How to force Apple TV to be Home Hub instead of HomePods?

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Level 1

14 points

How to force Apple TV to be Home Hub instead of HomePods?

While trying to share the Home I created under my Apple ID with my wife, she was being blocked from joining my Home. After doing some reading, I realized the issue was one of our 10 HomePods (original ones) was the active Home Hub and only HomePod Mini and Apple TV 4K allow for home sharing. Since I couldn't find anyway to manage this, I unplugged all the HomePods to force the Apple TV 4K to take over. At that point she could join the shared home. I've looked in every nook and cranny of the Home app on both iOS and macOS, but there doesn't seem to be a way to have control over which eligible device is the active Home Hub. There also doesn't seem to be a way to disable Home Hub eligibility at a device configuration level, so I can't tell all my HomePods to just stand down. This is mostly being posted to make Apple aware of what I think is a glaring flaw in the manageability of their Home ecosystem, but if anyone has found a better way to deal with my situation, I'd love to hear about it.

Apple TV 4K, tvOS 16

Posted on Dec 19, 2022 8:40 AM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

Level 10

278,125 points

Dec 19, 2022 10:15 AM in response to SnTD

As yet there doesn't seem to be any feature control which device is used as the home hub for preference, other than turning others off until the one you want takes over. Use Feedback - HomePod - Apple to let Apple know you think there should be a mechanism. At the very least a device with a richer feature set should trump others.

tt2

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Answer 2

SnTD Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 9, 2023 4:34 AM in response to Wade101Seattle

There's no reason not to get a HomePod mini if you want one, they're excellent speakers. We just bought two for my sister-in-law as Christmas gifts, and I was rather impressed with the sound quality versus what my wife and I have from our original HomePods. The only issue you'll have is if you have any of the original HomePods in your mix of hub-eligible devices, there's currently no easy way to ensure that one of the original HomePods won't become the active hub at any point in time. If one is the active hub, then you can't utilize the new sharing capability so that others can also see/manage home devices. It's really just a minor annoyance, but one Apple should work to address. They need to either give users control over which device is the active hub, or make it so that only the most modern devices in a mixed device setup are able to become the active hub.

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Answer 3

Jan 8, 2023 1:27 PM in response to turingtest2

The reality is, this is the reason that I Have Not purchased HomePod Mini's. I figured there would be an issue and is why I was researching when I found this. Thanks.

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How to force Apple TV to be Home Hub instead of HomePods?

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