Level 1

20 points

Can't accept homekit invitation from iPhone or iPad

My parents have a different Apple ID than I have, and have recently bought Philips Hue lights and other things you can control using homekit and the Home app. Since we are using different Apple ID's, I thought I would be able to share their home from their devices and just accept it from my iPhone, but in the Home app on my iPhone, it will just have this spinning wheel after accepting it.

I've been letting it spin for quite some time now and it really won't accept. On my parents devices it shows as already accepted, but I can't do anything from either my iPhone or iPad.

I've already tried multiple restarts, reinstallation of the homekit devices, sending a new invitation to control the devices, reinstalling my iPad, logging out of my Apple ID and logging back in again, checking if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and nothing seems to work.

We are using an Apple TV 3rd generation as hub to control from outside the house. I've currently tried to use my (reinstalled and logged in to my parents Apple ID) iPad as a hub which still doesn't let me accept the invitation from my iPhone.

Does anyone have some other suggestion? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

iPhone 6, iOS 10.1.1

Posted on Dec 12, 2016 4:15 AM

Top-ranking reply

alexyu650

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Nov 20, 2017 5:55 PM

I actually had the same exact issue today but was able to resolve it. Instead of accepting the notification pop up, first cancel the invite from the account you sent from, then launch the Home app and go to the location arrow at the left hand corner, next with your admin account resend the invite. You should see the invite now in the Home settings menu. Accept the invite from there. If you accept from the pop up notification it gets stuck in some weird loop. Accept from the Home settings window and you should be good.

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22 replies

leventv

Level 1

9 points

Oct 31, 2017 1:48 AM in response to nkorswagen

I had the same problem with my son's iPhone 7. While searching through internet, I read somewhere that with an old ipad or ipad mini with iOS 9.3.5, I could delete the Homekit invitations. This solved my problem. He had an old ipad mini with iOS 9.3.5. I think that may be the latest version for his device. In the settings there is a section for Homekit, and there was 3 invitations for him from my Home. I deleted all these and now everything is working fine. I think the real problem is Apple TV3. Because 2 Factor Authentication with Apple TV3 is different from the new devices and this causes a bug. You may need to set the Homekit with a newer ipad to avoid these problems. After I fixed this invitation problem, I set up everything from the start with an ipad Pro. Everything worked fine. I made the ipad pro Home Hub. Everything works fine now.

nkorswagen Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 31, 2017 5:42 AM in response to leventv

Thanks for the info. I’ll try that this weekend when I’m visiting my parents. I am also using the Apple TV 3 as a home hub, which should work. I’ve also tried it using my iPad but the issue still persisted.

Apple assured me that they’re still working on it. They’ll give me an update somewhere this week.

JayB.

Community Specialist

Dec 12, 2016 6:08 PM in response to nkorswagen

Hi nkorswagen,

If you are having issues with accepting an invite to access a Homehub configuration, and you've tried a variety of troubleshooting steps that were unsuccessful, use this link to verify the Home Hub allows remote access. Use the Home app on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Share control of your accessories

You can invite others to control your accessories if they’re using iOS 10 and signed in to iCloud. To share control of your accessories, you need to be either in your home or have a home hub set up in your home.

To invite others:

Open Home and tap the Home tab.

Tap in the upper-left corner.

Tap Invite.

Enter the person's Apple ID that they use with iCloud.

Tap Send Invite.

Your recipient will get a notification in the Home app on their device.

To accept an invite:

Open Home and tap .

Tap Home Settings.

Tap Accept, then tap Done.

After you accept the invitation, tap and tap the name of the Home to control it.

Set up a home hub to allow remote access and edit permissions for people you invite.

You may need to quit the HomeKit app and restart the device:

Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities to post your question. Tell us if this resolves the issue for you.

Have a Happy Holidays.

nkorswagen Author

Level 1

20 points

Dec 13, 2016 1:12 AM in response to JayB.

Hi JayB,

I just followed the steps and it still doesn't work. I've both tried the restart and the (force) closing and opening of the Home app. I've also added another home, otherwise every time I open the Home app it wants me to either accept, decline or choose later. I've added a screenshot of what I got on my iPhone. Maybe you've got any other suggestions? The HomeHub is working fine by the way, so that's not it.

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Dec 17, 2016 10:25 AM in response to nkorswagen

Thanks for replying, nkorswagen, and that additional info, it really helps! Since you have verified you have done the steps to setup the Home app, your next step is to contact Apple directly to resolve your issues and get this working as expected.

Contact Apple Support

Have a great day and thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

Feb 23, 2017 6:03 AM in response to nkorswagen

I have the same problem, did you manage to fix it?

Aug 14, 2017 9:44 PM in response to northernpaul

Same

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Can't accept homekit invitation from iPhone or iPad