A while back I posted about an app I was building, and received some great feedback. It's finally on the App Store. That's my actual house on the wall in the video, running live.

The idea: scan your home once with your iPhone's LiDAR and it becomes a live 3D model, with your real Apple Home devices sitting exactly where they are in your house. Tap the lamp in the model, the real lamp turns on. Mount an iPad on the wall and it's an always-on display of your home: what's on, what's open, what needs attention, at a glance.

What makes it different: honestly, not the scan. Everybody scans now. RoomPlan gave every app the same starting point. Where the others lose you is everything after the scan: adding a device to the model means punching in X, Y, Z coordinates, and adjusting anything means fighting something that feels like a CAD tool. Configuring the apps that were supposed to simplify my smart home was harder than Apple Home itself, and I thought that was ridiculous.

So in SimpleHaven, everything after the scan is drag and drop. Drag a device out of the list and drop it where it lives. Done. Press and hold anything to move or resize it. Tap the floor and pick a color. Grab the sofa, drag it, twist two fingers to rotate it. If you can rearrange icons on a home screen, you can customize your entire house. That's what the "Simple" in SimpleHaven means, and it's exactly what made this thing brutally hard to build. Every coordinate box and settings screen I refused to show you became code that has to figure out the right answer on its own.

What it costs, plainly: the app is free. Scan your whole home, no size caps, all the editing tools, and place up to 5 devices or widgets on your model, fully working. Want more than 5? $39.99 once for everything forever: unlimited devices, unlimited homes, every future update. No subscription. I refuse to rent you your own house.

The practical stuff: works with anything in Apple Home. Everything stays on your device and your own iCloud. No account, no tracking, no server anywhere. Scanning needs a LiDAR iPhone or iPad (12 Pro and later Pro models, iPad Pro 2020+), iOS 18. There's a built-in demo home if you want to poke around before scanning anything.

I'm one person and this is version one of the vision. Tell me what's broken and what you want next. This sub already steered the last year of it.

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6774370998

https://simplehavenapp.com/

Their matter over thread thermostat announced at CES in January for a Q1 2026 release is still MIA as we enter September. Nothing but radio silence out of eve since then.

Is it dead?

Hi all,

I'm moving to Indonesia in a few months and I want to outfit my home there to the same degree as I do now.

I currently use Philips Hue but as we all know it got really expensive recently (in 2023, I got a set of 18 Ambient White GU10s for €289 - should have bought 3x).

Can anyone recommend a good HomeKit-compatible GU10 brand in SE Asia. I don't see many at all; even Aqara doesn't sell GU-10s. We thought we'd be using recessed lighting but maybe this is wrong?

Any information from HomeKit homeowners would be immensely helpful.

Terima kasih - Thank you

I use eufy cameras (native HKSV), and eufy’s detection picks up more legitimate events than HomeKit, and when both eufy and HomeKit captures the event, eufy almost always captures it earlier than HomeKit. For those using the *27 beta on their Apple hubs, has there been any improvement in camera event detection?

I just got two Big Ass Fans Haiku L series fans. I updated the firmware on both to the most recent v3.3.8.

One successfully linked to HomeKit via matter set up code on the first try.

The other fails to set up each time.

I get a pop up that says uncertified accessory and it ultimately fails. Why would one work and not the other?

EDIT: Okay, so the issue was with eero. Specifcally, the Pro 6E extender I had in my upstairs bedroom (and not the base). Rebooting the extender solved the problem and now the iDevices switchers are all back.

Leaving this here in case anyone else has the problem in the future.

——

Original post:

Running out of ideas here. 100% of my iDevices switches stopped responding to HomeKit. They are all IDEV0008HW models. Everything else HomeKit is working fine. Did I miss some arbitrary date where the ecosystem finally collapsed?

I know they stopped being made a while ago. I don’t want to rip them all out but not sure what else I can do.

So far, I’ve rebooted all hubs, signed out of iCloud, soft rebooted switches, hard rebooted switches.

I can unpair them, but once unpaired, they cannot be re-paired and do not even show as available devices for pairing after factory reset.

Any ideas appreciated.

Is this available anywhere in Canada

I did this to myself and I’m at my wits end.

I’ve got 3 nanoleaf WiFi smart bulbs I found on clearance years ago and 3 nanoleaf matter smart bulbs that I got recently.

All the bulbs WiFi and Matter were in HomeKit and working fine.

I rearranged my place yesterday, and I deleted the smart bulbs/lamps in HomeKit since I was moving lamps to different areas. I don’t know why I didn’t just rename each bulb in HomeKit to reflect its new location. I’m blaming the fact that I’d just woken up and hadn’t had my coffee.

