HomeKit Apple is asking me to buy a plane ticket to fix their HomeKit architecture issue **Update: Emailed Cook, received phone call

[SamRyouji]

This is how technology works since its inception:
It should ease our life, giving us more comfort and cut down our daily hassles. But in reality, every major update or breakthrough shoved us with more hassles, buggy workarounds, and broke up some things up.
It pains me to see story like you OP, but I somewhat glad Apple finally gave some extra effort after you personally email Tim Cook. Hopefully they could resolve your issue in no time.
.
Out of context for a bit: I personally gave up my dreams of smarten up my home the day I realised every voice assistant has one flaw: they all could be activated by your recorded voice.

 

[WiiDSmoker]

Could it help to setup a VPN at the other house and connect to it with one of your devices? To make it appear like you flew all the way there.. or does it require a Bluetooth connection?

VPN wouldn’t work as to physically fix a HomePod you need to be on the same WiFi

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

VPN wouldn’t work as to physically fix a HomePod you need to be on the same WiFi

I know someone who could easily do it who is on the same Wi-Fi…
They just need this password you’re so unwilling to provide.
It’s a true shame…

 

[BellSystem]

VPN wouldn’t work as to physically fix a HomePod you need to be on the same WiFi

That's not true. If the multicast traffic from the LAN/WLAN is passed to the VPN subnet correctly, you will have access to the device.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

VPN wouldn’t work as to physically fix a HomePod you need to be on the same WiFi

If only you had someone onsite you could trust with your password for a little while. Man, that would solve this thing so fast.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

That's not true. If the multicast traffic from the LAN/WLAN is passed to the VPN subnet correctly, you will have access to the device.

This is true, and would probably work actually. The device wouldn’t know that the other device isn’t on the same subnet.

 

[laptech]

If the OP will not give his password to his GF because of reason he never gives out his password EVER which would allow his GF to resest/re-initiallise the system, how does he expect Apple to help him? Is this case of 'I went to update my homekit at home in London but it updated every location, even my home in Dallas and it never warned me it was going to do so thus it is Apple's fault and therefore they are to fix it and they must do so without anyone knowing my password'.

Talk about asking for help but tying the helpers arms, legs, mouth and eyes shut but still expecting them to help.

 

[techno-Zen]

This is clearly a user weirdness issue. Don't know what to tell you bud.

Apple user entitlement is absolutely hilarious..

 

[WiiDSmoker]

That's not true. If the multicast traffic from the LAN/WLAN is passed to the VPN subnet correctly, you will have access to the device.

Can you walk me through this?

 

[okkibs]

That's not true. If the multicast traffic from the LAN/WLAN is passed to the VPN subnet correctly, you will have access to the device.

Let me just set that up with my ISP provided home router... unless OP is Linus Sebastian, I highly doubt they can just whip that up on the spot. At the very least I'd expect spending an afternoon with Wireshark on both locations as it goes with custom site-to-site VPN setups. Which would of course require OP to be at both locations to set it up.

If only you had someone onsite you could trust with your password for a little while. Man, that would solve this thing so fast.

Until the next update breaks things again. Don't you guys see the larger issue here that no updates can ever be installed again if OP takes your advice? Just give out the password once, don't update unless you are there, but then what if he was back home and an update broke the London home? The most reasonable advice is not to connect anything important like a door lock to the cloud, or even just a simple bluetooth sensor. It's not a question of whether a bug or power outage or update issue breaks the functionality, it's guaranteed to happen at some point.

Can you walk me through this?

Haha yeah good luck, simplest would be two appliances you can just plug in and share a secret on both to connect a tunnel between them - but unless you spend money or a weekend to setup a custom solution (you'd need a VPN appliance of some kind, virtual or physical) it's not something where you just click a button.

 

[antiprotest]

I spoke to a Senior HomeKit Advisor and their only fix is for me to spend $1500 to fly to Dallas and back to fix their issue! My GF can’t truly do a hard reset on the HomePods because she lost access to the house AND only the home owner can add HomePods.

