iOS 16.2 Homekit problem - other users cannot access the home

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.

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 problem here. My wife who was an administrator is fine. but my daughter got kicked off. Everything is updated. Seems to be a bug in the software.

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 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

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 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

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.

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

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]

I second that Apple support has degraded in quality to a Samaritans Hotline. I experienced first Hand how telephone support after dozens of hours acknowledged my issue needs deeper looking into and then just went ahead and closed my ticket. Instead they prefer to celebrate grotesquely that iPhone is now available is “red” color. It’s distasteful in view of the constant decline in quality of software and service. Much like Siri is still almost as dumb as she was at launch.

For being unbelievably rich and having access to good resources Apple should be ashamed of its current policies.

but… that doesn’t help anyone here. I think the workarounds presented above have helped people recover all or part of the issues. So, I wouldn’t dismiss community efforts over a lack of Apple service. Merry Holidays!

Good point, thanks for the reminder. It’s sad, however, that these discussions are even necessary. I still have some Apple/Mac computers from the old days, a Mac 256 and an old Power PC. My 256 runs OS1 and now is upgraded to a whopping 4 megs of ram! I really like the feel of Apple products. Apple doesn’t need to be just another “me too” company. They were much better than that and I hope they can be again. Thanks and Happy Holidays!

[Edited by Moderator]

I hear you. The issue I think is that Apple, just like any other publicly traded company, is slave to shareholder value maximalism. The only way that can be achieved continuously and have the share price go up non stop is by either smashing the market with killer products regularly or, in the absence of that, by mailing existing customers or cutting costs (corners). It’s probably a blend of all of that. Were Apple a private company it could do almost whatever it wanted and pursue the road you stated of something along the lines of ideological technical leadership, which costs more. But we live in the here and now and have to accept aggressive use of marketing (new red color for iPhone is celebrated as if we just invented paint!!) and other bloated crap no one asked for (yet another new Memoji for instance) to trick more money out of people‘s pockets at the expense of quality and durability. Capitalism at its finest… lol?

let’s see where Matter goes. In my family, during 2022, 5 people reconsidered what they need their phones for, really, and reverted to cheaper android, which somewhat annoyed me a wee bit, because I now have to use Signal to have a simple FaceTime replacement with them. It made me think though, what I use all this for… besides HomeKit (which I can easily do without given so many of these devices are bug ridden unreliable too) and I’m not happy anymore spending 3x for something that on an annual basis gets me scratching my head (iOS upgrades no one needs), not to mention having to remote troubleshoot my parents‘ issues in the wake of it. I can have that experience on android for muuuuch less cash. Amazingly, no one android seems to complain. Is that for real? Can’t be.

merry Christmas and remember: it’s just a product you can likely live without or replace it with another solution. ;)

If that really is all you need to do I might upgrade. But I need to see it confirmed.