I decided to just read all the bulbs to honekit. I added all of them to the nanoleaf app, and the three non matter WiFi bulbs added to HomeKit automatically. The Matter ones did not.

I’ve reset the matter bulbs multiple times and tried adding each bulb one by one through HomeKit, but it never gets past the “setting up” phase of adding to HomeKit before it fails.

What I’ve done/tried:

I’m on a 2.4g WiFi signal

I’ve deleted the matter bulbs from settings-general-matter devices.

I’ve unplugged the AppleTV for 10 minutes

All the bulbs iPhone and AppleTv are up to date with their firmware. The bulbs are reset and turned on each time I’ve tried adding them to HomeKit.

I’ve tried pairing the matter bulbs using the QR code, and the matter code.

I’ve tried it close to the AppleTv, close to the router and even as far away from both that I can get in my apartment.

Nothing has help it get past the “setting up” phase.

I haven’t deleted my original apartment in HomeKit, but I’ve created a new one in HomeKit and tried adding the matter bulbs there, but same results.

I’m about to throw the bulbs out the window.

Anyone have any suggestions for other things I can try.

If anyone also has suggestions for other smart bulbs brands that will work seamlessly with HomeKit, please let me know.

Random question guys, I’m currently rewiring my home for my new Ubiquiti setup and it occurred to me that I might run PoE and try to use that to power the rumored HomePads using an adapter from RJ45 to USB C.

Am I crazy?

We just released a major update to Notify! that enables Live Activity Support.

Why does this matter to HomeKit users? With Shortcuts you can have any HomeKit personal automation start a Live Activity that lives on your lock screen. For me, its the missing piece of any home automation app.

Live Activities can display a progress bar, percentage, timer, or status. So, you can have a personal automation start a Live Activity when you turn the sprinklers on and have a running timer. Or, get a Live Activity on your screen when your garage door is open.

​​For the more adventurous we have an API built: https://getnotifyapp.com/apidocs/ (Or use a more user friendly Builder https://getnotifyapp.com/builder/) that you can start a Live Activity from an external source and have a button that can tigger a shortcut for a Home automation (such as turn on a light or flip the power of an outlet)

Notify is completely free as a service to the community that has given me so much! Thank you!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/notify-web-script-notifier/id6748288936

This seems to be a very common issue, but my situation seems to be maybe a little more specific than others? Hardware is Schlage Encode Plus and Apple TV 4th Gen 1080 version (~2015) as Home Hub, iPhone 17 if that matters. Everything is up to date on firmware/software.

Installed the SEP a couple of weeks ago and first attempt, I set up the lock through the Schlage App and finally figured out how to add it to Apple Home with the "Works With" section of the menu (which took me a second). After getting added to Apple Home, everything worked great at first; HomeKey worked, lock worked in Apple Home, lock worked in the Schlage App. Then it went unresponsive in Apple Home, but continued to work through the Schlage app and HomeKey worked. I then factory reset and tried setting up through Apple Home only. Camera from Apple Home would never scan the HomeKit QR or anything, but tapping the lock would get it to start pairing. This barely worked, but mostly got there, albeit could never get it to let me add user codes. But then HomeKey wouldn't work. So I started over again, again trying through Apple Home only. Same thing, not able to add user codes, but the lock finally added and HomeKey worked. But then about 20 minutes later, unresponsive again and also could never get it to add the Schlage app after setting up in HomeKit. Read that maybe having spaces in your WiFi name could cause problems for the lock, so renamed my wifi to get rid of spaces and factory reset the lock again, trying back to my original way of starting with the Schlage App and then adding it to Apple Home from there (which seemed to work the best). Everything went smoothly, lock added to Schlage app and worked great, could add user codes in Schlage, pushed over into Apple Home just fine (albeit it still yelled at me about not being able to add user codes in AH) and HomeKey worked, but then sure enough about 20 minutes later, the lock went unresponsive in Apple Home only. Still works in Schlage App, still works with HomeKey.

I've reset/re-added the lock so many times, I'm probably missing some details of my journey, but the long and the short of it, my consistent outcome is that the lock will work perfectly from the Schlage App, HomeKey works flawlessly on my iPhone and Watch, but every time it'll eventually (and quickly) go unresponsive in Apple Home only. I've taken out the batteries and rebooted numerous times and that never works for reconnecting. The only other weird piece of context is that when I go into the Lock Settings in the Schlage App, if I try to test the wifi settings, it'll fail at connecting to the wifi. It'll remain connected from it's original connection, but in re-testing it, it'll fail every time.