Sounds reasonable. Don't be so entitled and just hop on your private jet. It will take you less than a day to fix this.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Let me just set that up with my ISP provided home router... unless OP is Linus Sebastian, I highly doubt they can just whip that up on the spot. At the very least I'd expect spending an afternoon with Wireshark on both locations as it goes with custom site-to-site VPN setups. Which would of course require OP to be at both locations to set it up.


Until the next update breaks things again. Don't you guys see the larger issue here that no updates can ever be installed again if OP takes your advice? Just give out the password once, don't update unless you are there, but then what if he was back home and an update broke the London home? The most reasonable advice is not to connect anything important like a door lock to the cloud, or even just a simple bluetooth sensor. It's not a question of whether a bug or power outage or update issue breaks the functionality, it's guaranteed to happen at some point.


Haha yeah good luck, simplest would be two appliances you can just plug in and share a secret on both to connect a tunnel between them - but unless you spend money or a weekend to setup a custom solution (you'd need a VPN appliance of some kind, virtual or physical) it's not something where you just click a button.

I don’t see what your point is on this. I don’t have a single piece of smart home equipment for the reasons you state above. I have the an M1 iPad Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, and an M1 MBA. I believe in tech. That said, I have never liked the shoddy state of smart home security and updates. I agree with you on all of that. No Amazon Alexa exists in my home, no homekit, no google nest crap, nothing. No smart appliances. I have two Apple TVs connected to TVs that don’t even have network connections set up. (And if you think smart home stuff is bad on security—check out medical devices…shudder)

That said, the OP can worry about updates re-breaking everything later. He can absolutely set up a VPN with the same subnet faster than flying across the sea. He can absolutely give his GF his password, fix the issues, and then change it. Solve the long term later.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Sounds reasonable. Don't be so entitled and just hop on your private jet. It will take you less than a day to fix this.

Maybe you shouldn’t make assumptions…dude does have two houses in very expensive places to live. Maybe he does have a private jet.

 

[okkibs]

I don’t see what your point is on this. [...] He can absolutely set up a VPN with the same subnet faster than flying across the sea. He can absolutely give his GF his password, fix the issues, and then change it. Solve the long term later.

The point is even if he did all of this, if there was some bug in the now updated version that is fixed a couple weeks later and he needs to update again, he could be back at square one. In other words, it's a workaround not a solution.

Set up a VPN with the same subnet. Please tell us how you'd do that, easily and quickly? You realize it needs to be a site-to-site VPN that includes the Apple devices on Wifi, right? He can't just install Teamviewer or some VPN server app, that's not enough. At the bare minimum he'd have to have openwrt compatible routers on both sides that he himself bought, since he wouldn't be able to repurpose the actual ISP routers. Then he'd have to learn network engineering basics and probably the CLI since the options he needs might not be fully exposed in the GUI.

And once he gets his side set up he needs to walk his girlfriend through the whole process on the phone. Yeah right.

Now for the password, I don't actually see this working either. Suppose he changes the password to some temp password he gives out, then how does she initialize the homepods for example? She needs to login through his account on an iOS device of hers to initialize. Ok, that can be done, but is already really painful unless they got an extra Apple device around they can just reset and use. It all falls apart the moment he changes the temporary password back to his actual one anyways.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

The point is even if he did all of this, if there was some bug in the now updated version that is fixed a couple weeks later and he needs to update again, he could be back at square one. In other words, it's a workaround not a solution.

Set up a VPN with the same subnet. Please tell us how you'd do that, easily and quickly? You realize it needs to be a site-to-site VPN that includes the Apple devices on Wifi, right? He can't just install Teamviewer or some VPN server app, that's not enough. At the bare minimum he'd have to have openwrt compatible routers on both sides that he himself bought, since he wouldn't be able to repurpose the actual ISP routers. Then he'd have to learn network engineering basics and probably the CLI since the options he needs might not be fully exposed in the GUI.

And once he gets his side set up he needs to walk his girlfriend through the whole process on the phone. Yeah right.

