HomeKit remote access not always working

I have the same issue, disconnect from wif and my eco bee does not connect through HomeKit app.. works perfectly on ecobee’s app..

I tried restarting, resetting, logging out of the account and logging back in.. None of it work.. Even the smart plugs from KoolGeek has the same problem.. I am pretty sure it’s an issue with Apple TV not working as hub outside the network..

Hope they fix it soon, it’s very annoying as KoolGeek does not work Without Apple TV as hub.. I don’t want to spend money on getting a stand alone hub..

This has frustrated me as well for some time. The following two things may help some of you:

1. I have the ApplTV set to never sleep and just assumed that it was not going to sleep. Apparently, however, my television overrides the Apple TV and automatically caused the Apple TV to sleep after a period of inactivity. I shut this setting off on the TV so that the Apple TV will listen to its own setting and actually not sleep. This seemed to work until 11.2 or 11.2.1 which then caused my Hue Bulbs to not respond when not controlled by wifi.

2. I am no techy, but I assumed that if the system works on wifi, the problem must stem from the ATV4's connection to my router since the remote connection goes through that connection whereas, I think, the wifi connection is straight from the iphone to the Hue hub. In order to make sure that something was going awry in that connection, I set up a static ip address for the Apple TV so that it would always use a connection I know would work. While it is still "early," these two fixes are currently working for me.

Good luck to those experiencing this frustrating problem and please post any other fixes since I am uncertain if mine will hold long term.

I'm having a similar issue with issuing guest access; I'm the primary and I can't seem to allow 2 others in the house to control the installed devices. I've read elsewhere that the invitation should be sent to an iCloud email address. If you're not using an iCloud email address, try creating one and have the invitation sent to you at that address.

Back when I worked at Apple, we tested products thoroughly... we took great pride in our work. It seems now they think they're too big to fail and don't test thoroughly enough. So many bugs in the iPhone and newer Apple products... 😟

This is where I am now.. Inhave 4 Koogeek smart plugs, they can only be operated by HomeKit app iHome.. There is only one Wi-Fi router and it’s on single band.. I have restarted Apple TV, restarted my Wi-Fi and restarted the plugs.. When I am connected to the same Wi-Fi, I can control my thermostat but not my plugs.. So, I now have to use those plug as manual plugs.. it’s really frustrating.. I was hoping my AppleTV will be one solution to all the problems! I guess not!

I had this same issue as a guest on Homekit. While on the same network I had access, but remotely I did not. My husband uninvited and re-invited me several times, but the invite didn’t come through. In Home settings (at the bottom of where you select which Home you want), select “Leave Home”. It warns your ICloud HomeKit settings will be deleted, but as soon as you accept the invite, they will come back. Immediately after selecting “Leave Home”, the invite came through and my Homekit worked again after I accepted it.

Thanks, I did read that solution but I couldn't get that to work either. All that ended up happening is she was completely disconnected from the home and I was still unable to invite her back.

What I ended up doing is, on her phone I selected "Add Home" and sent an invite to me. I received it and immediately attempted to send an invite to her -- SUCCESS!! She received the invite and was once again added to our home. I then deleted the bogus home from HomeKit on both my phone and hers.

At this point, I can control HomeKit from anywhere, but she is still only able to control things from within the confines of our WiFi network.

Tony

I had the same problem.

Issue seemed to be that I had two apple TVs at different locations but set up as belonging to the same home.

Once I set it up again and the apple TVs belong to different homes, streaming of video works fine.

UPDATE: Well, the static IP seemed to work for a bit but as usual, a day or two later, ultimately failed. It seems odd that a "restart" of the Apple TV4 will always cure the problem for me with remote access, but only temporarily. After a day or so, it always fails requiring another restart.

What is it about the Apple TV that fails? My iPhone continues to show that the Apple TV is connected but there is something awry because it will not work remotely. Any help appreciated.

I've struggled with this off and on for some time. Finally, as a last resort, I updated to the absolute best modem router combination I could afford that was recommended by my ISP, and now I have zero problems. I couldn't believe it when I was at work the first day and everything worked and it continues to work without flaw.

My family has been in the Apple echo system for over 6 years. Lately I’ve been very disappointed in Apple. One reason we liked them was that everything just worked without having to jump through hoops. Not so much anymore. I expect more from Apple as a company. I’ve lost some trust with the battery issue as well as some of the other security holes. They need to step up their programming. Home kit worked like a charm before some of the recent updates. I was going to get some more HomeKit devices, but I’m seriously considering going with some other vendors and just use their apps. I have a google home and Alexia. I find I have been using these devices more that Siri. Google is lighting fast when turning on and off hue lites. Siri doesn’t work sometimes and when it does it is super slow even on my WiFi. I expect more from Apple. I’m very disappointed.

You have sumed up out experience and situation exactly. I am tired of waiting on Apple to get homekit right as well so we are looking into other systems to control the home that are reliable, secure and fast.

Ok! This was frustrating, but this is what I did and seems to work - not perfectly, but works.

So, I have 1 Apple TV, 1 iPad, 2 iPhones, 1 Ecobee, 3 Koogeek outlets (more to come)

1. Update software for all devices, update firmware for Koogeek using their app (for koogeek, you have to add the device using Home app, update it in Koogeek app, then in Koogeek app update the firmware (should be above version 2))

2. Remove all devices from Home app

3. Reset Apple TV - log in using one of my two apple ID's.

4. Log into iPad using the same apple ID.

5. Set up Home in iPad and use it as a Hub

At this point, I have Apple TV as the hub and iPad as standby

6. Invite my other apple ID and my wife's apple ID to control home (gave edit options)

7. Reset all outlets, and add it to home.

8. Add Ecobee to home.

After this - it looked like everything is working, inside and outside home.

Now, on day 2 when I was outside - all devices had NO RESPONSE in home app. I still could control Ecobee from Ecobee app. I came home, and still was showing NO RESPONSE. My wifi works fine, download/upload, facetime everything.

So, I plugged off and plugged back in my modem+router and worked outside my house for 2 more days.

Since then, I have to restart my moden+router every other day. I dont want to get a new modem and router as I feel its not the issue, I rarely have issues with it. (Maybe I have to bite the bullet and get a new set).

This is not the end of the story, when I am outside I sometimes get NO RESPONSE on certain devices, but I still can control those devices. Makes no sense!

I am not a fan of Alexa and google home, I want to stick to Siri, but boy are making it tough for everyone.

Apple needs to get it's act together!

This sounds exactly like what I was going through with this. I really didn't want to but a new router either, but I did because it was worth it to not have to restart my router every day or so and I need to be able to control my lights from work. I have had zero problems since getting top of the line router....

Hi had the same issue, I just tried to disconnect / connect the homekit on the Apple TV and it solved the issue right away:

go to Seetings > Accounts > iCloud > HomeKti > click to disconnect > click again to reconnect..

Now I can use HomeKit remotely via 4G again.

I’ve been in IT for over 30 years. I learned to program using key punch cards, I use to setup network by binding protocols to NIC cards, manually mapped memory when there were TSR programs. I’m no stranger to trouble shooting issues. All of the I have seem to point to the HomeKit hub as the issue. I too would loose some functionality in HomeKit but other devices worked fine remotely. If I can control some of the devices with HomeKit I would have to assume I have communication to and through my HomeKit hub. At times even on the WiFi I couldn’t control my lights or garage. As soon as I would go into the native app, hue or myq, HomeKit appears to link back up. I haven’t seen this much since some updates, which leads me to believe they have fixed some things, but there are still lingering issues they have yet to resolve.