HomeKit Home App General Performance Degraded Since iOS 17

[Itinj24]

I don’t know when in iOS 17 but since the new UI change, especially with lights, everything is just so out of whack. I’ve never seen this behavior before and it’s downright infuriating.

1. Lights are generally reporting the wrong color and status in the Home app from what they are presenting visually.

2. Changing a setting on the light, be it color, brightness, on/off produces a spinning wheel on the main page tile most of the time.

3. Changing any kind of setting (power/color/brightness) doesn’t stick the first time. Have to go back and tap buttons again or even multiple times.

4. Color bulbs showing as white ambiance only in automations. Can’t add a color to the automation.

5. The Home app is burning up my 15PM like nobody’s business. It’s gets got to the point where battery life is taking a huge hit.

6. Automations involving lights with color just doing whatever the heck they want. Have my porch lights set to 100% Adaptive at sunset and they’re turning completely red most of the time.

At first I thought it was an issue with Philips Hue. Today I installed some Nanoleaf string lights for my Christmas tree and they’re exhibiting the same terrible behavior. All devices up to date on latest software. (17.1.1 and 17.1(ATV’s)).

Apple can never just leave well enough alone. Have to change stuff and completely destroy it. Getting so sick of this crap. iOS is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. It’s usually the ones you want to spit out in the garage.

Lastly, since TVOS doesn’t go beyond 17.1 for the AppleTVs, I’m kind of stuck on my HomePods (17.1.1) assuming home hub duties by default because of the higher version. I’m willing to bet this is the issue. HomePods are just plain trash as Home Hubs. Always causing issues. I’m sick and tired of Apple not letting us choose our active hub. So stubborn of them. Heaven forbid we the customers are right and they’re not.

The “It’s your network” comment coming in 3-2-1…

 

[StumpyBloke]

Have you considered putting the developer beta of 17.2 on your Apple TV? I’m running that on mine, and have been for quite awhile and it’s pretty stable. And HomeKit is running, dare I say it, really well. Most of the time my Apple TV is also the main hub. On the odd occasion that the HomePod takes over, I just restart that particular HomePod and then the Apple TV always takes over.

Might be worth a try? Obviously bear in mind you can’t revert back.

 

[Itinj24]

Have you considered putting the developer beta of 17.2 on your Apple TV? I’m running that on mine, and have been for quite awhile and it’s pretty stable. And HomeKit is running, dare I say it, really well. Most of the time my Apple TV is also the main hub. On the odd occasion that the HomePod takes over, I just restart that particular HomePod and then the Apple TV always takes over.

Might be worth a try? Obviously bear in mind you can’t revert back.

That reassuring, thanks. I haven’t ever gotten into messing with betas and admittedly, I don’t even know how to go about it. Wasn’t the HomePod beta program invite only? Been trying to patiently wait for the 17.2 public release but my patience is wearing thin.

 

[StumpyBloke]

The developer beta for HomePod mini and HomePod 2 is invite only yes. But you can opt in your HomePod minis and HomePod 2 to the public beta through the home app. There is no such option for the original HomePod, you would have to find the profile for that.

However the Apple TV can be automatically enrolled within settings now. They have made it much easier.

 

[sparky672]

The “It’s your network” comment coming in 3-2-1…

Have you tried it with less than 17 bulbs yet? 🤔

 

[Itinj24]

Have you tried it with less than 17 bulbs yet? 🤔

🤦‍♂️ unbelievable. Isn’t only one active at any given time anyway? That whole thread turned into a comedy act lol. There was more to it that were edited by the mods.

 

[Itinj24]

The developer beta for HomePod mini and HomePod 2 is invite only yes. But you can opt in your HomePod minis and HomePod 2 to the public beta through the home app. There is no such option for the original HomePod, you would have to find the profile for that.

However the Apple TV can be automatically enrolled within settings now. They have made it much easier.

Ah ok, thanks. I’ll take a look into it. Before the last updates, everything was mostly fine. Other than some random hiccups where a HomePod would take over as hub for a few minutes, 99% of time it was an AppleTV and it was glorious. HomePods stunk up the joint as usual though, as a hub and as a smart speaker.