Now for the password, I don't actually see this working either. Suppose he changes the password to some temp password he gives out, then how does she initialize the homepods for example? She needs to login through his account on an iOS device of hers to initialize. Ok, that can be done, but is already really painful unless they got an extra Apple device around they can just reset and use. It all falls apart the moment he changes the temporary password back to his actual one anyways.

I am with you on the first one (somewhat). As to the second, I completely disagree. He can simply give her the password and FIX IT.

If we are worried about theoretical bugs in the future based of an actual weird situation now, then he should just throw it all out and start over with something far more insecure.

 

[Boidem]

He doesn’t want to share his iCloud password with the girlfriend, and truth be told neither would I.

I wouldn’t give my passwords to Wiidsmoker’s girlfriend either. Because I’ve never met her and don’t know her.

But this has to be one of the most 1st world problems I’ve ever heard of. 🤣

 

[Choco Taco]

Exactly this. Never give out your password.

Or give her your password. That could work.

 

[Ethosik]

Never EVER do an update without being there to babysit. I don't care if its from Apple, or Microsoft, or Adobe etc. No matter WHAT the company states, updates CAN and sometimes DO cause issues like you found out. Take this as a learning moment. I am not defending Apple. I don't trust ANYONE with updates to be 100% without issue.

Also, it is bad practice to have two different sites (in this case homes) reference the exact same setup (in this case accounts). This way you can de-couple both sites and update them independently. When you are in the US, you only update the US home. When you are not in the US, you update the other home. That way you are PHYSICALLY THERE if something happens. Or better yet, transition the US homekit setup to your girlfriends account. That will solve this "ongoing concern with updates" issue.

I also don't understand why its such a struggle to give your password to someone you are in a relationship with. As mentioned, you can change it immediately after. I never give out my passwords either, but my parents know how to get access to my password manager in case something happens to me. I gave account details to previous girlfriends before. I changed them after the relationship ended.

This is ENTIRELY different that me freely giving my password out to anyone on this forum. I do not share my password with Apple themselves and never will. But girlfriend? Temporarily even? No question, I will give it out.

 

[maflynn]

He doesn’t want to share his iCloud password with the girlfriend, and truth be told neither would I.

Here's my take, and obviously I don't know the relationship that the OP has, but if your living together, sharing expensive, basically planning to have a life together then its a bit odd not to share the password - even temporarily. The OP is free to do what he wishes, but he brought it upon himself with poor practices and is unwilling to solve the problem using the easiest and simplest way.

It might be that he's not really living together, and his girlfriend is house sitting for him while in UK, but the point sort of remains - if you're trusting her to maintain the household, there should be enough trust to hand her the password - even if its temporary.

Also, it is bad practice to have two different sites (in this case homes)

There's certain practices you want to do. Never buy new running shoes for a marathon. Never update your equipment the day before or of, a trip. Never do updates on equipment that you don't have direct access too, or have a contgency plan so if something does go south you can recover.

I guess I made plenty of mistakes in my life that I'm rather cautious and make sure I have options before I hit the button

 

[Burger Thing]

I sympathise with the OP. It's is hard to believe that Apple rolled out this sh!tshow of an update process. In the year 2022, a software update of our beloved trillions of dollars company should... wait a minute... just work. No matter where you are, when you press the button, how many homes or girl friends you have, if it's low tide or high tide... It should just work.

I find the snark comments here unbelievable. Especially that tw@t who said that the OP should get a cheap plane ticket.

Homekit and its accompanying app with its limiting automation options and ridiculous horizontal Layout is a complete embarrassment.

I updated IN my apartment, half moon, medium tide, and had to type in 7-8 times my passwords for my home pods. Security cameras work like cr@p now.

But yeah, maybe I should have known better as well. Hacked into the camera's manufacturers websites, download and studied the code and concluded, that I might run into issues.

Good luck to the OP.

