HomeKit Homekit without a Homekit compatible router?

[VulcanCCIT]

Hello all, I am new to this forum. I am a long time homekit user. I changed my router from a Linksys Velop to a Linksys Hydra Pro MR7500. Once I did that several home kit items dropped off line. Mainly anything all of the Meross smart plugs, and bulbs. Sylvania bulbs still work as well as the HomePods. Linksys clearly states that the router is not a Homekit router. I am finding that very few routers are. As I read about this, the homekit routers just add some security to your environment... but do you absolutely HAVE to have a homekit router for all of this to continue to work? Heaven forbid I go back to the old days and use a light switch to turn off my stuff hahahha.

I tried HomeBridge via my QNAP NAS and I cant even add that to homekit, but I read that might have something to do with IOS16...

So any insight would. be most appreciated!

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[StumpyBloke]

You absolutely do not have to have a HomeKit router. I do not. And I guarantee you most people here do not.

 

[jljue]

I use a Firewalla Gold and TP-Link Omada access points for my HomeKit network. Granted, I don’t have that many WiFi devices, but it still works fine. I prefer things on Ethernet when possible, which is why I have lots of hubs (Lutron Caseta x2, Hue x1, and Aqara x3) in my 3500sf house with a 4-car garage.

 

[VulcanCCIT]

so maybe it is just the Meross stuff? any suggestions for a smart plug ? good to know on the fact that I dont need a homekit router!

 

[StumpyBloke]

I use Meross plugs throughout my house. And they are pretty rock solid, rarely needing restarting. They are fully up-to-date because they did go through a period of continual disconnecting from Wi-Fi but that was a known issue which was resolved.

If I remember rightly, when I had my new Netgear Orbi mesh network, I had to disable the 5Ghz network to be able to get them connected as they only work on 2.4 and can be very finicky.

 

[VulcanCCIT]

ok good to know, I just had to do that to get my Honeywell Thermostats to rejoin to wifi (not homekit). How did you disable just 5g? what I did was just rename the 5G to something else and it complained that this might mess with the meshness of the mesh network.... not that meshness is a word lol

 

[StumpyBloke]

My mesh system shares the same SSID for both networks so I had to go into the settings page and literally disable the 5GHz radio temporarily. All makes and models will of course vary on how you do this.

 

[VulcanCCIT]

Same on mine, but I didnt see a way to turn off the radios, but I'll look later, my wife is ready for lunch, so I will table this for a bit....I'll respond shortly. Thank you all for the help so far!!

 

[VulcanCCIT]

Also note, I have the MEROSS devices joined to the Meross app, just not homekit. That kept failing... so I will reset one of them back to factory, turn off 5G and this router also has 6G, then try a join....

 

[CMoore515]

I have Meross stuff in my Home and no issues... No HomeKit router, either.

 

[TechnoMonk]

You don’t need a HomeKit router. I never had one, but all my devices using HomeKit work fine.

 

[ChrisA]

Hello all, I am new to this forum. I am a long time homekit user. I changed my router from a Linksys Velop to a Linksys Hydra Pro MR7500. Once I did that several home kit items dropped off line....

What is a "homekit router?" Whatever it is, you don't need it.

We don't know what your problem is. I'd suspect that you have a bunch of 2 GHz home-automation devices and you are trying to use them on a 5 GHz WiFi network. Or maybe the network ID or password changed.

The best setup is to not use Wi-Fi for home automation. it tends to be slow and unreliable. That is why they invented Thread. But Thread is still too new and I'd wait a year or two before replacing stuff moving to it

 

[snash22]

Make sure you have 2.4 Wi-Fi running with same WiFi SSID and password.

Also give it a few hours. Mine eventually figures things out.

 

[Itinj24]

What is a "homekit router?" Whatever it is, you don't need it.

We don't know what your problem is. I'd suspect that you have a bunch of 2 GHz home-automation devices and you are trying to use them on a 5 GHz WiFi network. Or maybe the network ID or password changed.

The best setup is to not use Wi-Fi for home automation. it tends to be slow and unreliable. That is why they invented Thread. But Thread is still too new and I'd wait a year or two before replacing stuff moving to it

There are only a handful of HomeKit Routers on the market. A few by eero, Linksys Velop and Amplifi Alien has one.

It was a feature announced at WWDC I think in 2020. It never gained much traction as the manufacturers that offered it at one time stopped offering it on newer router models. It’s basically a built in firewall for HomeKit devices with three options.

No Restrictions allows your HomeKit devices full access to the parent manufacturer’s cloud, Automatic switches automatically to allow the device to take firmware updates from the parent manufacturer and then there is Restrict to Home which denies any and all access of the device outside of HomeKit.

 

[VulcanCCIT]

Ok folks that did it! This Linksys does not have the ability to turn off the 5G and 6G radios...I just change the SSID temporarily on them. Factory reset all of the Meross devices, and then they joined to Homekit perfectly. Once joined, I renamed the SSIDs back, rebooted the router... all devices remained in Homekit. Thank you all for your help!

 

[emiliosic]

I have a similar problem: Changed from a HomeKit enabled LinkVelop to a new Linksys Velop without HomeKit.
After setting up the new router with the new credentials, changed the 2.4G network to WPA2 security, and now a LIFX bulb and Mysa thermostat that were set up with HomeKit stopped working.
When I try to re-pair these two devices, Apple Home says it needs a HomeKit router to pair the LIFX light bulb.
Of course it also messed up my automations.
I have to reinstall the devices without HomeKit Wi-Fi setup for it to work.
Edit: I removed the old Velop routers from HomeKit a few days back but somehow they showed up again and so HomeKit expected to be able to secure the new devices and had to disable that and then remove the routers again from HomeKit. Now it works without a HomeKit router.

 

[AZhappyjack]

so maybe it is just the Meross stuff? any suggestions for a smart plug ? good to know on the fact that I dont need a homekit router!

I have 15-20 of the VOCOlinc smart plugs... been working fine for a couple of years now...

https://www.amazon.com/VOCOlinc-Assistant-Electrical-Required-110～120V/dp/B0CSKRWDYW

 

[AZhappyjack]

My mesh system shares the same SSID for both networks so I had to go into the settings page and literally disable the 5GHz radio temporarily. All makes and models will of course vary on how you do this.

Exactly. Kind of a pain, but could not find any other way to get it done.

 

[hagjohn]

so maybe it is just the Meross stuff? any suggestions for a smart plug ? good to know on the fact that I dont need a homekit router!

As long as you are buying homekit items from Mercoss, you will not need a hub. It uses your routers Wi-Fi.

 

[Bl0ckHe1d]

I tried HomeBridge via my QNAP NAS and I cant even add that to homekit, but I read that might have something to do with IOS16...

Not sure if iOS 16 has anything to do with HomeBridge installed on your QNAP. I do not have the QNAP but have the Synology NAS and for HomeBridge to work properly I needed to install HomeBridge via Docker so can only hazard a guess that the same principal may apply to the QNAP.

Once installed on your QNAP and to manage your HomeBridge go to http://<ip of your nas>:8581 and once setup, scan the barcode on your Home App on your iPhone (assuming you have a HomeBridge app installed!).