iOS 16.2 Homekit problem - other users cannot access the home

Only switching my iPhones off and on like suggested at the top by another user ("most helpful") didn't work for me. So I tried like you suggested, switching off all the devices (first the devices, then hubs), and one after each other switching them on again (AppleTV as main hub, then HomePod minis, then both iPhones, leaving the other devices switched off while trying delete and re-invite). So this finally worked for me, thank you!!!

You are a genius. This worked. The funny thing is, it didn't work the first time because I accidentally forgot to unplug 1 of my 6+ hubs. You have to power down all the hubs. I suspect they've got stale info in them that prevents you from modifying the user list.

I can't imagine recommending HomeKit to people who aren't super nerds such as myself. Really counter to Apple's "It Just Works" philosophy.

FINALLY figured it out. Have been trying to invites Hubs all morning. Discovered he had not turned on iCloud mail. Once I invited him using his iCloud email address rather than the email he assigned to his Apple ID, he could accept the invitation and rock-n-roll as before the 16.2 update.

This worked for me too - but only partially. My wife can access homekit devices in the house (but not remotely), and did not have Admin rights anymore. I raised a ticket with Apple Support - who were great. They recommended a Reset of Network settings on the iPhones affected. I did this and everything is now back to normal. Automations work again AND my wife has admin access correctly.

This is worst nightmare I'm having. I have all my family member in homekit for 3 years and this new update 16.2 removed all member access. I did reset all their phone with no success. All other device in my profile has no issue.

I had the same issue... Eventually, after restarting all Hubs (3 x HomePod Mini and 2 x AppleTV), I could add the family members again.

However, clicking the invite in their App did nothing.

The annoying fix was to add additional email addresses for me (the sender / Owner) as it HAS to match in their contacts list.

In my case, I use *****@me.com, but it sent the invite via *****@icloud.com to one of my daughters, and *****@mac.com to my wife's phone?!

Go figure...

Only when they had those addresses in their contacts could they then accept the invite, and be added to the Home.

I had a similar multi user issue. Updating the architecture seemed to help.

Recently set up home app/homekit with 2 homepodminis and a smart plug. Tried to add my husband to my home and the invite was only pending. Restarted/rebooted/logged-in/out of everything/rand all the updates, still pending.

Got on a call with apple support who told me that I had to wait 24 hours from the time I completed the update to the latest version 16.2 to try again to either see if the invite went through or to try to delete the invite and reinvite. That didn't seem to solve it.

Today, I was able to go into my homekit and under software updates the new architecture was available. As soon as that finished updating on my phone and other homekit devices, I deleted the pending invitations and sent again. He finally got the invite and now it seems to be working just fine.

That worked, also in the situation here. After reboot of the hubs (HomePod and AppleTV) members could be added again.

One strange thing remaining: after they accepted the invitation, they disappear from the overview of people in Home Settings. If they look in the overview, they see only themselves and me.

Any idea how the overview of people granted access can be restored?

I’ve been tearing my hair out with the same issue myself for a few days. Updated everyone on the house to 16.2 then rolled out the update to the HomePod after that only 1 of 4 other devices could join the home again. I have tried all sorts of things. Except powering off the HomePod (like a Wally, the first rule of IT support, turn it off and on again)

so after one power drain reboot I had about 25 invitation requests appear, then it all weirded out again, gave it another reboot (software this time, not power cycle) all was well again.

I would hazard a guess that the major architecture change had some issues with cached code that needed a reboot (or 2) to purge. To be honest I’m frustrated with myself for not thinking of that initially.

if anyone else is still having issues I’d suggest unplugging all of them, then reconnecting them at least twice

Same issue here and beyond frustrating. I’ve tried removing the home and readding users but still won’t configure and show the home in their home kit app to those I invite to my home. I’m hoping apple comes out with a patch soon

Followed that same principle after removing my home and starting from scratch. Looks like all the bridges need to be manually turned off. Once turned off for a few minutes and turned back on, the home then appeared with those I shared it with and allowed them to see the accessories in the HomeKit app!!!

If you can see your home, but others can’t, try getting them to add a new fresh home to their device. From there, they need to try and update their home. Go through that process. Then, they should be able to toggle back to the proper home.

I got 3 HomePod minis around my apartment and 1 Apple TV 4K as home bridges. In addition, we have 2 iPhones, 1 MacBook, 1 Mac mini, 2 iPads (air and mini) as well as 2 smart light bulbs.

Okay guys, the following worked for me:

Turn off (!) every single device you have and uninstall the home app from every device as well but your own iPhone (or whoever is the owner of the home). If it helps, unplug everything as well. Turn off iPhones and iPads with the hard reset (up button, down button, hold power button until you see the logo on black screen)

Then, turn on the owner’s iPhone only.

Then the “main” home bridge you have. If you have several like me, the devices make it up on their own, but my Apple TV was always “connected”, the HomePod Minos were always on “standby”. So in my case I turned on the Apple TV first. It doesn’t matter which device is closer to the WiFi router.

After your iPhone and the Apple TV (or HomePod if applicable) are completely ready, try to delete the other user(s).

This hasn’t worked for me the days before. But now it did. Everyone got removed and I was the only one remaining as the home’s owner.

Then turn on the other person’s iPhone. If this one is ready and the home app is re-installed, open it and click on everything it asks you to.

All done? Good. Re-invite this person.

It should work at this point.

The other person accepts now and configures everything the app asks.

Don’t worry, if voice recognition doesn’t work: you need a HomePod turned on for that as the Apple TV hasn’t got a mic.

Now turn on every other HomePod one by one. Slowly. Then the smart devices like light bulbs etc.

At last, turn on voice recognition etc. which should work now.

Also, making someone else an admin should work now.

Share this, if it worked. Make others happy.

Have a nice weekend and merry Christmas to you all!

I had a similar issue, i would add my wife’s phone and it would briefly appear and then remove itself after the invite process. I have an apple tv and a homepod. I first restarted the apple tv as its the main hub and still had issues but i failed to realize the homepod kicks in as the hub when the apple tv is down. Only after i unplugged both the apple tv and the homepod, once they booted back up my wife’s phone finally was able to access the homekit on her devices.

fyi, with the new update the ipads are no longer able to be used as hubs. So update and then restart all apple tvs and homepods if you have more than one.

Real problem is mistakes in the software. If apple follows normal process, they will wait at least six months to even acknowledge that a problem exists, then drag their feet on a solution until they lose enough customers to competitors. Apple’s problem resolution approach is the best promotion their competitors have. Remember the itunes blank screen disaster and how many thousands of customers left apple for other streaming music services? I bet google and scamazon, as much as I hate their abusive privacy practices that endanger families, will both pick up a lot of new customers by the time apple’s “should have switched to android” campaign ends.

[Edited by Moderator]