Homekey Broke For Family Members After iOS 16.4 and HomeKit architecture update

I wanted to shed some light on this issue since I too ran into this problem and was able to resolve it. Let me begin by explaining how I got to the point where only my home key (the owner of the house) worked and all the other users did not, and then the steps I took to resolving the issue. Maybe this will resolve your issue too, and give Apple some background on where to help troubleshoot a potential bug with the Home Key feature.

Background that led up to Home key not working for some users

I purchased a level lock+ back in December 2022. The installation, configuration was all straight forward and was working as expected, along with getting all family members setup with home key as well.

To clarify my order of sequence during setup: 1. I installed Level's app. 2. created an account. 3. setup a new lock in the Level app. 4. added users in the Level app. 5. I added the lock to the Home app. 6. I setup Home key on the Home app.

Ok, from here everything was working until Apple released the new architecture into Home. I didn't have issues with Apple Home, but my level lock had severe vampire battery drain - new battery would be gone in 2 days. I was also experiencing weird issues with Apple Home hub connecting to the lock (would get No response randomly) but after manually locking/unlocking the lock it would then synch and connect to my apple Home - I think this is besides the point. So I worked with Level's support to getting an RMA created for a new lock - this took WAYYYY too long (~3 mnth) But they finally got around to shipping me a new device. So once I got my NEW level lock, I deleted the existing one in the Home App and Level App, uninstalled the lock, installed my new lock and configured it as mentioned previously (setup new lock in Level's app, then added to Apple Home).

One thing different I did here though was I DID NOT invite my family members to use the NEW lock before I added the lock to Apple Home.

Anyways, when I grabbed my wife's phone to verify her phone's home key worked (I went to her Apple Wallet and saw a Home key in there so I assumed everything transposed automatically) and it wasn't working...After I did some digging, I realized, stupid me, I needed to add her to the NEW lock in Level's app. So I did that, and verified wife's phone could unlock/lock lock from Level's App, done. I tried her home key again and still "Try Again" error was coming up. I restarted her phone, and still same error.

The Solution

My thought process was maybe my wife's Home Key is not really the same Home Key linked to be used on the NEW Level Lock+ (maybe there was something that did not automatically update/change like I thought it would). There was no way to "delete/remove" her Home Key from the Apple Wallet app, so I decided to start with a clean slate. From my phone, I removed the NEW Level Lock+ from Apple Home and Level's App. After that, I made sure mine and my wife's Apple home Key disappeared from our Wallet. Then, I started the process over by setting up the lock in Level's App, inviting family members in Level App, and then adding the lock to Apple Home again. Once I did this, I was prompted to add a new Apple Home key to both my phone and my wife's phone. After that, Home Keys were working on both of our phones.

Sorry for the long write up. I hope this helps.

Appears to be an issue just with HomeKey -RESOLVED BELOW

I just encountered the same issue where my home key worked fine but my wife’s suddenly stopped working. I don’t know what changed to cause this. Workaround/oddly she was still able to open the home app and lock or unlock the deadbolt even though her home key was not working.

I resolved the issue by removing my wife from our Apple home, confirming that her home app was empty and then sent her a new home invitation. Once she accepted it a new home key was set up for her and her watch and phone can now unlock the deadbolt again with home key.

Thank you rsolfest! Your suggestions solved my problem.

I purchased a Schlage Encode Plus and the initial setup was quick and easy. The only issue I encountered was that the “tap to open” feature via Apple Wallet, did not work for the other members of Apple Home (my spouse and kids). Initially, they would tap and the lock would light up and notifications would be sent. However, the lock itself would not engage or disengage.

I used rsolfest’s suggestion and removed my spouse and kids from Apple Home, and then re-envited them. When they accepted the invite back into Home, everything worked.

I just had the same problem with iOS 17.4 update and level lock using HomeKit. None of the family keys worked in express mode or even in wallet mode. Message on the phone was a red i in a circle and “Try again.” The level app on my phone did continue to work but I’m the only one who has it. I believe I fixed it by pulling out the level lock battery for 20 seconds then putting it back in. Seems more than a little scary that a software glitch like this might result in getting locked out of your house though. I am glad my wife doesn’t trust the tech and carries physical keys.

I was eventually able to get my lock working with both devices by removing it from HomeKit and then doing a full factory reset on the lock itself.

https://support.shopyalehome.com/en_us/what-do-i-do-if-home-key-stops-working-r1Bq9P1la

My best guess is this forces an underlying identifier change/cache invalidation on the HomeKit side and setting up again on both devices then works as expected.

i removed my family users in the Home app and invited them back

a new home key was created on their iphone’s and everything worked

Took a few remove and re-add second resident from Home Kit, but eventually both started working without having to factory reset the locks. Only have two users.

Not sure if rebooting resident admin iPhone after removal had anything to do with it.

Same for me, except I’m using a Schlage Encode Plus which isolates this to an Apple update issue and not device-specific.

