Home Reviews

i have two homepod minis and of course use the this app app. there are constant issues… “one sec”… “this is taking too long”… “hmmm something went wrong” or somesuch responses. lights work, don’t work, work. now i can’t even get a forecast w/out telling Siri my location. this always worked. now it doesn’t. and, i can’t get it to work following Siri’s wrong instructions. i guess i’ll have to spend my time searching for an answer online (not at apple).

apple makes good iphones, but it’s really a bumbling company otherwise. overpriced, behind the competition, buggy products.

stick w echo’s and Alexa. I have Echo’s near my this app minis and they’re reliable.

Today the iHome app stopped working and said to instead use the this app app. I have four leak sensors. None were imported into the Apple this app app and the iHome app did not offer an import function. I tried to install them using the QR codes and the iPhone (12 pro) camera wouldn’t recognize them, nor is there another way of getting them into Home . Do not buy iHome devices! Home has my other smart devices in it but using the this app app is a lesser experience to using the apps designed for the devices. Not buying anything other than Hue lights from now.

I have been using the this app app since it was available publicly. Overall it works well although it it has at time taken longer then ideal load times to discover devices. (If I was eating only that I would give it 3-4 starts.) However I am giving it a 1 start primarily because if of the video streaming interface, atrocious load times and often freezing/crashing Home itself. Regret switching over to Apple HomeKit device for my video streaming. I did it in order to transition all my devices to work with one app but immediately regret it.

Video services with Apple HomeKit are in Bata stage at best and needs work. Although based on other costumers review I suspect the word it spreading and consumers are starting to stay away. Meaning Apple with likely discontinue the service in normal Apple fashion resulting in the discontinued service while dropping funds to fix the existing problem. If Apple wanted to fix it these issues, they would have already fixed them.

I seriously want Home to work well. I like the simplicity and direct focus on smart this app devices. But it’s so frustratingly unreliable when it really shouldn’t be. I even spent a lot of money a “state of the art” Orbi mesh router - one that has a dedicated IoT broadcast. And still, restricting all of my smart devices to a fixed 2.5ghz band is not enough to make Home stable. Why? Like why can it auto check a connection or perform a resync. I’ll look at my devices via my router and see that every one of them is still connected, yet HomeKit says otherwise. I found that after nearly none of my 15 or so smart switches are no longer connected in HomeKit, I can reboot my router and it mostly reconnects everything. Wow. Apple, please just find some start up this app hub company, buy them out, and rebadge their reliable software as HomeKit, and call it a day. And scrap your current HomeKit.

This worked basically all right for a few years—definitely not perfect and often had to kill Home to get things to respond, but the most important lights usually worked as expected. Since the last iOS update, zero lights have been responding. I have an old iPhone with iOS 14, and Home works on that device. So I guess in theory I could leave that (battery-challenged) phone plugged in all the time to control the lights… but at that point, normal light switches seem more convenient. Shockingly bad for an app made by Apple, run on an Apple device, getting Apple OS updates.

I unfortunately have been having many issues with my iPhone and Apple products. I don’t know if it is due to my carrier Verizon or if it is a SoftwareIssue. I have been in constant contact with both Apple and Verizon. I have had numerous security breaches online bank accounts and with other apps that require logging in with a password. I do not know if it was related to HomeKit put on myBrand new TV ( Lg) it is having a lot of issues pairing and or pairing and then changing the settings on its own. I have remove Home and reinstall multiple times with the guidance of both Apple and Verizon neither will give me a definitive answer on what the issue is. The only response I get is we do not know we will look into it further and inform you of what it is. This has been ongoing for approximately two weeks. Verizon has replaced my phone with a new phone feeling that it may have been compromised. On the new phone the same issues persist and if not worse. I 100% regret switching to Apple and VerizonSeeing the neither can resolve this issue. To say it is frustratingIs the understatement of the year!

