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HomePod Disable HomePod as a Home Hub
- Thread starter Itinj24
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Yes you can.
Unplug the power on the two HomePods and the Apple TV will take over as the hub. Then plug the HomePods back in.
I have two Mini's and two Apple TV's, one ethernet and one WiFi. When I set everything up it chose my upstairs WiFi ATV as the hub. I started having issues with lights not responding to requests after a couple months, and someone suggested forcing the hub switch. After, it chose my bedroom mini as the hub and everything started working great after. A few weeks ago after software updates it chose my downstairs entertainment room ATV ethernet as the hub, (probably from the random order of installs finishing) and everything still worked great, so I left it that way. If anything starts acting up on me again I'll force another hub switch and go from there.
No you can't! That is incorrect. Whilst the Apple TV may take priority for a while, there is a very good chance it will change to one of the HomePods. And it might even change to a different HomePod or even back to the Apple TV.
There is no system in place that allows you to keep one device permanently as a preferred home hub. This is how it has always been and how it will always stay until Apple get their finger out and give us the option.
Someone posted in another thread about the active hub having the lowest IP address. The hubs switch when the IP addresses change.
Currently, my best performing hub is active so I gave it a static IP a few days ago. It’s been the active hub since. Worth a shot. I’m monitoring it closely and to be honest, I haven’t had any accessories go “No Response.” Usually get a camera or two go offline for a few minutes and that hasn’t happened either. Pretty pleased so far and if this is the case, the person that discovered it is my hero.
Currently, my best performing hub is active so I gave it a static IP a few days ago. It’s been the active hub since. Worth a shot. I’m monitoring it closely and to be honest, I haven’t had any accessories go “No Response.” Usually get a camera or two go offline for a few minutes and that hasn’t happened either. Pretty pleased so far and if this is the case, the person that discovered it is my hero.
They asked "Is there a way to change this?"
And yes, you can force a change. I told them one way how.
Itinj24 posted another way in the post above this.
So just because "there is a very good chance it will change to one of the HomePods." means they shouldn't try ?
Out of my four possible hubs, three have taken a turn at it. As I said, my last change was a few weeks ago, whenever the last updates for everything came out. And I'm sure it had to with the order everything finished updating and restarted.
If you have a power blip, you have no control over the order everything restarts right ?
I have not seen this before, but I am going to keep an eye on this too, to see if this is accurate to not.
As it happens, my current active hub is a 4k ATV, which as it happens also has the lowest IP address of all my possible hubs....I have 3 x 4k ATV's and 4 x HomePods as possible hubs.......and out of just sheer coincidence the 3 ATV's have a much lower IP address than the 4 HomePods....so this will be interesting to keep an eye on.
I should also mention, that in my house, I have NOT really noticed any difference in behaviour of my smart stuff in the house regardless of which hub is actually being used.
I set static IP’s for two hubs that were active and they both eventually did a random switch. However, for the past couple weeks, I haven’t had any issues with HomeKit (***knock on wood***). Usually when a hub switches, I’ll get momentary disconnection of accessories, more so my cameras. This is how I know the hub switched. Didn’t get any of that. Wonder if Apple did some server side tweaks.
For some reason the HomePod Mini which is in one of the back bedrooms with the worse connection keeps taking over from my wired Apple TV 4K and my HomePod gen2 which is in the same room as my router. When this happens it causes all my HSV cameras to go offline. They only come back online if I unplug the HomePod Mini and force the connected hub to be my Apple TV 4K or HomePod gen2 with the better connections.
Not sure what algorithm Apple uses to decide which is best but clearly not working as intended in all cases.
I unplugged the HomePod Mini in the back bedroom so the connected hub switched to my wired Apple TV 4K and have manually set the IP to be lowest in the range. Will see what happens.
Not sure what algorithm Apple uses to decide which is best but clearly not working as intended in all cases.
I unplugged the HomePod Mini in the back bedroom so the connected hub switched to my wired Apple TV 4K and have manually set the IP to be lowest in the range. Will see what happens.
Just to update a little about the comments of the lowest IP hub taking priority be THE connected hub....well, for a good amount of time my ATV 4k (3rd gen with ethernet) was the connected hub, which also by coincidence had the lowest IP address within my network.....is now NOT the connected hub, it has been changed to a 1st gen 4k ATV which is also connected by ethernet and has the 3rd lowest IP address out of all possible hubs in my network.
