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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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Posted on Dec 9, 2023 10:57 AM

I'm the creator of the thread on Reddit. I still have the phantom 'default room' home hub. It has been nearly 3 months. While it causes no immediate issues with my HomeKit it's annoying and makes it harder to tell when I actually have an unresponsive device that needs to be fixed.


I keep hoping an update will fix the issue. I'm losing that hope since it sounds like the problem started with iOS16 long before my issue.


I'm glad others are also contacting Apple. I've tried text support and have submitted bugs with the Feedback app.

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55 replies

Jun 11, 2023 9:44 AM in response to JHP392093

So, there's no fix for orphaned devices. Given the complexity of my home (and there are many much more complex) and the fact that Apple doesn't provide a back-up service I just ignore it rather than deleting my home and rebuilding it.


I'm running the new architecture and after my ATV4Kg1 failed I was able to remove it as one of my devices but it's still in the AppleHome/HomeKit database as non-responsive.

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.

Oct 6, 2023 10:14 AM in response to Meckisland

I love Apple, but they must catch up in the HOME game. I share my analytics and everything, and they still can't do anything about this. They don't even follow up anymore, and I have three different tickets open regarding it. The time and energy spent trying to figure this out is a travesty. I tried reinstalling everything under a new Apple Home, only to find out the phantom hubs still show back up after a few days, so save yourself all the hours and headaches and wait for an update.


Mine are not even an Apple TV that I don't have anymore. It's one I still own, just under a name I had before. I tried a million different things with Apple's IT Department, and they have given up on me and just said to wait. I wonder how long this will take them to figure out or if they ever will. Been dealing with this since May 2023.

Oct 13, 2023 3:27 PM in response to JHP392093

I thought this issue might be caused by bridges or other HomeKit accessories, perhaps guests’ iPhone/iPad devices, or even specific network routers or ISPs. But I was able to replicate it quite easily by adding the Apple TV 4K to a new HomeKit Home I created at my office (totally different router/network/ISP, with only one 1st gen HomePod and one smart plug). After adding the ATV4K, I waited a few minutes, and then removed it from the home… which created another phantom. So this seems to be truly related to the HomeKit software for how home hubs are added and removed from the HomeKit Home.


And yeah, it doesn’t seem to create any big issues, but it does add noise that requires you to make a couple extra taps when you’re trying to monitor your Home setup to see if any devices aren’t responding.

Dec 9, 2023 10:05 PM in response to JHP392093

I encountered the same problem. I added a new AppleTV to my home, then gave this AppleTV to a friend to use. Ever since, this device has been displayed as no responce in Homekit. The device has been removed from the Homekit accessories and iCloud list, but it is still on the Homekit app’s central list, showing as no responce. A very annoying problem.

Dec 12, 2023 4:36 PM in response to JHP392093

All the 17.2 updates did nothing to fix the issue for me.


I just remembered that the Apple TV 4k that caused my problem is the one that I removed from my house for a weekend and tried to use at a friends place. That's the one that had a problem updating to 17 and that caused me to factory reset which led to my phantom 'default room' hub. I don't know if moving my hub out of my house is related to the problem or just a coincidence.

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

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