Two solid years we’ve been finagling with Home and the dozen or so this app-Kit compatible switches/outlets we have purchased. 90% of the time Home displays our devices as either “unavailable” or “updating” (although automatic app updates are up to date for both this app-Kit and the devices associated).

Great idea to make one’s this app smart with automation, but incredibly*** poor design and development on Home with this app-Kit compatible brands. Our this app is far from smart with this technology and I’d recommend the mechanical outlet timers versus this any day.

Please figure this out, Apple. You should be ashamed to have your name tied to a product like this.

This is an important part of the Apple ecosystem. You need to do better. No one pays for apple products because they are expensive inferior products to everything else on the market. They buy them because they are reliable and simple to use with everyday life. Why is my apple homekit constantly failing to properly update and constantly doesnt work (not a question, make it work). If it’s an issue on my end then you’ve already failed. If you keep adding new apple products but don’t stand behind what you’ve already made, then everything is meaningless. I can’t see myself buying the next product when the previous one was a failure.

Every time I open my app SOMETHING is showing up “No Response”. There is no 24/7 support, I work with computers for a living but need help just integrating my accessories into my Apple this app. I am shocked this is an Apple product for how unreliable and glitchy it is. If you’re device is from Apple it works beautifully but as soon as a “HomeKit enabled” foreign device is connected it’s completely hit or miss. Because of this audio cuts out on my TV randomly, lights don’t respond consistently and sometimes I can’t even lock my door when I’m away.

PLEASE give us a Tech Support feature.

the more money people sink into having an Apple this app the more they rely on the HomeKit app for their daily routines.

My Homekit recently receives tons of spam invitations. The language of these spams should be Chinese.

I tested it personally. I am able to send Homekit invitations to anyone in the world as long as I know the registered email address of his iCloud account. Whether you click accept or reject, I can confirm that the iCloud account is active - which will be more valuable to spammers - and you may get more spams in the future. So in case you receive these spam invitations, DO NOT click accept or reject, just ignore them.

This is a potential security risk for all Apple users in the world. If I can choose "only receive Homekit invitations from contacts", it will effectively prevent Homekit invitations from being abused by spammers.

this app had my wife as the owner and my Settings where set to allow access to devices. Although my settings were turned on to allow access to devices I still was not able to upgrade the devices. I wish this app would also allow you to switch accounts with out having to get rid of the other person’s account.

Been using the this app app for a while and it’s just ok. The BIGGEST pain point with it is the stupid “No Response” errors with lights and cameras. I have done everything I can think of to make sure that the “No response” error doesn’t show up but nothing works. The ONLY way to make the error disappear is to put my device in airplane mode for about 15 seconds. Also, when I’m away from my this app network and on LTE or 5G, I still get “No response” with my lights. But I can control them from the Hue app no problem.

Also, having an easier way to switch camera modes would be nice. It would be nice to not have to go into each individual camera, set it to stream and record when there are hundreds of ways to automate that. Even a this app widget that could switch camera modes would be an improvement.

My review is not posting for some reason so I guess I will just have to give someone a call. Better yet I will take this junk iPhone to the store and give it back. I am done! I uninstalled my HomeKit a couple of months back but it is still showing up in some of my settings like under my Privacy app. I have seen it in other places as well. Why would it still be showing at all if it was deleted? I am concerned about privacy issues with my phone as someone has been logging into my App Store and ITunes. But they leave no paper trace other then they cut my this app tab on in my security settings. And they use my braille settings, voiceover, etc. I have no use for thee settings and do not use them. So much for encryption!

I’m a Homekit user and have been for years now. There issues that pop up a lot with certain devices compared to others and sometimes the this app app just doesn’t function properly. I’d love it if I could run all the firmware updates within the this app app instead of having to go to each app. Also would love it if I could create my this app and my wife joined and everything looked the same including the wallpapers set. Would also like to have more information from my Homekit router in the this app app and could even manage the router more within Home . All in all it’s a good system but there’s definitely room for improvement.

