HomeKit Getting Started With HomeKit: A Beginner's Guide

[RamGuy]

Well, this whole "HomeKit" and use your Apple TV (Gen.4) as your home hub has to be the least "it just works" solution I have ever encountered from Apple. This truly is a complete mess I can't seem to wrap my head around.


I've got a Apple TV (Gen.4), I've got a Philips Hue setup with four spot lights in the living room, and one lamp in the bedroom and both myself and my fiancee got two iPad Air 2's and one iPhone 6S Plus and one iPhone 6S and we would like to get everything working through HomeKit and the new Home-app in iOS 10.


We have tried to get this to work during the iOS 10 and tvOS 10 developers previews but we gave up. But now we are on the golden master candidates so we expect that things should start to work.

So I decided to do a full blown recovery of the Apple TV, restoring it with the tvOS 10 GM IPSW, and we updated all iPad's and iPhone's to the iOS 10.0.1 GM's. We also decided to do a full factory restore of the Philips Hue HomeKit Bridge, just to make sure everything is back to zero before we begin the whole HomeKit setup process.


The first thing we start with is setting up the Apple TV. I use the device / bluetooth approach so it gets connected to my Apple ID and after setup process has completed I go through all the various system settings to make sure they are configured the way we like them to be. Then I download the few apps we use, like Plex, YouTube etc..

Then I move over to my iPhone 6S Plus, fire up the Home-app, create my "Home" and go forth and add my Philips Hue bridge as accessory within the app. The Home-app then tells me that I need to use the official Philips Hue app in order to get all my lights added to the bridge.

So I fire up the Philips Hue app, gets the Bridge authenticated within the app. Add our lights, give them proper naming and goes back to the Home-app.

Now the Bridge, and all our lights are shown within the Home-app. At this point we can just delete the Philips Hue app from our phone as we are able to configure the lights, configure groups, light temperatures and everything using the Home-app. Everything is good.


But then we want to start creating automation's, like having the bedroom light automatically start before we are supposed to wake-up in the morning. But this is not possible. The tab for "automation" in the Home-app tells us that in order to use home automation we need to get a home hub. It recommends the new Apple TV (Gen.4) or a "always at home" iPad.


This is where everything goes down the drain. As stated above, we already got a Apple TV (Gen.4), we just restored it using the tvOS 10 GM ISPW and I configured it using/adding it to my Apple-ID. Still the home-app on my iPhone 6S Plus (using the same Apple-ID, if that matters) and yet the home-app keeps telling us that we need to either get a Apple TV or dedicate the iPad for use as a home hub if we want to enable automation or use the home-app while being away from home.

I then decide to go to my iPad, launch the home-app and see if the iPad recognises the fact that fact that we actually have a Apple TV (Gen.4) on our network. But no, it just prompts us with the same information that we either need to get a Apple TV or use a iPad as a home hub in order to gain access to home automation and to be able to control HomeKit while being away from home.


I try to restart both the Apple TV, my iPhone and my iPad. I even try to reboot my entire network. Both the Apple TV and the Philips Hue are both connected using cable on the same network. And there is no way the phone is not recognising the Apple TV as AirPlay from the phone to the Apple TV works perfectly.

Rebooting does not help one bit. So I then decide to log out of iCloud / my Apple-ID on both the Apple TV, my iPhone and my iPad and then log back in all the devices. Doesn't help. Someone claims that I need to have two factor authentication enabled, but I already got that enabled as it was required to get the fancy new "unlock with Apple Watch" feature in MacOS Sierra to work.


Our at the Philips Hue Developer forums someone recommended me to get the Connect Sense app from the AppStore, as that app can create automation's that directly integrates with HomeKit so they get automatically added to the home-app. Unlike the official Philips Hue app which only creates automation's on the bridge itself, not communicating with HomeKit at all.

I downloaded the app, and started creating "rules" and just like the person over at the Hue Developer forums claimed, the rules I created automatically got added under the "automation" tab in the home-app.


