HomeKit Since iOS14 HomeKit Automations are unreliable

[dannys1]

Is this a common issue anyone is getting? I've got a few automations setup based on time, sunset and "if this switch turns on then do this". Unfortunately they've become completely unreliably lately, since iOS14 I believe, only working probably half of the time.

Anyone else getting this or is it unique to me?

 

[TonyC28]

I haven’t seen this but my wife did tell me there was one time the lights didn’t come on. Maybe try deleting and redoing your automations. I know that isn’t a lot of fun. Or maybe there is an issue with whatever you’re using as a hub. Have you tried restating it?

 

[StumpyBloke]

Absolutely. It’s a complete **** show. They are 100% completely unreliable.

 

[dannys1]

I haven’t seen this but my wife did tell me there was one time the lights didn’t come on. Maybe try deleting and redoing your automations. I know that isn’t a lot of fun. Or maybe there is an issue with whatever you’re using as a hub. Have you tried restating it?

I have tried that - i've even doubled up the heaters because it wasn't turning them off when it was expensive electricity - so I have a (virtual) switch which turns on and off (actually controlled by SmartThings where the real logic is happening) and then I have an automation that turns on the heaters when this switch comes and and now another one that sets a scene when this switch comes on (which also turns the heaters on - and vice versa)

Blind automation in the morning is now hit and miss yet it had worked perfectly for about a year. I had start moving all my automations over to homekit but I think i'll move them back out again now. The only reason I don't have SmartThings automating the heaters directly is because there's no Ewelink implementation like there is for Homebridge.

 

[TonyC28]

I have tried that - i've even doubled up the heaters because it wasn't turning them off when it was expensive electricity - so I have a (virtual) switch which turns on and off (actually controlled by SmartThings where the real logic is happening) and then I have an automation that turns on the heaters when this switch comes and and now another one that sets a scene when this switch comes on (which also turns the heaters on - and vice versa)

Blind automation in the morning is now hit and miss yet it had worked perfectly for about a year. I had start moving all my automations over to homekit but I think i'll move them back out again now. The only reason I don't have SmartThings automating the heaters directly is because there's no Ewelink implementation like there is for Homebridge.

That stinks. I guess all of mine are pretty simple. Turning on lights, dimming, and turning lights off.

 

[dotme]

Hate to be that guy, but I honestly haven't seen any issues so far - 49 automations, with 16 hubs, all on 14.2 (Ya, I know... 16 hubs is ridiculous but I can't turn most of them off because Apple says so).

If it's specific automations, try a simple edit and save - see if that pushes the hubs to grab good configs. If not, a deeper dive into, for example, whether the issue is specific to certain devices (BTLE vs WiFi for example) might be with considering as well.

 

[dannys1]

That stinks. I guess all of mine are pretty simple. Turning on lights, dimming, and turning lights off.

I mean on the homekit side mine is a simple as it gets. If this switch turns on , then turn on these switches.

The other one is just set to close blinds 30 mins after sunset, hasn't worked the last few nights.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I am new to HomeKit and havern’t had any problems with my automations working as they should.

 

[TonyC28]

I mean on the homekit side mine is a simple as it gets. If this switch turns on , then turn on these switches.

The other one is just set to close blinds 30 mins after sunset, hasn't worked the last few nights.

Does it help at all if you just make it a time instead of based on sunset? I had issues with that in the past.

 

[dannys1]

Does it help at all if you just make it a time instead of based on sunset? I had issues with that in the past.

Funnily enough, no not really - as in the morning it's time based.

I've deleted and recreated so lets see how we get on. I did notice automations being much more reliable when the Apple TV was the HomeKit hub and not the HomePods but even that hasn't sorted things out.

I'd assume it was the Tahoma HomeKit plugin except it works manually and via voice with no problems and i've seen automations not being reliable elsewhere.

In a way i'm glad others aren't having any issues as it's perhaps something I can fix rather than just a bug or performance I have to live - I just wondered if it was iOS14 related as prior to that it had been very robust.

 

[dannys1]

On another note - generally I find with my smart home stuff in general, i'll do a project on a weekend morning for instance, something i've come up with - elaborately program it, test it and find it all works fine. General as time goes on they just seem to stop, numerous things i've come up with i've had to re-do a few times because they don't work anymore.

 

[dannys1]

Back to say this is just as bad and I can't fix it. I notice it even more since I put my Hue dimmer switch in control of Homekit and set it to turn the light off after one minute - quite a lot of the time the turn off doesn't work. Tonight I noticed the light hadn't gone off, the blinds hadn't closed and worse of all it hadn't turned my storage heater off during the expensive electricity usage.

It's absolutely unusable for automations now - and there's no way for me to debug it and find out why!

 

[dotme]

I'm in HomeKit hell too at the moment. It all started after Hue's Adaptive Lighting firmware update, which for me was the day after Thanksgiving. Eight weeks of automations randomly not firing. I share your frustration about lack of any kind of event logging. Because you have no error log to go look at, you spend hours and hours fiddling with things that have no impact on the problem. Timed automations run fairly well, but automations triggered (by a Hue button press, door sensor, another device turning on etc) are totally hit and miss. I mean it will work one minute, and 5 minutes later, it won't... or it will but after 30-40 seconds of delay/lag.

I've rebuilt the network, smoked all hubs and added them back in, deleted and re-created automations. Nothing has fixed it. Until Apple gets serious about HomeKit and provides users with feedback on failures, we're all doomed to a life of home automation unreliability.

 

[dannys1]

I'm in HomeKit hell too at the moment. It all started after Hue's Adaptive Lighting firmware update, which for me was the day after Thanksgiving. Eight weeks of automations randomly not firing. I share your frustration about lack of any kind of event logging. Because you have no error log to go look at, you spend hours and hours fiddling with things that have no impact on the problem. Timed automations run fairly well, but automations triggered (by a Hue button press, door sensor, another device turning on etc) are totally hit and miss. I mean it will work one minute, and 5 minutes later, it won't... or it will but after 30-40 seconds of delay/lag.

I've rebuilt the network, smoked all hubs and added them back in, deleted and re-created automations. Nothing has fixed it. Until Apple gets serious about HomeKit and provides users with feedback on failures, we're all doomed to a life of home automation unreliability.

I’m trying simple tests now, turn a hue light on at a set time and off one minute later. I’ve only tried 4 tests and it’s already failed to turn it off once and one once.
I’ve tried turning IGMP off on everything as I’ve read that can be a cause but still nothing.
It seems worse when a Homepod becomes the hub instead of a wired Apple TV but I can’t stop that happening and its not been perfect under the Apple TV either.

 

[kkclstuff]

ive found similar 'irregularities' with automations since iOS14+ at one point I removed all 5 smart bulbs and motion sensor. Re-paired all, rewrote automations, only have them 'test' but not run on sensing or timing.

its really frustrating that these test or run only a few times then seem to fade away like they're 'forgotten'
very strange.

 

[jimkingwood]

Is this a common issue anyone is getting? I've got a few automations setup based on time, sunset and "if this switch turns on then do this". Unfortunately they've become completely unreliably lately, since iOS14 I believe, only working probably half of the time.

Anyone else getting this or is it unique to me?

Just another piece of the HomePod/Apple Home not-ready-for-prime-time crap pile. In fact, I'd bet a thousand-to-one that we find out some day that HomePod mini is just a 'side project' like they eventually said about Apple TV.