that I keep around for an extra device to control the home.

On my main device, it shows this person as having accepted the invite normally but the home is nowhere to be seen and I can't remove them from my main device- I get the "Could not modify user's access" message and the spare device's home app is stuck in "Loading Accessories and Scenes". All other devices received their invitations quickly and worked flawlessly.

Tried wiping the device three times, force closing, etc.- even setting up a new iCloud address (which ended up with my being stuck in the "Loading Accessories..." screen again).

All devices updated to 16.2 and new architecture installed. Just the one phone won't get added to the home.

Yes exactly the same, my setup on my ID is absolutely fine, my partner on their ID is locked out and sees nothing. I still see them as a 'resident' on the Home app, but I cannot change their settings or remove their account. It's like their portion of the upgrade wasn't done properly. So annoying!!!

I updated and things went fine except for the hiccup I outlined above. Ant2484's solution fixed it for me. There's a large megathread on Reddit dedicated to people's experiences and many have had worse issues than I so far. I'd update at your own risk or even wait a week or two for a patch to roll out.

The megathread

OK I literally tried again by turning everything off! All hubs, phones, Apple TVs, HomePods, iPads. Waiting a few minutes then bringing back the hubs/homepods first, then the devices. It then finally let me delete the users with no access and re-invite them. Back working now!

same problem. Although I sent invitation to a user of my house, the notification was gone to the user. He accepted the invitation from Home app. However, his iPad did not add to the my house. However, when I checked the invitation, my iPhone said he accepted the invitation. But, his iPad did not join to my house.

Same issue. I was fine but my wife was not able to join. All devices including her iPhone were upgraded to 16.2. I could see her as a resident on my phone but could not remove her. I kept trying different things including signing out of iCloud until all of a sudden all of my 110 devices started to say unresponsive and then they all disappeared! Everything is gone including my 60+ scenes! It’s making me a little sick thinking about rebuilding by entire HomeKit setup

I've gone through this once before, and used the profile from reddit mentioned from other posters, a few months ago. Now, with 16.2, having similar issues I had before prior to nuking it all and having to add everything back. Now, I have one family member that gets invite, but then cannot see home accessories.

I just really don't get why apple doesn't address these issues once and for all. it seems with every single update, HomeKit is effected adversely.

I follow the advice of rebooting every single hub at home, then I was able to delete my wife’s user profile from the main account, before it said I am not allowed to modify the profile. I added her back, it works now. Thank you all! (Happy wife happy life 😂😂🙈🙈)

Even a rich company like Apple has to hire off the shelf engineers. There is no magic involved. Decisions are made about architecture and how to implement something and then budgets are drawn up. Apple has one major flaw and that is that it destroys globally adopted/evolving standards in favor of its own if it sees opportunities to commercialize on its own standard. The lightning plug is a good example, versus common usb. So in the case of HomeKit I suspect the same story. It designed its own architecture (ignoring FHEM, ioBroker, Home Assistant,…) and went its own way thinking it can do better again. Only now Matter came to the scene and Apple probably saw its entire ecosystem becoming an island of incompatible junk if it didn’t join the alliance. I think matter is why home is undergoing “architectural “ changes. It’s not because Apple is just so caring and forthcoming and supportive of Matter that it did it, but simply because it has to to survive in the competitive automation market. And we all the pay price for its bad design choices in the form of flaky iOS upgrades, bodged HomeKit updates and still-working like it’s 2010 Siri. If you don’t want any of this, reduce your exposure to iCloud and Apple products. Perhaps go for another brand. Consider open source for your home automation. But don’t expect that it will make your life easier, on the contrary. That integration and easiness is what I expect from Apple. :)

Same here, I was able to add my wife back on my phone, but she can’t see anything from her phone. And I can no longer removing her, the home app just keeps saying “could not modify user’s access”. So retry is no longer an option

The trick to fix it for my wife’s phone was to delete the blank home on her phone (the one Apple sets up as the original on a new install) and then the invitations started coming through and she could accept. After that it took a minute or two and all the notifications started popping up about sharing accessories etc. Hope this helps someone else.