But this didn't really solve anything. Because the home-app just tells me that "Home hub not connected. To ensure your automation's run as expected, connect a home hub. Learn more". When I click learn more I get back to the same page telling me to get either a Apple TV or to use a always at home iPad as a home hub in order to use automation's etc...


Just for fun I tried to use my iPad Air 2 as a "Home hub" and that works out just fine. The iPad gets recognised and automatically added to the Home-app which gives me access to create automation's and everything without issues.

But the thing is, my iPad is not "always at home". It doesn't really make any sense for me to use my iPad as home hub, especially not when I already got a Apple TV (Gen.4) much more suited for the task.



So why on earth won't HomeKit and the Home-app recognise the fact that I've got a Apple TV (Gen.4) on the same network and on the same iCloud account? What am I doing wrong here?

 

[aristobrat]

So why on earth won't HomeKit and the Home-app recognise the fact that I've got a Apple TV (Gen.4) on the same network and on the same iCloud account? What am I doing wrong here?

You a few weeks ahead of me. Was planning on giving it a shot once everything's officially out.

 

[RamGuy]

Finally! After logging out of iCloud on all my devices, resetting HomeKit and logging back in the Home-app finally recognises the fact that I have a Apple TV on my network.

 

[Solver]

Finally! After logging out of iCloud on all my devices, resetting HomeKit and logging back in the Home-app finally recognises the fact that I have a Apple TV on my network.

I only needed to log out and back on to iCloud on the Apple TV 4, then when I switched iCloud "Home" off and back on using my iPad, the Apple TV showed "My Home" connected. Remote and automation then worked.
I suspect that all this will be easier when Apple releases iOS 10 and the documentation to the general public, in a few days.

 

[aristobrat]

Excited to see Apple get into the Automation part of this, but kind of bummed with the current options.

I see where I can create an automation that turns on my exterior lights after sunset if my motion detector detects motion, but I don't see a way I can have those lights automatically turn off 10 minutes later.

I know it'll get better as it goes, was just hoping to be able to move some of my more simpler stuff over now.

 

[ARK]

Excited to see Apple get into the Automation part of this, but kind of bummed with the current options.

I see where I can create an automation that turns on my exterior lights after sunset if my motion detector detects motion, but I don't see a way I can have those lights automatically turn off 10 minutes later.

I know it'll get better as it goes, was just hoping to be able to move some of my more simpler stuff over now.

I can't even get Home to load my accessories and scenes. I start it up and it just spins and spins trying to load. I'm not impressed. Any ideas?

 

[Paco II]

Asked this in another thread but perhaps this is the more appropriate place. Using ATV4th as my hub, I was noticing that Automation changes were not getting picked up. I think this may be happening when the ATV is sleeping, and not picking up the changes. I am not sure if they are never picked up, or just delayed in getting picked up. I've set my ATV to no longer sleep and will test further, but can anyone confirm that the ATV needs to be set to not sleep to have changes picked up immediately?

 

[7thson]

My impression of HomeKit? Phooey! I just ended a six week trial of an Ecobee3 and HomeKit. I wasted so much time on customer support with Ecobee, both email and phone(after a 45min hold) before I realized they couldn't help me. The set up process on the Ecobee was smooth the first time, but I couldn't get it hold a geofence program. HomeKit took many attempts at logging in and out of my Apple TV4 before it would establish as a base. Spent over an hour and a half troubleshooting this with an Apple advisor. Ultimately he said he would escalate it. In the mean time, I went ahead and swapped out the Ecobee with a replacement and the setup was anything but smooth. I decided to cut my losses and just return the Ecobee and be done with it. I think it's a fine thermostat but without geofencing functionality it's not really all that smart. It looked pretty and I could adjust the thermostat from an iOS device but that wasn't enough. The product wasn't consistent in software performance and HomeKit was erratic at best. The experience really undermined my opinion of Apples ability to manage it's backend services.

