Hue Bridge suddenly not working with Home app

I spent several hours on this and tried all of the following:

• Restarted my network
• Restarted Hue Bridge
• Changing around several network settings
• Removed all Apple devices that could act as a Home Hub (several Apple TVs, HomePod Minis, and HomePods) and re-setup just one AppleTV to act as the Home Hub (you have to have at least one set up)
• Unlinked and relinked the Hue Bridge from HomeKit in the Hue app
• Removed and readded the Hue Bridge from HomeKit directly (under Home Settings)
• Made sure the Hue Bridge and all other devices were on the latest version
• Performed a full factory reset on the Hue Bridge (yes, this means you have to set all Hue devices back up from scratch)

Nothing worked! Finally, I came across this post and it solved it!!!! Thank you so much!

For anyone having issues with this - it's most likely exactly what is outlined in arsmatticus' post.

Here are more detailed steps:

• Go to HomeKit - Home Settings - Home Hubs & Bridget - Remove the Hue Bridge
• Go to Hue App - Settings - Smart home - Unlink HomeKit
• Go back to HomeKit, click Add Accessory, then select More options ...
• Make sure to select the one listed Philips Hue HomeKit that is not the one listed under OTHER MATTER ACCESSORIES as Philips Hue Bridge. If the Philips Hue HomeKit doesn't show up, you may need to press the button on top of the Hue Bridge.

• This will ask for the device code which should be on the back of the Hue Bridge:

• Enter that and then click through the rest of the steps and you should be good to go!

Ah. Apologies for not reading through the thread thoroughly. It was kind of hard to follow, actually, but I finally got things working and then had to walk around like a madman through 3200sq.ft. trying to figure out which bulb I needed to identify, label it and place it in the correct room of the house. Pretty sure I put in my 10K steps for the day. Anyway - the solution that worked for me was connecting the hue bridge to my router rather than into the modem. It was instantly *problem solved* as far as Apple Home finding the bridge.

I didn’t sense “meanness” in your reply - just mild grumpiness, which is a lot better than what I’ve been feeling towards both Philips and Apple. Anyway - thanks for the quick reply, and Happy New Year!

Thank you. You were a great help! There were other things I had to do (iPhone Settings - General - Matter Networks - Delete them for each hub) and log out each of my PH hubs from PHs online service and then connect to the hubs locally first.

But, you got me on the right path, and I am greatly appreciative. I have 3 hubs and 125 lights. Everything got all messed up in HomeKit when I tried swapping the PH hubs to Matter. Glad they're now back to using Zigby(sp) and everything is named and roomed correctly. Cheers!

I was not able to add it your way, but here is another work around that worked for me, in case it's useful to y'all.

In the Hue app: The Matter pairing code for the Hue bridge is generated through Settings > Smart Home > "+" > Other Apps > Get Pairing Code

On the Apple Home App: + > Add accessory > More options... > My Accessory Isn't Shown Here > Enter Set Up Code > Enter code...

This allowed me to add the Hue bridge as a generic "Matter" device, but all my lights came along with it and I am able to control them from the Home App now.

Bonjour. I have an Xfinity modem and Eero routing system. I had the hardest time getting my network to discover the Hue Bridge. I was on the phone with apple and Hue tech support for ages and I kept hearing from both that there was a compatibility issue. Initially, my Hue Bridge was connected to the Xfinity modem with a LAN cable. It didn't occur to me to connect the Hue Bridge to the router with the LAN cable until I read somewhere that this seemed to solve the problem. So I tried it and by golly, it worked immediately. I have been up and running ever since and things are running smoothly with Apple Home. Once the Hue Bridge was recognized, though, Apple Home had me walk through the house so it could 'discover' each individual light and it was done in such a random order - kitchen, then living room, then master bath, then back to the kitchen, etc. etc. etc. I have 46 Hue lights! Man - did I get my steps in that day. I'm not very articulate at describing tech stuff so if anything needs clarification, please let me know. I did report the solution I found to both Hue and Apple but I don't know if my fix was something that applied to other people's situations.

Read the whole thread. Tried every suggestion. Spent hours. Talked to Hue support and Apple support. After factory reset of Hue bridge, never got the third light, ie couldn't get connected to the Hue portal. Finally, found out (from another Hue support guy) that updates to my old XB6 Xfinity gateway were interfering with the communication. Went to Xfinity and exchanged the XB6 with an XB8. After reinstalling everything we have communication - Hue Portal, Homekit, Voice control with Siri. YAY!! Xfinity will swap out at no charge.

Looking for a solution to this problem. I am not the most tech savvy (one reason I try to stay with proven tech).

I have had my Hue for many years without problem. Suddenly stops working with the HomeKit. I installed a system at another location recently and it is still working with no issue so I figured it must be hardware related. Ordered a new Hub. Got it last week and immediately ran into the problems you guys are describing. HomeKit can't find the accessory. Tried all the workarounds. No luck. Contact Hue customer support to see if maybe something has been figured out. As of 1:13 pm EST, " the problem we have with Homekit is massive. Our team is constantly working with Apple to solve this problem and provide you with the best service. "

"for the moment we are kindly asking our customers to use only app until we can solve the problem with Homekit."

"We are sorry to hear that your experience with our products is not the best at the moment, as soon as we hear about an update to resolve the problem, we will let you know. "

Sorry, but that is all I can contribute. Doesn't look like there will be a resolution anytime soon.

Arsmatticus' solution worked for me. First, I had to remove the hub from both the Home app and the Phillips Hue app. Then, after selecting the bridge under "More Options", I had to manually enter the HK code on the back of the hub.

And here I had hoped using the new architecture would resolve things like this.

Seems that u did a thorough job, so I don't have much to suggest ... other than to perhaps make certain ur PH bridge is plugged directly into ur router (vs a ethernet hub that connects to ur router). After setup u can move it back.

Other things I did, though I have no evidence they were necessary, were to log out of the PH app, completely delete it, restart phone, reinstall PH from Apple Store and re-add the hub locally (w/o signing in). I feel, however, you've already tried this.

I can't imagine it being a hardware issue since you imply that the bridge is working properly within the PH app ... it's just the sync to Apple Home that's screwy.

Oh!! here's another idea I also did that might work for you! ... on your iPhone, go to Settings - Privacy & Security - HomeKit and toggle off Hue. Then restart your phone, go back into that setting and turn Hue back on.

That's the best I got. Good Luck :-)

I swapped my Xfinity router to the XB8 and problem solved.

After 2+ months of things not working, they got fixed about a week ago.

My steps/comments to fixing things in case others are experiencing similar situations.

Following the comments of many here I requested a new Xfinity Gateway.

I had an XB6. Requested an XB8. Xfinity tried to sell me an upgrade to my plan. I said "no". No XB8 for you then. They shipped me an XB7. While waiting for the gateway to arrive there was a firmware update for the HUE. Things still did not work. Not working means, I can't add the HUE hub to the apple homekit from the home app nor the HUE app. New router arrived. Replaced the router/gateway for the XB7. Kept the old wifi ID and passwords.

Tried adding the HUE from the apple Home app following the detailed instructions from arsmatticus. Failed. Would NOT find the HUE in the network. Tried again starting the process using the HUE app and it worked flawlessly. In less than 5 minutes everything got back to normal. Thanks everyone for your posts. Let's see how long this lasts.