Used to love Home, then upgraded to iOS 16 where everything was made more jumbo both in the control center version and full app. Now I have to scroll to get to some of my devices and never did previously. Just a dumb headache Apple introduced. Additionally in the full app to turn lights on/off you now have to click the little icon- clicking the rest of the (now-jumbo) device buttons opens the device sub-menu (like to adjust brightness) which is NOT what I want 99% of the time, and really does not seem intuitive to me. As a tenured software developer I am stunned that these regressive changes made it through Apple’s design process, and to me it casts some significant doubt on the Apple’s design judgement in general…
HomeKit itself is a wonderful idea: smart home, locally controlled, with privacy at the center. However HomeKit Secure Video either doesn’t work or when it does work perfectly, it’s not nearly as good as other offerings. The first (and main) issue is the lack of 24/7 recording natively. There are some HomeKit camera offerings that allow recording to an SD card, however it requires installing of the company app, which throws out all privacy. The HomeKit “event” recording ALWAYS gets the middle of the event, missing the beginning and end of all events. I’ve missed important footage because of this issue. Second issue is the max 1080p resolution. This resolution simply doesn’t cut it if you take home security seriously. Faces look like mud. License plates are unreadable. The footage is nearly unusable in any useful manner.
If HomeKit improves the video offering, it will be a much better system.
I really have had little issue with the app or devices. I have 3 homepods and 3 apple tv. The bigger issue is the homepod bridge during updates to the homepod software. This is where I’ve lost connectivity to, or the devices have become unresponsive. My work around on this has been using one of the apple tv as a hub. In the future though i will try updating the homepods one at a time.
My partner used to be able to invite and share their home settings with me so we could both control the lights within our home, but ever since we both updated to iOS 16.1.1, this feature no longer works. It used to work great, and without a hub. We never needed remote access. I'm heavily disappointed, I was really looking forward to seeing the other small bugs in the HomeKit app resolved with the release of iOS 16. Judging from other's reviews, it seems things have only gotten worse. We've basically given up on using our smart home devices until Apple addresses all of these issues.
I have used Wemo for years and the latest light switch is no longer supported by the Wemo App and now requires one to use this App. On and off work fine and room organization is ok but the greatest advantage of home automation is use of the rule capability and Homekit only seems to automate when something is manually triggered. What’s the point if I have to trigger an automation. Poorly done Apple. For example, I have outside lights come on on a schedule with Wemo - can’t do it in Homekit. I have lights automatically shut off if they were left on after a set time in the morning with Wemo - can’t do it with Homekit. What about long press activity - not with HomeKit.
For most people like me, a huge selling point of Apple products is the simplicity and the fact that it just works. This would not be the case for Apple HomeKit. This is the most absurdly time consuming smart home app ever! Why would you ever think that your average consumer would want to try to figure out programming of shortcuts and automations just to have Siri say good morning, turns on some lights, tell you the weather, go over your calendar events and maybe a few brief news stories?
I love my phone, my watch, my Apple TV, my HomePod Mini, my iPad and my MacBook Air, but after several attempts at trying to figure it all out I had to walk away from this completely frustrated and disappointed. Simplicity has won me over and I have decided to stay with the one that is EASY and just works.
When I looked at reviews for the first time today, I was surprised by all the negativity. I had had no major issues and was pretty satisfied with the app. I recently updated to iOS16 and now … what a mess! The interface is horrible! I can no longer tap on certain devices to turn them on or off. Only some of my previous automations still work, and I’m not even trusting their reliability. Swiping to get to different rooms seems to no longer be a feature and the overall layout leaves much to be desired. Soooo many other words I could have chosen that reflect my frustration, but I want to make sure this review gets posted.
Unlike others who may use the app for entry and garage doors, I currently am only using it for interior lighting. Nonetheless, it is an interference to home security.
PLEASE FIX THIS ASAP!
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like as corporate, y’all need to do some serious adjusting to the HomePod. I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining but I’m seriously having problems. When I hover my phone over my HomePod mini, it says connecting for way to long, and after waiting for super long it just never does anything. HomePod either displays “not playing” on my IPhone while it is in fact playing music. Or Siri can’t find music in my Apple library. Example- If I ask her to play fireflies, she’ll say “I can’t find Fireflies by owl city in your Apple library” meaning she knows the song ! If I could have full access through my phone as if it was a Bluetooth speaker along with the existing features that would be nice. The cord;that’s another story.
Since Matter went live my automations usually don’t run?! My husband uses Alexa but we have not changed anything. Also some Hue lights have been acting wonky like half of lights in fixture being the wrong color or not turning on, had a couple turning back on immediately when turned off, had to leave one unscrewed.
iOS 16 gave us some nice improvements, I appreciate the work. Please make it easier to set a useful automation without having to use Shortcuts and twelve other apps half of which require subscriptions, it makes my head hurt. I need my automation to not turn the lights out when my family has just turned them on and are in the middle of eating or taking photos. I want Home to automatically know I’m watching TV on the Apple TV so don’t mess with the lights in that room.
As a software engineer myself, I recommend that no one bother using the Home app [anymore] unless it’s required for a product setup, otherwise use the manufacturers app of the product you bought because it is undoubtably better than the Home app [now at least]. This was my favorite app; with iOS 16 came a changed, difficult to use with a gaudy and cumbersome layout that is both extremely difficult to use and touchy. If they don’t change it back, I am going to stop using smart house products all together. The engineers and team that oversees Apple HomeKit really have no idea what users wants and needs are out of this application.
carl rumachik
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brown35
campercore
VelocityFan
jdawnm66
xmyopic
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AustinWyatt