 

[hektor6tygr]

Unfortunately I'm having problems on iOS 17.2 too.
It actually started on 17.1 with the home location being changed to a different place (even though my current location dot shows I'm at my house). This led to some automations turning the lights off all of the sudden because homekit thought I wasn't home.

After upgrading to 17.2, my switchbot door lock and ikea lights frequently show as "updating..." or "No response".
I can access those fine form their respective apps.

 

[klspahr]

It is my feeling that HomeKit has been on a general decline for quite awhile now. I was a very early adopter and it was great, everything operated quickly and properly. Like my Schlage door lock it use to unlock immediately, now it takes forever sometimes - it is usually quicker to use the keypad. My temperature sensors show no response sometimes and yet the next time I check there is a reading, you just never know. Cameras sometimes take quite awhile to update to live images, forget trying to see who’s at the door because they will be gone before you see them. It’s a shame. Maybe it’s due to feature bloat, but I’d rather have it just work instead of bells and whistles.

COME ON APPLE SPEND SOME OF YOUR BILLIONS AND FIX THIS CRAP.

 

[whsbuss]

It is my feeling that HomeKit has been on a general decline for quite awhile now. I was a very early adopter and it was great, everything operated quickly and properly. Like my Schlage door lock it use to unlock immediately, now it takes forever sometimes - it is usually quicker to use the keypad. My temperature sensors show no response sometimes and yet the next time I check there is a reading, you just never know. Cameras sometimes take quite awhile to update to live images, forget trying to see who’s at the door because they will be gone before you see them. It’s a shame. Maybe it’s due to feature bloat, but I’d rather have it just work instead of bells and whistles.

COME ON APPLE SPEND SOME OF YOUR BILLIONS AND FIX THIS CRAP.

I have to agree with you. Since I updated HomeKit to the newer architecture I get delays, no responses, updating especially when interacting with my Yale smart lock. Yet sometimes it works just fine. Woefully inadequate

 

[Trevanian]

Automations on my HomePod Minis haven’t worked consistently for about a year now. My network works perfectly for everything else. Occasionally i get an error message but mostly the app seems to not notice that an automation is set to run at a time and doesn’t. I notice that with 17.2 that tapping "test this automation" mostly doesn’t work, whereas it mostly did before. I am done troubleshooting; I tried everything.

 

[whsbuss]

Automations on my HomePod Minis haven’t worked consistently for about a year now. My network works perfectly for everything else. Occasionally i get an error message but mostly the app seems to not notice that an automation is set to run at a time and doesn’t. I notice that with 17.2 that tapping "test this automation" mostly doesn’t work, whereas it mostly did before. I am done troubleshooting; I tried everything.

It’s clear Apple needs to improve HomeKit.

 

[MikeX]

It’s clear Apple needs to improve HomeKit.

I have an AppleTV with gigabit ethernet. Still home chooses the most unreliable homepod mini at the other side of the house which is far from anything. Then nothing works.

 

[whsbuss]

I have an AppleTV with gigabit ethernet. Still home chooses the most unreliable homepod mini at the other side of the house which is far from anything. Then nothing works.

I have a 1st gen AtV4k with Ethernet but no thread radio. Bluetooth LE works fine for range of devices, but the architecture is awful. When I call for good night it takes 3-7 seconds before the lights controlled by Lutron caseta hub to respond. Same command via Alexa and it’s almost instant.

 

[rob2bob]

17.2.1 has broken Home automation for me today …. lights now come on ‘when at home’ rather than ‘when not at home’ and vice versa. They have flipped the logic and yet the automation is input correctly. Grrrr

Validation by inputting a new automation with reverse logic.

 

[whsbuss]

17.2.1 has broken Home automation for me today …. lights now come on ‘when at home’ rather than ‘when not at home’ and vice versa. They have flipped the logic and yet the automation is input correctly. Grrrr

Validation by inputting a new automation with reverse logic.

