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Q: Unable to set up Apple TV (4th gen) as Home Hub

I updated my iPhone 5s to iOS 10 yesterday and today I updated my Apple TV (4th gen) to tvOS 10.

 

But I am unable to set up my Apple TV as a hub in the Home app on my iPhone - the Automation tab in the hub says "Make Apple TV (4th generation) the center of your home..." but offers no means to do it.

I found this article:

Automate and remotely access your HomeKit accessories - Apple Support

Which says:

  • On your Apple TV, go to Settings > Accounts > iCloud and make sure that your Apple TV shows HomeKit as Connected.

 

But there is nothing about HomeKit on that settings page on Apple TV. (Yes, my Apple ID has two-factor auth enabled.)

 

Does anybody have this working? Any hints?

 

Thanks,

Martin

Posted on Sep 14, 2016 12:00 AM

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Q: Unable to set up Apple TV (4th gen) as Home Hub

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  • by JimR123,

    JimR123 JimR123 Sep 14, 2016 2:05 AM in response to anyberry1
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 14, 2016 2:05 AM in response to anyberry1

    Same issue here, but with iPhone 6S Plus and iPad Pro 9.7.

     

    No "HomeKit" options under iCloud like the instructions suggest there should be.

     

    Only HomeKit reference I could find anywhere was under "Privacy", with the only option in that being "Reset configuration" or something like that. That just made HomeKit forget about all my devices.

     

    Have enabled two factor authentication, then signed out of iCloud on the Apple TV and back in. No luck. Tried restarting it a few times, still nothing.

     

    Clearly the Apple TV knows about my HomeKit setup, because using the "Reset configuration" thing had an impact on what I see on my iPhone. So I'm thinking this could be a bug in TVOS 10. Very annoying that this breaks the new automation features in iOS 10.

  • by JimR123,

    JimR123 JimR123 Sep 14, 2016 3:05 AM in response to JimR123
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 14, 2016 3:05 AM in response to JimR123

    Ok, just managed to get this working, but not entirely sure how. Was doing an online chat session with Apple support, and they basically got me to try restarting both Apple TV and iPhone a few times, and also got me to use my iPad as a Home hub, just to test that the phone bit was working, which it was. Then I tried signing out of iCloud on the Apple TV and back in. Nothing seemed to have changed, but then a few minutes later I noticed that the Apple TV was showing as a Hub on the phone app, and then checked to find the HomeKit option showing on the Apple TV under accounts / iCloud too! All working now.

  • by Deadbone,

    Deadbone Deadbone Sep 14, 2016 5:09 AM in response to anyberry1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 14, 2016 5:09 AM in response to anyberry1

    Same issue with tvOs 10 and an iPhone 6 with iOS 10.0.1 (last public beta iOs)

  • by Deadbone,

    Deadbone Deadbone Sep 14, 2016 5:11 AM in response to JimR123
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 14, 2016 5:11 AM in response to JimR123

    yes for me, iPad working like a hub is working too. But no luck with apple Tv 4 and tvOs 10

  • by sld3258,

    sld3258 sld3258 Sep 14, 2016 9:48 AM in response to Deadbone
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 14, 2016 9:48 AM in response to Deadbone

    I'M having the same problems. Has anyone else had better luck or spoke with Apple?

  • by inramana,

    inramana inramana Sep 14, 2016 12:40 PM in response to anyberry1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 14, 2016 12:40 PM in response to anyberry1

    Same here, Everything running ios 10 and tvos 10 and apple tv refuses to show up as a hub.

    On a side note regarding

     

    Automate and remotely access your HomeKit accessories - Apple Support

    There is no "Settings > iCloud" in apple tv.


    So far the only thing tvos 10 has brought me is dark mode. 

  • by sld3258,

    sld3258 sld3258 Sep 14, 2016 2:09 PM in response to inramana
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 14, 2016 2:09 PM in response to inramana

    Scroll up a few Post, to JimR123. I did the same thing: Log out of your apple id on the Apple TV, then sign back in and reset it, at the same time, restart your iPad or iPhone. Give them both about 5 min after restarting, and you'll now see the Apple TV listed as the connected hub in the Home App. This worked for me. Major pain over the last 24hrs, but it did work.

  • by inramana,

    inramana inramana Sep 14, 2016 3:11 PM in response to sld3258
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 14, 2016 3:11 PM in response to sld3258

    So just randomly restart stuff and hope for the best?

    Doesn't sound very apple-y to me.

  • by harkco$,Apple recommended

    harkco$ harkco$ Sep 14, 2016 10:59 PM in response to anyberry1
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 14, 2016 10:59 PM in response to anyberry1

    Thought I would share what worked for me.  I was having the same issues with my apple TV as well.  I ended up signing into an iPad with the same iCloud account that my Homekit was configured for while my apple TV was already signed into the same account.  Low and behold as soon as I signed into the iPad, a Homekit option populated under the account setting on my apple TV.

     

    Hope that helps.  As someone else stated before, I think signing into the iPad as a hub will somehow enable the option on your apple TV.

  • by inramana,

    inramana inramana Sep 14, 2016 8:15 PM in response to harkco$
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 14, 2016 8:15 PM in response to harkco$

    Actually here is what worked for me. Signing out of my iCloud account on my iPad and HomeKit showe up on the tv.

  • by anyberry1,

    anyberry1 anyberry1 Sep 14, 2016 10:58 PM in response to anyberry1
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 14, 2016 10:58 PM in response to anyberry1

    I got it working now. Like others have posted, the key to success was my iPad.

    I was unable to set up my Apple TV as a Homekit Hub when my iPhone was running iOS 10 and Apple TV was on tvOS 10.

    Last night I updated my iPad to iOS 10 as well. This morning I looked at it, saw that it wanted my iCloud password after the update. I entered it, then I went to the Home app and voila, the Automation tab was set up and showed an option to create a new Automation. Then I checked my Apple TV and it now shows Home: Connected under Settings -> Accounts -> iCloud. Last, I went to the Home app on my iPhone and it now works also.

     

    So clearly something is broken here, but somehow updating your iPad / setting it up on your iPad fixes it for many people.

  • by Jonathan Laliberte,

    Jonathan Laliberte Jonathan Laliberte Sep 15, 2016 7:39 PM in response to anyberry1
    Level 1 (59 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 15, 2016 7:39 PM in response to anyberry1

    As others have said... Set my iPad as the hub. Then on the iPad went to my iCloud settings to try disabling/ reenabling two factor auth (because even with my iPad set as a hub it was telling me that remote access was disabled because two factor auth wasn't enabled)... But it asked me for my password a few times, and the two factor verification code. I figured maybe it wasn't properly logged in before (I hadn't been receiving the codes either, had to have them texted to me), went back and checked in the iPad Home app and lo and behold it showed the Apple TV as a hub. Yay.

  • by you_give_me_gas,

    you_give_me_gas you_give_me_gas Sep 15, 2016 11:44 PM in response to anyberry1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 15, 2016 11:44 PM in response to anyberry1

    Seems like the solution is iPad.  Unfortunately I don't have an iPad.  Has anyone got it working without the iPad?

  • by DoggyBln,

    DoggyBln DoggyBln Sep 16, 2016 1:51 PM in response to anyberry1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 16, 2016 1:51 PM in response to anyberry1

    I just sign out from my icloud on my iPad. Them i restart the apple tv. After that i started the Home App on my iPhone.

    thats it

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