 

[aristobrat]

I think it's a fine thermostat but without geofencing functionality it's not really all that smart.

Sorry to hear about your experience.

For me, the two Ecobees I have (downstairs/upstairs) do a great job of using their remote sensors to figure out when nobody is home (and adjust the temperature accordingly). Granted, I'm running with a few extra sensors, but those were purchased so the Ecobees knew about temperatures in some extra rooms. The extra motion sensing was just a bonus.

 

[7thson]

Sorry to hear about your experience.

For me, the two Ecobees I have (downstairs/upstairs) do a great job of using their remote sensors to figure out when nobody is home (and adjust the temperature accordingly). Granted, I'm running with a few extra sensors, but those were purchased so the Ecobees knew about temperatures in some extra rooms. The extra motion sensing was just a bonus.

I'd monitor the thermostat from my phone when I wasn't home and it wouldn't recognize I wasn't home anymore. I just never saw that functionality and customer support was only helpful in setting up, not troubleshooting. Not sure why my experience was so disappointing since I read plenty of positive reviews for the Ecobee3 prior to buying it. It's just my lot in life to suffer I guess (JK, just a pop culture reference).

 

[kingston73]

I have an ecobee and I've tried all the directions I could find to get home to work. When I open it all I see is "loading accessories and scenes" and nothing happens. I've logged out of icloud, deleted and reinstalled the home app, turned keychain off, and deleted the ecobee app. Nothing, just that constant loading screen. What am I doing wrong? I have an ipad air2 and iphone 7+, do I need to sign out for both devices? What else can I do?

 

[gsmornot]

I have 3 Ecobee3's and use Homekit with no issues. I simply installed the thermostats and one at a time went through the setup of each at the thermostat unit. It asked during install if I wanted to control them with Homekit which I said yes and a number showed on the display. I used the phones camera as instructed to copy the number shown. I use Homekit to see the temperatures and room occupancy sensor data but do not use Homekit to make adjustments. With 4 comfort settings and time of day routines there is no need for manual adjustment of anything, its all automated.

As for the units knowing you are away, its all in how you complete your setup. If you tell the unit you are typically home during a comfort period but you are really away at the time, it will wait 2 hours into the period looking for motion. If none is detected it will auto setback the comfort level to your away setting. If you have been gone for a while, say over an hour and your remote sensor thinks you are still there, replace the battery and/or verify you didn't have one of the older sensors that had the cover installed at a 90 degree offset to the IR sensor. Some were assembled with the sensor covered up.

No issues here with Homekit Hub either. If the hub didn't work I could use the apps directly but none the less, it works. I am in the process of adding Lutron to the mix and likely MyQ so we will see how this goes as items are added but so far so good.

 

[smithrh]

I see the last post before this one is getting close to 2 years old now.

While there have been significant issues with HomeKit - some extremely frustrating indeed - the state of devices and software (on both the device vendor side and Apple) has clearly come a long way, especially in the last 6-8 months.

One should take the posts above this one as historical in nature, and not really reflecting the state of HomeKit today.

Not saying HomeKit is perfect, far from it. In fact there some odd Siri delay going on for the last month or so that's getting to be annoying - but it's in good shape overall and the number of devices out there that work with HomeKit is growing as well.

 

[JohnR]

Just for clarification, is HomeKit the same as the Home app?

 

[7thson]

Just for clarification, is HomeKit the same as the Home app?

Yes. It's where HomeKit devices and scenes are organized.

 

[aristobrat]

Just for clarification, is HomeKit the same as the Home app?

To add a little bit more to the post above, HomeKit is what Apple calls the back-end technology that makes it all work. There is only one "HomeKit" and Apple maintains it.

"Home" is an example of one of a few different apps that allows users to interact with HomeKit. Home was written by Apple, and there are other apps written by other companies that have similar functionality. Elgato's Eve is an example that pops to mind.