Home owner(me) still has normal HomeKey Express access on my iPhone 11 and Apple Watch. Home Resident who previously had this access on their iPhone 13 and Apple Watch Series 6 no longer does. It shows feedback that their HomeKey WAS accepted on the lock and on the watch/iPhone, but the lock does not unlock. Nothing changed for this user to encounter these issues other than us all updating to 16.4 and only then to the new Home Architecture.

And once again, this problem is not affecting the Home Owner, only a Resident user. I have tried power cycling all devices to no avail. I have also tried removing the Resident from Home and reinviting and reenabling access, but this only gave the same issue where the HomeKey seems to be accepted by both the Apple device and Schlage Encode Plus shows a check mark yet the Schlage Encode Plus does not unlock.

Definitely an Apple/HomeKit issue that was triggered by the recent 16.4 update and/or new Home architecture.

Sorry Dan-yo I have not either, though your situation is nearly identical to mine above. 

Since originally posting here I’ve tried literally everything besides a full nuke(removing/resetting every HomeKit or iOS device along with hubs, deleting the Home itself, running the “HomeKit reset profile” from Apple, and then re-creating, re-adding, and re-inviting literally everything one by one). I’ve done most of those steps of that “last resort nuke” but not the whole nine yards all at once because of how tedious it is…. And I’m skeptical that it would work. 

I’ve tried the reset profile on the iOS devices and iCloud Accounts that have the malfunctioning HomeKey problems though and surprisingly it allowed the device to be invited and accepted and EVEN allowed it to unlock but only ONE TIME before returning to the previous malfunctioning behavior. I was able to repeat that twice with same result(worked only once) and it seems to me like that’s an important clue to figuring this out. I feel that someone at Apple can much more easily isolate the problem with all the info on this thread, although it’s starting to appear like no one really cares after several updates with no fix. 

(Although I do wonder whether a replacement lock would “solve it”, but only because it has different identifiers/serial numbers and would possibly sidestep this particular HomeKit issue… though I haven’t tried it myself. It’s expensive to replace to just try it and I’m very doubtful that it’s Schlage’s fault here anyway since it affects other locks.)

I had a similar issue with trying to add a new Encode Plus and HomeKey would not work on it at all. The watch and phone would make noise like it read the lock but nothing. The original Encode Plus was working fine with HomeKey, just the new lock did not work with HomeKey.

I am not sure why, and it may be due to the architecture change but, I was able to solve my issue by removing all my smart locks and adding them each back and everything is working fine now.

I wold recommend removing locks completely and verifying Home Keys are removed from all user's phones before re-adding the lock.

At some point family member homekeys are working again. Not sure if it was updating to iOS 16.5.1 that fixed it. One day my wife forgot that her Apple Watch wasn’t unlocking anymore. But lo and behold muscle memory took over and she held her watch up and it unlocked.

Same issue. Wife and I both had homekey working with Schlage encode plus. Now no longer works on her end.

Homekey appears in Apple wallet on her iPhone and Apple watch as guest. Lock seems to see the key but it does not unlock or do anything.

Tried removing and deleting the lock and reinstalling everything as a fresh install and still with the same issue.

Both our phones on iOS 16.5

Has anybody else figured out a solution?

I seem to have the same (or at least a very similar) issue.

My Yale Assure Lock 2 Plus won't open using HomeKey on my wife's iPhone or Apple Watch.

When the lock was first setup and added to our home we both got homekey's added and everything worked. In trying to sort out an auto-lock issue, the lock was reset to factory settings and in doing so removed from HomeKit.

Once it was re-added, homekey works on my devices (I am the home owner) but not on my wife's. Similar to those above, the key shows a blue tick mark in wallet and the lock appears to recognise it but does not unlock.

We've tried;

• removing and re-adding her to the home (homekeys were removed and re-added)
• signing out and back into iCloud (all cards, including homekey, removed and re-added)
• full device reboots
• adding the lock to HomeKit from her device

we're both running iOS 17.1.1.

tried contacting Apple Support and have a ticket logged but not getting anywhere.

Very happy to hear some other folks HomeKeys randomly started working again, unfortunately I’m still stuck with the same issue. Commenting because of how you said that on the “residents” phones(the ones not working) it would show a check and make a noise like it was accepted with no errors, yet would not unlock. I find this to be an interesting clue as to where the problem lies(Apple’s end).

The only things I have not tried are: 1) getting a new lock and I don’t think it’s the lock’s fault at all. AND 2) full nuke of HomeKit deleting and recreating the entire Home including every device, user, and factory reset of lock at same time.

I however have tried a factory reset on lock by itself with no solution. I firmly believe it is solely in Apple’s control and it seems the HomeKit architecture upgrade is what surfaced the bug. They really need to fix this or provide a detailed explanation on the steps that affected users need to take. I have a very hard time considering new HomeKit purchases for serious things like locks when this is such a longstanding issue affecting a number of people directly after an upgrade. This has gone on for quite awhile at this stage… roughly a year now. Apple needs to step up.