Outstanding bugs:
- no secure device automation prompts if you use CarPlay. Apparently Apple has no employees on HomeKit team who get in a car and drive somewhere and expect to respond to phantom prompts to lock doors.
- devices lag in connectivity
- poor thermostat standardization. If my ecobee is in heat at 71, and ecobee auto heat/cool is enabled, and I say “turn the thermostat down one degree” the ecobee, instead of turning down to 70, throws it’s hands up in confusion, enables auto heat/cool and picks random temperatures like 66/78
- Apple Watch responsiveness on a $750 series 7 on local WiFi is still slow, at best for a ~25 device this app

UI/UX gripes
- less than sophisticated UI
- many settings are buried in odd swipes up or long presses

feature issues
- total lack of ad-hoc intelligence. Like “don’t run scene turn off outside lights today” or “turn the outsider lights on until 11”
- no concept of seasonality
- no way to override automations that lock/unlock things
- no means whatsoever to trouble shoot or debug scenes

I love the HomeKit ecosystem, and having local control and privacy integrated with my smart this app devices. But the this app app has fallen behind, and feels largely unchanged in recent iOS releases. You’re still stuck with the same half dozen icons (or fewer) in each category, wallpapers don’t sync between devices, automations can’t be grouped into folders or sorted, favorite scenes can’t be sorted, advanced conditional automations need a third party app, there’s no widget, etc. Despite all of that, this app is still one of my most used apps and I’m still happy to be in the HomeKit world. I just wish the this app app would catch up to the potential of the ecosystem.

Home gives me clarity 🧘🏼‍♀️ i’ve noticed that a lot of ppl have issues w/ their devices staying connected - an  tv might be needed to ground ur hub. it’s useless using a 📱 & Home alone, as you travel across data & wifi realms - that type of info needs a place to stash itself. for my lil family tho, Home pushes multiple  tvs + countless bluetooth accessories, multi room lighting & my fave the automated music for when we wake up, go to bed & once we arrive 🏰. after some nerdy tinkering on my behalf it now links to the our cars console for my kids personal entertainment. the scripting capabilities are also a fave of mine as we have multi-color lighting & i want to set moods for studying/family time (EG. turquoise light eases 👁 strain, as well as focus issues.) i really hope  can stop being anal retentive & let other programmable products such as cheaper wiLights that don’t cost $50 per bulb. luckily geeni products had our back 🥳

I started this app automation with Alexa and found it was not intuitive and was generally slow. I then moved to Nest / Google this app, the Nest app was good but Google this app is a confusing mess. I finally ended up swapping everything out for this app pods and went all in on HomeKit. It is reliable, intuitive, and I like that their is a consistent way to add devices. I also really like to automation tools. While the other platforms have a few more options, HomeKit just works and is easier.

When Insteon suddenly closed it’s doors leaving all us users stranded with a lot of useless devices, I searched for replacement automation devices and controllers. After buying a few for testing, I settled on Apple HomeKit as the best of the bunch. And with no regrets. HomeKit works to perfection. It is extremely easy to setup and executes commans fast.
A bit of advice: Make sure that your devices are approved for HomeKit and are labeled as such on the packages. Devices not so approved may or may not work. True that they cost a bit more, they are worth it.
Also, if you need to have remote access, you will need a hub. I’m successfully using an earlier Apple TV.

It does however need a little bit more tweaking. I recently left Google and have been doing a full conversion over to everything Apple and iOS. The this app should be revamped or at least the ability to put everything in the this app visible in one spot and sections apart. All the items listed under favorites get automatically shoved into the notification section of a pulldown this app Screen and if you remove them you have to go through each room individually. I would prefer to just have one visible this app area with all my items there, like full view of the rooms in one screen. The option to see it’s each room individually by clicking them is not intuitive and just more steps rather than having everything there visible on one screen.

I loved being able to use the this app kit widget and then some update took the widgets away so now having to find Home to turn everything on is annoying

Good app

Mr Vision on Spotify and Apple Music