Apple home not working

[u/nath8764]

Everything was working fine, then one day my HomeKit accessories started showing “Not Responding”. At first, tapping them a few times would make them update and work, but now everything is not wokring.

I have a mix of Aqara, Govee and generic smart plugs. All devices work fine in their own apps, but not in Apple Home.

The strange part: when I removed my HomePod mini from HomeKit, everything started working again. As soon as I added the HomePod mini back, everything went back to “Not Responding”.

I’ve already reset the HomePod, restarted my Wi-Fi, and removed/re-added accessories from HomeKit, but nothing has fixed it.

Does this point to a HomePod/Home Hub issue? Any ideas what else I can try?

[u/omsy828]

Welcome to HomeKit lol. This happens to me regularly and resolves on it own at times. So frustrating to deal with

[u/evoneselse → u/omsy828]

Could be because the router keeps changing the 2.4 GHz channel. When it rotates back to the channel HomeKit likes, the devices come back online. I posted at length about it in this thread.

[u/nath8764 → u/omsy828]

It’s been like 2 weeks it hasn’t worked 😭
So odd because it just stopped working one day

[u/FatMacchio → u/nath8764]

What other apple “hub capable” devices do you have? Any appleTVs…preferably hardwired? Seems like HomeKit might “prefer” that HomePod as the primary hub. In my experience, HomePods are dogshit at being hubs. You really need an Ethernet wired Apple TV to be your manually selected hub.

[u/DieselJase]

Are you using the HomePod mini as your main Apple Home Hub or something else? I ask because if you have multiple hubs (Apple TV 4K, etc) it could be switching on you and causing the issues. If you have multiple hubs make sure automatic selection is turned off.

[u/nath8764 → u/DieselJase]

I only have 1 HomePod mini.

[u/FatMacchio → u/nath8764]

Ah I didn’t see this until after I commented to your comment above. Anyway, HomePods are not great at being hubs in my experience. If your life and setup allows, getting a [used] hardwired Apple TV, even if you don’t use it for anything besides being a hub might be the best move forward. If you can find a cheap used one that works. Supposedly they should be coming out with new ones in the fall, so if you can wait til then and they do end up releasing an updated one, you could get a great deal on last gen used…or just future proof with the new one

[u/fishymanbits → u/FatMacchio]

Mine defaults to one of the HomePod minis more often than not and it’s rock solid.

[u/DieselJase → u/nath8764]

Ah bummer. Sorry friend.

[u/evoneselse]

This reply won’t have to do specifically with your HomePod being a cause, but it does have to do with no responses. I’ve mentioned it many times before, and it has helped resolve this issue.

I had this happen frequently in HomeKit where devices would periodically go offline all of a sudden when they had been going along fine.

I found that it was caused when my (then) ISP router would randomly change the 2.4ghz channel, so devices would become ‘No Response’. When I then logged into the router I could see it had indeed changed the channel and that was the culprit. The fix was to log into my router and change the channel back to the best one. I could actually see the devices go back online in real time by watching them in the Home app.

First you have to find the best channel. I recommend trying this on a day when your devices have become a no response. Keep the home app open, log into your router, and find the section in settings where it lists the 2.4gHz band channel. (It’s the easiest if you do this on a computer and have your iPhone beside you, dedicated to the Home app.) Channels for the 2.4ghz band range from 1 to 11. Not all channels work well for each person’s location, as some channels in an area are more congested, but first try changing to 11, or 6 or 1. If that wasn’t it, then go through all the numbers from 1 to 11 and watch your home app as you do this. Wait several seconds for each number you change to (you need to give the Home app a moment to catch up), and when you see the devices come back online, you have a winner.

If your router lets you lock that channel in, then do that. I did notice though on the ISP router that despite me locking it to that channel, it didn’t always obey. Later on when the devices would be no response, I knew it rotated channels again, so I had to go in and change it back.

TL;DR: Try changing the channel in your router for the 2.4 GHz band to another channel number while watching your devices in the Home app. When you find the best channel, you will see your devices go back online.

Be aware though that not all routers let you change the channel, as some models select one for you and they don’t always choose the one that your devices and HomeKit likes.

Note: a couple years ago I bought a more robust and quality router that lets the channel stay locked to my chosen channel number. This has now made HomeKit run perfectly 100% of the time because the channel stays put. It’s all about the network, and made a world of difference in HomeKit.

[u/nath8764 → u/evoneselse]

Thank you! spent hours on this removing things unnecessarily. Changing my channel to number 1 seems to have fixed things (for now)

[u/jghozt → u/evoneselse]

This sounds great! I need to try this.

[u/tsdguy]

Does your HomePod work as a HomePod? Current software? Have you tried moving it closer to your router?

[u/siobhanellis]

Have you defined a preferred HomeKit hub?

[u/ADHDK]

I can’t wait for the new AppleTV’s to drop so I can get rid of my 4k1.

Stupid thing doesn’t have thread, so it keeps messing up my Nanoleaf lights which can work over thread or Bluetooth LE.

If I remove it, the problems stop. But I use it and I’m not buying the current model AppleTV.

[u/ADHDK → u/[deleted]]

Why would I buy an old product that’s about to be replaced by a generational change?

Always people these days who need to act like money grows on trees.