Apple added HomeKit to iOS 8, but didn't add the Home app until iOS 10. So if you wanted to see all of your Homekit devices in iOS 8 or iOS 9, you had to use a third-party app like Elgato Eve.

 

[JohnR]

Thank you

 

[I am Sampson]

Wow... this is bringing up an old topic. I have to admit, I’ve completely moved over to Alexa for home automation. Significantly superior to Siri in many ways. Chiefly:
1) she understands my children, including son with speech difficulties, Siri rarely can.
2) when accepts a command to operate lights or a switch etc, she actually does it or when rarely there is a problem she says it didn’t work. Siri would only work 60% of the time yet think she was working all the time. (Potentially this is fixed now though)
3) she can be used anywhere from within the house without needing to be right next to a device.

Still hopeful siri will get better, but for me personally she is barely used now, and certainly not for home automation any more. Alexa is vastly more customisable as well.

 

[davidgnomo]

...
3) she can be used anywhere from within the house without needing to be right next to a device.
...

This is something I've never understood of Homekit ... why the device must be close to the Apple TV and wouldn't work just being in the same network as the Apple TV ? Having AirPort Express to expand the network range is completely unuseful ... has anybody found a solution for big houses with one single Apple TV ? I don't even know if buying another Apple TV would work as extender ... plus I don't want to spend more money for a second hub !!!!

 

[aristobrat]

This is something I've never understood of Homekit ... why the device must be close to the Apple TV and wouldn't work just being in the same network as the Apple TV ?

IMO, it depends on the specific HomeKit device.

Some HomeKit devices use WiFi to communicate, so they should work anywhere in your house that has WiFi. For me, that's my garage door opener (MyQ Home Bridge), sprinkler controller (Rachio), and a few Best Buy outlet controllers.

Other HomeKit devices use Bluetooth. I think these are typically battery-powered devices like door locks, etc. I don't have any HomeKit devices that use Bluetooth.

Other HomeKit devices use their own proprietorial RF communications via a hub/bridge. An example of this are the super popular Hue lights. HomeKit talks to the Hue hub via Ethernet, and then the hub talks to the light bulbs (spread around house) using RF. Your HomeKit hub itself doesn't talk directly to the light bulbs.

 

[Donfor39]

Hi
Any idea what the following is for Philips Hue Bridge
Connectivity - Zigbee Light link via Bridge (sold separately)

Where can I find Zigbee Light Link
As I thought Hue Bridge and two e14 smart bulbs could be a start to smarter flat!

 

[parseckadet]

Not sure what you’re really asking. Are you talking about the Hue starter kit? That comes with a bridge and two bulbs. That’s everything you need to get started.

 

[Donfor39]

Not sure what you’re really asking. Are you talking about the Hue starter kit? That comes with a bridge and two bulbs. That’s everything you need to get started.

Thanks, it is Hue Bridge+Bulbs Starter Kit.
I only asked as Curry's website under connectivity states Zigabee Lighlink-(sold separately)
I had assumed this was an additional connective device which I would have to purchase.
Thankfully it seems it's a protocol (WiFi type software standard or similar)

Thanks all who took time to reply -Appreciated
I shall look forward to purchasing Hue Starter kit soon and post my initial thoughts.

almost forgot -Dimmers -the add on Dimmer switches is there any wiring for such Hue Dimmer switches.

 

[parseckadet]

Hue does also sell the bulbs and hub separately, which may have been what they were referring to.

As for the dimmers, those do not require any wiring.

 

[ascender]

I'm losing the plot with the Home app and Homekit. So many of my devices, which seemed to work flawlessly for the first week or so are more often than not, in a state of "no response" whenever I go in to my home app.

This includes those devices which are native and those for which I'm using a pi running home assistant. Is there anything obvious I can check which could be causing this to happen?

I've checked all devices have latest firmware, iOS version etc. I have a few homepods in the house, so am assuming one or all of those are acting as hubs?