Apple Confirms iPad Will No Longer Be Supported as a Home Hub in iOS 16

Wednesday June 22, 2022 12:38 pm PDT by Juli Clover

The iPad will no longer be able to be used as a home hub following the launch of iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura, and the HomePod 16 software this fall, Apple confirmed today.

home app ios 16
As discovered in iOS 16 code by GeekWebGuides contributor Steve Moser, Apple says that the ‌iPad‌ will no longer be supported as a home hub. This information will be displayed in the Home app after updating to iOS 16.

A home hub is required to take advantage of features like receiving accessory notifications and allowing other people to control your home. You will not be able to view shared homes until those homes are also upgraded to the latest HomeKit. iPad will no longer be supported as a home hub.

With Apple dropping support for the ‌iPad‌ as a home hub, users will need to have a ‌HomePod‌, ‌HomePod‌ mini, or Apple TV to take advantage of features enabled by a hub, such as accessing accessories remotely with Siri and using location-based automation features.

Apple's iOS 16 preview webpage suggested that the ‌iPad‌ would not be able to be used as a home hub, but it was not confirmed until now because in the first iPadOS 16 beta, it was still possible to set an ‌iPad‌ as a home hub. "Only ‌Apple TV‌ and ‌HomePod‌ are supported as home hubs," reads the website.

The wording in the code found in the second beta of iOS 16 suggests that Apple is removing the home hub functionality from the ‌iPad‌. The company has not explained why the ‌iPad‌ will no longer function as a home hub, but it could be related to Apple's upcoming cross-platform Matter smart home standard implementation.

Coming later this year, Matter will let HomeKit users add more smart home accessories to their ‌HomeKit‌ setups.

Related Forum: iOS 16

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Top Rated Comments

0134168

57 months ago

The question is WHY. C´mon, Apple, don´t make people buy Apple TV´s or Homepods just for greed.

Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)

nutmac

57 months ago

The truth of the matter is, iPad was never reliable as a HomeKit hub. Yes, there are probably few exceptions, but it is often flaky and unresponsive. $99 for HomePod mini or $179 for Apple TV 4K (2nd gen) gets you far more dependable and capable HomeKit hub, with support for Thread.

Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)

PlayUltimate

57 months ago

The truth of the matter is, iPad was never reliable as a HomeKit hub. Yes, there are probably few exceptions, but it is often flaky and unresponsive. $99 for HomePod mini or $179 for Apple TV 4K (2nd gen) gets you far more dependable and capable HomeKit hub, with support for Thread.

I think the potential to have the iPad leave the house would be a huge problem for a home hub device. And for the price, it makes sense to use other devices.

Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)

w5jck

57 months ago

An iPad has to be turned ON and/or plugged in to currently operate as a hub. Turn it off and hub capabilty goes away, unless it is plugged in. So the iPad was always just a so-so (at best) option for a hub seeing its limitations. If Apple was not willing to make it work while OFF and unplugged, then it really wasn’t that great of an option. I think a plugged in device that is always in the home is best for a hub, but I’m sure many others will start yelling for another class action lawsuit, as usual. If you want to complain at Apple, complain about the lackluster list of accessories that work well with HomeKit and the ridiculously low number of features offered within HomeKit. Amazon is kicking their Apple core hole in the home automation market.

Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)