Can't get rid of Phantom Hub(s) - Please help!

Using "new architecture" on HomeKit and the problem Apple TV is an A1625.


Looking for advice on how to deal with phantom Apple TV hub(s). Photo in link. I removed an Apple TV “Den TV (2)” from my ecosystem. It was removed from my device list under iCloud and then factory reset. That should be the end of the story.


But it continued to show up as a phantom hub, so on the advice of some reddit thread, I reconnected the old TV to my HomeKit ecosystem and the same Apple TV - now called “Entertainment Room” was again removed from device list and factory resets. But now they both still show up as no-response hubs.


https://imgur.com/a/fo5EpbY


I have:

-obviously, tried to reconnect the old (but factory reset) Apple TV and remove it again, but that didn’t work - it just doubled down on the phantom hubs

- waited one month (some folks say the phantom hubs will disappear eventually)

- unplugged ALL HomeKit hubs, rebooted router, and turned off iPad and iPhone then started everything back up (this essentially reboots the HomeKit system)

-checked to make sure the old Apple TV is not listed as a device for any family members


If the only solution is to factory reset every single hub and rebuild the entire system (I have 3 TVs and 8 hompods and over 100 devices), I’m just going to give up on HomeKit and move to a different smart home system. Please tell me there is another way!


I’m desperate for ideas at this point. Has anyone had this issues and fixed it?

Thanks for your help.

Apple TV HD

Posted on Mar 9, 2023 1:39 PM

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Question marked as Best answer

All hubs and devices updated to 16.4 with the new architecture, and unfortunately still the same issue. Hopefully will resolve itself in time or with a future update!

Posted on Mar 28, 2023 7:39 AM

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34 replies

Sep 23, 2023 8:06 AM in response to hhunger

I’ve had the same issue with an Apple TV HD that was removed. I’ve also had issues with HKSV recordings being extremely slow to load, which may correspond to the time that the Apple TV HD was removed. Has anyone else seen HKSV performance issues with a phantom HomeKit hub in their home?


It’s probably time to recreate my home to remove the phantom hub and hopefully restore HKSV responsiveness. There are HomeKit apps that can backup and restore configurations which should speed up the process, but it’s frustrating there’s not a built in way to remove these phantom hubs.

Oct 5, 2023 11:17 AM in response to JHP392093

Same problem here. It happened after toggling adding/removing the Apple TV 4K from the Home. I noticed that I was able to make it responsive again but toggling it back into the Homekit Home, and then when I clicked 'Remove From Home', it would remove for a couple of seconds and then come back. Unfortunately now that I've factory reset the ATV, I tried re-adding it to the Home and now it basically shows up twice, one is connected, the other is non-responsive. I've tried powercycling all of the Homehubs but that hasn't fixed it.


Has anyone tried leaving all Homehubs unplugged for a while simultaneously until it says 'No Homehub Responding'... has that solved it for anyone?

Oct 6, 2023 9:00 AM in response to JHP392093

Given the number of folks that have recently noticed this issue, hopefully Apple corrects this in an upcoming update. For other that come across this thread, don't waste your time power-cycling and/or resetting all of your Home Hubs... I've just finished this process and it accomplished nothing other than creating yet another "Phantom" Apple TV 4K.

Can't get rid of Phantom Hub(s) - Please help!

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