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Downgrading HomeKit back to old architecture

Here's the answer to the question above I want to share with you. Even apple support didn't know this answer. After "upgrading" homekit, on some of your devices the Home app will not work. I found a solution in another forum, that I want to post here.


On you Ios device, got to : http://appldnld.apple.com/iOSProfiles/KeepLegacyHome.mobileconfig


  • install the profile 
  • go to settings - HomeKit - rest 
  • press the red button, or choose "Reset configuration". (it will reset all of your Homes and you’ll need to do everything from scratch) 
  • Wait 10-15 minutes without touching devices with your Apple ID (as it also resets all server side settings) 
  • Open home and create a new home. It will be with old architecture. If you want to check if it was downgraded you can check if it’s possible to add an iPad as a hub (with new architecture it’s not possible, or, more obvious, to check if there is an upgrade banner in the Updates menu)


And you'll be up and running again on all your devices.


Posted on Jun 17, 2023 4:30 PM

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Posted on Jul 3, 2023 7:01 AM

I tried this with Apple support and using the link/info here and it didn’t work as of July ‘23. After the architecture update, my automations stopped working and my iPad is no longer/won’t be a hub. I’m not buying extra equipment just to make an app run. Giving up on HomeKit and Home until they let users use it the way they want, need, and can afford.

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31 replies

Nov 11, 2023 12:59 PM in response to Frenkieboy

Hey


Sadly I can’t find the option to reset the HomeKit configuration.

Can someone post a screenshot?


I want to downgrade because i want to invite my partner to Apple HomeKit but therefore the app says you need to have a thing like HomePod oder Apple TV. But with the old architecture you could invite people without having one of these things.

It seems that this is a cash crab from Apple. They want to force people to buy a HomePod oder Apple TV.

That‘s really sad.

Nov 13, 2023 11:16 AM in response to Frenkieboy

Thank you so much for this. So far I've managed to reset the Home configuration to the old architecture, though sending an invitation to my partner hasn't gone through, even after a few tries. I'll keep attempting.


I very intentionally purchased hub-free smart devices to avoid nonsense like this. I have absolutely no need for remote access. Such a bummer.

Dec 10, 2023 6:25 AM in response to Frenkieboy

I found a solution as well. So excited.


Months of issues, I gave up trying and decided to try Alexa and Google to replace my Apple smart home efforts. I spent way too much time. After the fix, I’ll live a blended tech life. I’ll give a quick answer, followed by my backstory: 


Quick answer: 

Deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation” when activating your 2.4 Wi-Fi broadcast on your router.


I also took all speakers off guest wifi. But I’ll try to put them back to see if that is necessary now.



Back story: 

Last week I was at my wits end in utter frustration over three major roadblocks. I acquiesced and decided to try Alexa because I couldn’t get almost any of my Apple HomeKit enabled devices into HomeKit, except for new Apple products. 


I knew it had to be something small I was missing. 


Alexa was sooooo easy and quick to connect to everything, before I figured out the fix. (I dislike the echo show advertising, their echo speakers are better.) While they seemed a breeze to connect everything, for some reason I couldn’t get more than one echo speaker to work at a time. I was continually blocked from setting up Multi-Room Music or even connect a pair to play together.  


Hundreds of tries. I deleted, reset, rebooted, spent over 4 hours with Comcast yesterday (thankfully a Boston native who did not put me on hold every minute like certain countries) getting my internet working again. I had rebooted my modem and router so many times, my computer got molasses slow and I feared I went too far


In interest I also decided to try a few Google nest hub speakers. Black Friday had great sales on all this stuff. Trying to set up googles hub 7 was impossible. It wouldn’t stay connected to the internet for more than a split second before “Something went wrong” message. Probably over 70 tries. (Google is better than Echo Show. Apple HomePod mini sounds crisper and better than Amazon echo 4 and mini 5’s. But Alexa is way friendlier to interact with verbally, and price point, well...)


Frustration. Thursday, I broke down and bought my first Apple Homepod Mini to see if I can get that working and see if it works better than the Apple TV 4k Ethernet connection. The HomePod mini gave me a hint how to solve all these l connection and internet blocks. 


The HomePod mini kept telling me that I don’t have “peer-to-peer connection” allowed on my network.


Now, I’m a little techy, but it took three days (ehem, months) to finally take a chance on a for granted setting I always enable on my netgear router. It’s the blasted first Wireless page when enabling a wifi broadcast.


I had to deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation.”


That was it. It solved every issue I have come across with smart home tech for the last 4 months, ..year.


For the months that I could not solve these problems, Amazons Multi-Player Music issue made me dig deeper. I did not find anyone suggesting this particular router setting, so I thought I’d share with ppl. 


Tonight, I finally am able to simultaneously play music on all of my Echo speakers, connect my HomeKit enabled and Google nest hubs.


I’m not sure what this will do for my/your internet security. But I’m going with it for now. And I’ll try to put all devices back onto guest Wi-Fi. I’ll never really leave Apple, but after interacting with other smart speakers, it’s probably not going to be my main go to for speaker or answers to questions. Or I’ll just get too creeped out by Google and Amazon invasiveness and acquiesce with Apple instead. 


Side note, have been pleased with Smartbot plugs, switches and app, the Levoit 600s air purifiers and app (app goes by VeSync), and Lutron Caséta Light Switches and Dimmers, and hub. Lutron has the most stable and reliable app out there. I was fine running their apps separately. They are very nice, better than the big 3 apps. Well, back to listening to music throughout my house instead of one or two rooms. Joy!



Downgrading HomeKit back to old architecture

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