HomeKit broken after iOS18 update

I also have the same problem. I can control the devices by using “hey Siri” but buttons in HomeKit are useless. All say “updating” then eventually “no response”.

Well, something is deeply wrong with HomeKit after the 18/18.1 update. I have been fighting for days to add new HomePods and Nanoleaf bulbs, but the Home app simply won’t properly update and control anything. Rebooted every device and reset WiFi, bulbs, pods, etc.

The one certain bug I found is that HomePods will not join WiFi networks with a ”-“ in their names.

But I’ve now abandoned Home entirely, and reverted to Hue lights and the Hue app, which pretty much works normally.

Of course, I can’t add the Hue bridge to the HomeKit network, either.

Shame, Apple, for screwing up one of the best and most useful apps on the phone.

I had the same issue. Finally tracked it down to the fact that my Apple TV (acting as the HomeKit hub) has a direct ethernet connection. Unplugging the ethernet cable and switching to wifi fixed the issue and HomeKit was back up. I did several cycles (wired and wireless) to confirm that the issue/fix was reproducible.

Don’t know if this helps you but I talked to Apple support. The problem was that iOS 18 designated my Apple TV as the home hub. It wasn’t compatible with that version 1 of Apple TV 4K for that set of accessories. My HomePod was too old too and I had to make an Apple mini pod the home hub. Might help to check if your current devices are compatible with Ios18 to use as a hub for your homekit accessories. Apple support can tell you. .

This sounds like iOS 18 bug. My HomeKit works but is slow and constantly updating. I’d wait till they release 18.1 which will be in October, hopefully sooner than later. Fingers crossed it fixes all the HomeKit issues

I was in the exact same scenario. Woke up one morning and none of my Matter devices were responding. Rebooted devices, hubs, routers. I spent hours trying to troubleshoot and the solution was to start a new home from scratch and rebuild the whole thing. I haven't had another Matter problem yet, but I did have to reboot my Apple TV this morning because one non-Matter smart plug stopped responding.

This exact thing happened to me. And after 30min with Apple Support chat and eventually phone support, they weren't able to suggest anything beyond what can be found on: If your HomeKit or Matter accessory isn't responding in the Home app - Apple Support (CA)

But the information provided by Bjm070 fixed it. I also found that I my Homekit Home Hub (see in Home Settings in the Home App) was set to my Apple TV. In the AppleTV's settings, I went in and removed it from the "Home". Then in the Home Settings in the Home App, I assigned one of my Homepod Minis to act as the Hub. This immediately fixed everything.

Hope this helps someone else too.

is this something that has to be done only by calling or did they provide steps to resolve?

Try simple (but time expensive) solution, this helped me. All my Matter devices stopped working one day. I spent a lot of time replacing the router, rebooting hubs, debugging the local network, nothing helped. I assumed that this was not a problem with my equipment, but a problem on the Apple side with the HomeKit "database". I simply created a new Home with same Apple ID, and added all my devices to it without any problems. Now everything has been working for several weeks without problems. I have quite a lot of devices, and it took some time, but it helped me.

WOAH 🤯

Bjm070 wrote:

Don’t know if this helps you but I talked to Apple support. The problem was that iOS 18 designated my Apple TV as the home hub. It wasn’t compatible with that version 1 of Apple TV 4K for that set of accessories. My HomePod was too old too and I had to make an Apple mini pod the home hub. Might help to check if your current devices are compatible with Ios18 to use as a hub for your homekit accessories. Apple support can tell you. .

I have the exact same issue with my hue bridge. I saw some people said the opposite lol. They connected ethernet to their apple tv and it worked. So I was using wifi, connected ethernet nothing changed. I am literally digging down every single post I can here and reddit and nothing works. I still cannot add it to my apple home. So frustrating.

We are on iOS 18.1.1 and the "updating" "no response" issues still exist.