Resolved Two homes, same subnet?

[Feek]

I have my home set up in HomeKit, all split into rooms, multiple devices in each room.

My daughter is moving into a flat which is so close that I have a couple of P2P modules set up so she can piggy back off our internet, access my Plex server, etc etc. She'll be on the same subnet as us.

Can she set up another 'Home' within HomeKit and will it all work? I'll remove her devices (AppleTV, HomePod mini and some Hue bulbs) from the existing home and have her add them within hers. I don't want our home trying to use her ATV or HomePod mini as a hub (and vice versa) and will be removing her from the existing home.

I can then remove her from our home because she doesn't need to be able to see things like the Ring doorbell from the flat.

Does anyone know if this'll work? Two homes on the same subnet within HomeKit?

Thanks.

 

[malcky77]

I have not tried this and my gut tells me that it will NOT work, however my gut also tells me ‘why wouldn’t it work’ as long as your devices are NOT on the same network as your daughters devices.
So you would have to go into your router settings and create a new ‘LAN’ network…for example if your stuff is on a 10.0.1.??? network, put your daughters things on a 10.0.2.??? network.
You’d probably have to create a firewall rule to allow 10.0.2.??? Devices access to the internet.

I’m assuming these PTP modules are connected via Ethernet to your network switch, and then your daughter PTP module will connect to a network switch at her house too?

 

[Feek]

I have not tried this and my gut tells me that it will NOT work, however my gut also tells me ‘why wouldn’t it work’ as long as your devices are NOT on the same network as your daughters devices.

Yeah, I know how to create a second subnet/lan but I really don't want to do that which is why I'm asking whether it'll all work on the same subnet.

One Ubiquiti NanoStation module is attached to my switch, the remote one is attached to a switch and a Ubiquiti WiFi AP at her end. All the Ads have the same SSID and so roaming between them is utterly seamless.

I suppose I could be overthinking this, if I just remove her ATV and her HomePod mini as accessories from our home, they'll still work for her. Does she actually need a Home setting up? Probably not.

 

[malcky77]

I guess there is only one way to find out if it works….I would start by removing any of your daughters devices/accessories from your ‘home’ setup and then create a new home using a different name and then add the devices/accessories to the new ‘home’ created.

As to wether creating a new home stops the home app trying to use her ATV or HomePods as hubs for your home too is unknown….but what I think will still be allowed to happen due to you using the same subnet for everyone, will be when/if you or your daughter use and iOS device control centre to select a AirPlay destination…I think AirPlay will see all possible AirPlay items between the two houses????

 

[Feek]

I've decided I'm over complicating this. She doesn't need a Home setting up in HomeKit. I've simply removed her devices from our home and she'll just use them without linking them to a home. Once she's completely moved in, I'll just remove her from our home so she doesn't get bothered by notifications.

 

[Feek]

Just as a final update to this.

Despite removing the two Apple devices from my home, they kept reappearing. The solution was for her to set up a home in HomeKit, reset the HomePod mini completely and for her to join it to her home. The AppleTV also had to be completely factory reset and then when she signed in with her iCloud account, it connected to her home within HomeKit.

So the answer is yes, it is possible to have two different homes configured on the same subnet and for the devices to connect to their own homes without any problem. The devices may need a full reset so that they completely forget about the old home but once done, it all works well.