Wow that’s awful. I haven’t experienced that since the update. Maybe if you remove both automations and start over it may solve the issue. Of course, after removal reboot your iPhone. I had no outgoing phone service after the update until I rebooted.

 

[rob2bob]

Wow that’s awful. I haven’t experienced that since the update. Maybe if you remove both automations and start over it may solve the issue. Of course, after removal reboot your iPhone. I had no outgoing phone service after the update until I rebooted.

Yep deleted and re-entered. Rebooted phone etc. They have built the logic back to front now!

 

[Trevanian]

Well I said I was done troubleshooting but I lied!

I saw an article saying turning off advanced data protection helped with stuck updates. Although my updates weren’t stuck, I turned it off anyway. Now all my automations work again.

Also seemed to stop the random cutting off and on of music.

Who knows why.

ADP is not something I care much about, one way or the other anyway.

 

[Itinj24]

Well I said I was done troubleshooting but I lied!

I saw an article saying turning off advanced data protection helped with stuck updates. Although my updates weren’t stuck, I turned it off anyway. Now all my automations work again.

Also seemed to stop the random cutting off and on of music.

Who knows why.

ADP is not something I care much about, one way or the other anyway.

Interesting. Thanks for the tip. I’ll give it a shot too.

 

[whsbuss]

Well I said I was done troubleshooting but I lied!

I saw an article saying turning off advanced data protection helped with stuck updates. Although my updates weren’t stuck, I turned it off anyway. Now all my automations work again.

Also seemed to stop the random cutting off and on of music.

Who knows why.

ADP is not something I care much about, one way or the other anyway.

Never had ADP turned on and I still see a degradation

 

[Itinj24]

I don’t know what the heck is going on now. I come home and I got TV’s turning on lol. They aren’t in any arriving home automations or scenes 🤦‍♂️

 

[Trevanian]

Disabling advanced data protection fixed things for about a week, then everything messed up again.

Apparently something degrades and needs refreshing and several things I have tried accomplished that refresh… but what? I have an app from my ISP with some diagnostics and it’s never shown a problem. None of my other devices have problems.

Also a soft reboot of my router doesn’t help; lately I have been able to literally pull the plug on my router and that fixes it; it takes about a week before everything messes up again.

If it isn’t the HomePods themselves it’s a network problem that only affects them, what could that be? They aren’t telling and neither is my router.

 

[whsbuss]

Disabling advanced data protection fixed things for about a week, then everything messed up again.

Apparently something degrades and needs refreshing and several things I have tried accomplished that refresh… but what? I have an app from my ISP with some diagnostics and it’s never shown a problem. None of my other devices have problems.

Also a soft reboot of my router doesn’t help; lately I have been able to literally pull the plug on my router and that fixes it; it takes about a week before everything messes up again.

If it isn’t the HomePods themselves it’s a network problem that only affects them, what could that be? They aren’t telling and neither is my router.

What happens when you reboot the HomePod or ATV? I know that whenever I get an OS update on any Apple device, I always reboot after 30 minutes. Seems to help.

 

[Trevanian]

What happens when you reboot the HomePod or ATV? I know that whenever I get an OS update on any Apple device, I always reboot after 30 minutes. Seems to help.

The only thing that happens when the HomePods are restarted is Siri voice changes to American. I like it on British. Does not solve any of their problems with automations, volume or cutting out. The problems have persisted across two different ISPs, one cable, the other DSL. My old ISP was easier to set for port forwarding but that did not last either. Everything is to date, have removed the HomePods and the Home previously and reinstalled, nothing. Currently, the only thing that helps is pulling the plug on the ISP router. I have an apartment, there should be absolutely no issues with signal strength, and if there is, my other three Apple devices don’t care.

 

[Trevanian]

I tried programming my music choices into scenes, then automating them. In addition, I converted them to shortcuts and shortcuts to add and subtract the speakers I want on and off, these have to be used in conjunction with automations or else my AirPods won’t work on the iPad that the shortcuts reside on.

Once again, I appear to have bought some time before the HomePods completely screw up again. Perhaps this time something will stick.