 

[WiiDSmoker]

I sympathise with the OP. It's is hard to believe that Apple rolled out this sh!tshow of an update process. In the year 2022, a software update of our beloved trillions of dollars company should... wait a minute... just work. No matter where you are, when you press the button, how many homes or girl friends you have, if it's low tide or high tide... It should just work.

I find the snark comments here unbelievable. Especially that tw@t who said that the OP should get a cheap plane ticket.

Homekit and its accompanying app with its limiting automation options and ridiculous horizontal Layout is a complete embarrassment.

I updated IN my apartment, half moon, medium tide, and had to type in 7-8 times my passwords for my home pods. Security cameras work like cr@p now.

But yeah, maybe I should have known better as well. Hacked into the camera's manufacturers websites, download and studied the code and concluded, that I might run into issues.

Good luck to the OP.

100% this. Attacking me is not a solution. It shouldn’t matter where I’m at in the world to trigger an update if Apple allows it. Hell, I wasn’t even trying to update my Dallas home, only my London home, but guess what? It doesn’t even say it’s updating BOTH.

Seems the diehards on here would rather victim blame and defend their Daddy, then actually care about the issue at hand.

 

[maflynn]

100% this. Attacking me is not a solution.

To be sure, but many of us have offered the best, easiest and most complete solution - give your girlfriend whom you trust to maintain your household the password. You can always change it 5 minutes after she fixes the situation.

I sympathise with the OP. It's is hard to believe that Apple rolled out this sh!tshow of an update process.

I'm speaking somewhat out of ignorance as I only have a single homepod and no home automation. I don't know how bad it is, and whether it was always bad or not. If Apple's track record in this sort of thing isn't ideal, then it is certainly more on the OP for doing something that he had no way of fixing remotely.

I also maintain my opinion, in that Apple in no way could account for people updating their products with absolutely no way to physically be there. When you own a product there is an expectation that its going to be in your possession and presence at some point. To that end, I think its wrong to put all of the blame on apple for doing something that is so far out of their designed use case.

 

[currocj]

He doesn’t want to share his iCloud password with the girlfriend, and truth be told neither would I.

This is why the both of you will be girlfriendless in the near or far term.

But you'll always have your apple OS problems won't you?

 

[WiiDSmoker]

To be sure, but many of us have offered the best, easiest and most complete solution - give your girlfriend whom you trust to maintain your household the password. You can always change it 5 minutes after she fixes the situation.


I'm speaking somewhat out of ignorance as I only have a single homepod and no home automation. I don't know how bad it is, and whether it was always bad or not. If Apple's track record in this sort of thing isn't ideal, then it is certainly more on the OP for doing something that he had no way of fixing remotely.

I also maintain my opinion, in that Apple in no way could account for people updating their products with absolutely no way to physically be there. When you own a product there is an expectation that its going to be in your possession and presence at some point. To that end, I think its wrong to put all of the blame on apple for doing something that is so far out of their designed use case.

Apple knows where you are and if you are or are not in the house. Apple knows I have multiple houses. Why does updating one house automatically trigger the update for the other house? Oh and guess what? We’ve done the, I give her the password before and changed it afterwards, it borked homekit hubs before and luckily I was flying back to the house in May to fix the issue. So offering the password, then changing it, is not a solution either.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Apple knows where you are and if you are or are not in the house. Apple knows I have multiple houses. Why does updating one house automatically trigger the update for the other house? Oh and guess what? We’ve done the, I give her the password before and changed it afterwards, it borked homekit hubs before and luckily I was flying back to the house in May to fix the issue. So offering the password, then changing it, is not a solution either.

Sounds like you need a different setup. Go with something less secure than homekit. Clearly the homekit and you do not get along.

Edited to add, look it’s like this: I love a good video game. Rather than try to shoehorn my M1 Macbook to do it, I simply built a gaming PC and use that. Apple considers gaming not a priority.

By that same token, Apple considers having to update homekit in two houses on different continents also a niche case and not a priority.

I can rail against it all I want or move on with my life. I still think the password thing would work. If you don’t or it won’t, I would move on from homekit. Use something far less secure that will work for your needs.