I do not actually know when it swapped hubs as for my set up, there has never been any obvious difference in HomeKit performance regardless of which hub is the connected one for me......but I believe this is down to the HomeKit products I have in the house.....which for me, ALL lights in the house are Philips Hue...so everything goes through the Philips Hue hub/bridge.....and ALL my radiators for heating have the Tado TRV's along with the wired wall thermostat and its own hub/bridge as well.
I do not actually know when it swapped hubs as for my set up, there has never been any obvious difference in HomeKit performance regardless of which hub is the connected one for me......but I believe this is down to the HomeKit products I have in the house.....which for me, ALL lights in the house are Philips Hue...so everything goes through the Philips Hue hub/bridge.....and ALL my radiators for heating have the Tado TRV's along with the wired wall thermostat and its own hub/bridge as well.
Yeah I think the lowest IP thing is voodoo.
I think I’ve realized why my hub always wants to be the wireless ATV that’s the furthest from my network: it has direct line of sight to a Bluetooth door lock at the back of the house. Everything else is wired or Wi-Fi. So I guess that if the lock is the weakest link in my setup, it would make sense that the hub should be the device that has the best connection to it.
I think I’ve realized why my hub always wants to be the wireless ATV that’s the furthest from my network: it has direct line of sight to a Bluetooth door lock at the back of the house. Everything else is wired or Wi-Fi. So I guess that if the lock is the weakest link in my setup, it would make sense that the hub should be the device that has the best connection to it.
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It’s anyone’s guess at the moment lol. I have a Bluetooth front door lock (Yale Assure) that has a completely unobstructed line of sight shot at a HomePod Mini in my foyer from about 10’ distance and that Mini has never picked up active hub duties. That lock is the only Bluetooth HomeKit device I’m currently running.
Here’s to hoping 16.4 will just eliminate all the guessing games and dances to the devil and will “just work.”
Are you having any new issues with this lock since 16.3.x was released? Trying to figure out if my Schlage Sense problems are a BLE issue or a Schlage issue. We already know it's my network, and not 16.3.x.
I am having new issues under HomePod 16.4 and my Starling hub. I'm having to restart it (starling) a couple to times a day to get motion notifications and face recognition to work. I'm in talks with starling who aren't aware of any issues but also and understandably don't suppose beta software. It's rendered the Starling and my Google doorbell almost useless now. Hopefully it will be sorted...
Sheesh. I’m sure the good folks over at Starling will have a fix soon. They’re amazing with updating their software. I’d forget about it for a month or so, then open the Starling app for kicks and giggles and see that the hub was updated a few times in the background during that time. I’m sure they’re on it and their customer service is phenomenal.
None whatsoever. It has been one of my most reliable devices since I got it a few years ago though the many iOS updates. Only time it goes down is when it needs batteries.
Also, it has a separate plug in hub that puts it in Wi-Fi mode when my phone is not nearby (on cellular). Bluetooth mode is only enabled when my phone is nearby but I’m getting solid connectivity either way.
Definitely your network. Anyone who’s anyone knows that 🤣
Interesting. That's what the Apple TV as Home hub is supposed to do for the Schlage lock. Schlage also sells a hub that does the same, however, once you connect to the Schlage hub, the lock is removed from the marvelous HomeKit universe of things. It's not designed for both.
I think you're not see any issues with your Yale lock thanks to your Yale wifi hub. Therefore, your Apple Home hubs do not need to connect to your Yale lock using Bluetooth.
I am having zero issues with all of my wifi connected HomeKit devices.
Yes, in fact its reliability and responsiveness have increased considerably. Before, notifications from the lock were so few and far between that I had forgotten it was even supposed to do that.
It eats batteries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner though. Maybe the newer models are better about that - this was one of the earliest.
Probably about two months? I don’t really keep track. My wife and I use that door to come and go probably 90% of the time. Mainly the problem is that I use rechargeables, which they don’t recommend, and after only a week their voltage has dropped enough that the lock beeps very loudly every time it’s activated. And so I end up swapping batteries more often than needed, just to have a week of silence.
Also it requires a screwdriver to swap the AA batteries, which is annoying. So, digging for a screwdriver, opening it up, swapping the batteries, and charging the old ones is just kind of a hassle that makes it feel like you’re having to do it every other day. I wish that they made an easily replaced rechargeable battery pack so that I could keep a spare on the charger and then just quickly swap them out when needed.