Is the easy answer that I need to buy a newer ATV or HomePod Mini to have Thread? I know, I know, WiFi will kill the batteries and I would love to be on Thread, but just trying to see if I can make things work with what I have, because it seems like it should work.

The device is installed, added to Meross app, firmware updated, etc. All good there.

I get an error stating the “Garage Door Failed to Close” and it suggest I change the Closing Time. I have tried every time available plus the custom options. Nothing fixes it. I can’t seem to get the dam error to go away or it to show the correct state.

I appreciate your help!

Ever since updating to iOS 26.6.1 I am getting this pop up every time I open the home app. I have the recognize voice setting turned off. Whether I hit not now or continue nothing changes. It goes to the next screen asking me to pick adaptive lighting which I also skip.

I use the living room Apple TV as the hub. App keeps saying it needs an update and I can’t make it the hub anymore. It is up to date.

Anyone else experiencing these issues? How do I get it to stop asking to recognize my voice?

Hi r/HomeKit,

Home Widget 1.10 is now available on the App Store. The current public build is 1.10.1.

During the small beta, testers sent detailed feedback and many of the final refinements came directly from it. Thank you to everyone who took part.

I build Home Widget on my own. For version 1.10, I focused on shortening the distance between seeing what is happening at home and acting on it.

The biggest addition is Camera Mosaic. One tap from a Home Screen or Lock Screen widget, or from Control Center, opens your HomeKit cameras in one view. You can show all cameras or only the ones you choose, then tap any camera to open it and zoom on iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.

Other changes in 1.10 include:

• thermostat controls directly from widgets;
• whole-room actions to switch, dim or colour every light together;
• a Control Center control that opens the mosaic or a camera of your choice;
• Clear, Tinted and Liquid Glass widget appearances designed for iOS 26;
• more control over what each item displays, including text-only layouts, a configurable secondary line and iCloud-synced icon choices;
• every reading exposed by multi-sensor Matter accessories;
• better Lock Screen panels, interaction feedback and stability;
• eleven new languages, plus a native-speaker review of every existing translation.

Existing Lifetime Premium purchases remain lifetime purchases: there is no forced switch to a subscription.

Download Home Widget on the App Store

I do not have a marketing team behind the app, so thoughtful feedback, an App Store rating or recommending it to another HomeKit user makes a very concrete difference.

If you try the Camera Mosaic, I would especially like to know whether one global camera selection is enough for you, or whether choosing a different set of cameras for each action or widget would be useful.

I’ll be here to answer questions and collect feedback.

I have many accessories that show on my iPad mostly from home assistant but only my Aqara doorbell camera shows on Apple TV which is the home hub. Should they show or am I doing something wrong.

Hey,

I want to connect my two Bilresa switches from ikea to my Apple Home but I ran in to the same issue over and over again.

1. I put batteries in the switch
   
2. The orange led starts to impulse light
   
3. I go into the apple home app and click add new device
   
4. I scan the Matter QR-Code, provided on the back of the switch
   
5. but then I always get the same answer: pairing failed

I have two switches and both return the same paring failed, answer.

I have restarted my HomePod minis, I have waited for a long time before making a new connection and have deleted all matter devices in my iPhones settings.

other matter devices seem to run fine but these won’t connect.

Anyone has a solution for this?

Thank you ✌️

I’m not sure if this is a correct place to ask this question, but their subreddit hasn’t been active for a couple years.

I guess my question is, if anybody knows how to reach Moonside support as I ordered a lamp from them on 20th of July apart from one email on 27th of July, I have heard nothing from them. And no lamp, of course.

I wrote to them even to cancel the order to no avail.

So if anyone knows another way of reaching them, I would be very happy and grateful.

Thank you in advance.

I’m planning to order 13 Smartwings roller shades with Matter motors and add them to Apple Home. Most of them will run through the same morning and evening scenes. My concern is what happens if 12 move and one misses the command. Will Apple Home show that the shade is still at the wrong position, mark it as not responding, or give any kind of warning? With 13 shades, checking every accessory tile after each scene would get old fast. Does Apple Home catch this, or would I need a third-party HomeKit app?

I have a use case for a touch-less switch and wondering if anyone has implemented anything like that? Basically wave your hand in front of this sensor to turn something on and wave again to turn it off. It needs to specifically be the wave action and not just the standard broad motion sensing.

I’m wondering if it’s possible to narrow the FOV and shorten the range of a normal motion sensor to achieve this?

If anyone has implemented something like this, I’d love to hear what you did.