HomeKit query - cant get into own Home!

That’s right, if they had been logged into that iMac with their main iCloud accounts then no the iMac would have o longer worked as it currently is.

I dont fully understand the intricacies of how the Apple HomeKit architecture upgrade transfers itself through a persons iCloud registered/logged in devices. I’m assuming they have agreed to the upgrade on one of their iphone and hence their iPhones can no longer accept an invite to this previous architecture. But i intend to read this article I mentioned and maybe call Apple support (despite it taking up top much of my life because I want to understand it) and will see what they say.

Hi Vancouver and thanks for the reply.

That was what I was afraid someone was going say and quite honestly also what I expected.

However the iPad Air 2 is definitely still acting as a hub at the moment (is still has the Use this iPad as Home hub setting and is showing Connected) and the home app on ipadOS 15 on that iPad is also functioning perfectly and can be used both in home and remotely as can I on my iPhone 11 Pro running ios16.4 both on their network and also remotely. I also synced this home to their home based iMac perfectly with the same separate icloud login set up as a user account and iCloud login. That's all working perfectly as expected.

The only issue is each time I try to invite the friends back into their own Home using their main icloud ID's they get the message: To accept this invitation their home needs to be upgraded first.

It's crazy!

It also begs another question:

1) Why and how on earth did they even get sent that option by Apple to upgrade their HomeKit architecture when they have never owned any HomeKit Hub capable of using it? 

They'd only ever used an old iPad Air 1 (as local Home only), not even a Air 2 until I just set that up for them ? 

It would have been quite clear from their iCloud setup (which one would assume would play some part in deciding who does or doesn’t receive the upgrade offer) that they had never owned any Apple TVs or HomePods to handle said 'upgrade' and yet Apple has still sent them the option and by doing so has very effectively locked them out of their perfectly functional existing Home entirely, requiring a new hardware purchase to proceed further.

This all just feels very wrong indeed to me on the part of Apple, something akin to: “Here’s a Big Red Button - press it to upgrade for better functionality but if you do there may be some consequences”. - so people just think 'ah what the **** just press it'!

Then Bingo! “You now need to upgrade everything you own. Many thanks for your business :-)”

I know people on here are going to say - but it was an option, they had the choice to say no. But from my experience, having said a DEFINITE NO, I can see all too well how easy it would have been to just go for it based on the rather vague messaging.

I was also under the impression that if you did agree to proceed, it would:

a) tell you all the items that required upgrading and/or would no longer work and also 

b) surely should not even allow it to commence until you had fully understood the consequences of what you were doing by for example ensuring you had taken those non-upgradeable items out of the equation by removing HomeKit/Home sync from those devices in iCloud setting, ie something similar to setting up iCloud Advanced Data Protection, which is very much more careful in ensuring you dont go and render all your devices useless. 

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks for all this detail Vancouver will see if I can find those workarounds you mentioned. But beginning to think they’ll just have to bite the bullet and get an acceptable Hub, they both have iPhones 16+ and at least one maybe two Mac’s that are Ventura capable too, the rest of their devices will I guess just be a case of bye bye so long.

No this iPad Air 2 on iOS 15

is also theirs.

When I got hold of it it seemed to have apparently not succumbed to the upgrade. can still be a homehub and home app can still administer.

I have a feeling that somehow (probably because they weren’t really using HomeKit properly) they had managed to be using multiple different signs ins.

This particular iPad was linked to Home with this third (non-personal) iCloud login. I don’t think either of their iCloud logins had been associated with it. Which is maybe what has ‘saved it’.

I was then able to continue to use that third iCloud login and build out the HomeKit home fully using it and use the Home app on it absolutely fine.

As I said, everything was working great and indeed still is working great on that iPad Air 2 (I invited my personal iCloud login into the Home and it didnt disallow me, indeed even made myself an Admin and I can still access their home remotely from my home and still administer their home).

It’s only when I try to invite/link them into it via their own iCloud accounts then we realised the problem that they cannot accept the invite on their phones runnings ios16.

They do also have an iMac running Catalina, I tested it on here invited one of them via their iCloud account and that accepted fine. So they DO have a mac at their home also able to access the Home.

Just their ios16 phones are the key things of course and neither of those will allow the invite.

Ok well I’ve removed myself from their setup and will see where we can take it from here. Saw an article published by apple re the 16.2 issue and how to potentially backtrack. Going to follow that to check results. Otherwise I’m giving in, lol, and telling them to just get Apple TV, wipe the lot and start again. Taking too much of my life up. ;-)