Explained: The Apple hubs that control your home

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CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
01:12 What's an Apple Home Hub?
03:40 Third-party hubs and bridges
05:36 Unofficial hubs and bridges

#applehome #smarthome #homeautomation

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- Some links in this description are affiliate links and might support the channel at no additional cost to you
- This video and all of Eric Welander's channel is a production of E. Welander, LLC

[GaryHardyInc]

I've been at it with HomeKit for a while. Just moved and started with a clean HomeKit slate. THIS video (and a couple of your others) got me over the hump. Thanks Eric!

[pghatak]

Hi Eric, I'm glad you brought up this topic, and I'd like to add to this with difference between a hub and a bridge in the Apple Homekit ecosystem. As I understand, A hub is a device that acts as the central point of communication for all your Homekit devices. It also serves as an Open Thread Border Router, which allows your Thread devices to connect to the internet.

In the Apple Homekit ecosystem, the hub is always an Apple TV or a Home Pod. However, some devices from other vendors (such as Philips, Tuya, etc.) use different protocols, such as Wifi, Bluetooth, or Zigbee, to communicate with each other.
These devices require a separate device from the same vendor to act as their hub. This is called vendor-locking, meaning that you can only use devices from the same vendor together. For example, IKEA devices will only work with their own hub.

But if you want to use these devices in the Apple Homekit ecosystem, you need to connect their hub to your Apple hub. This is what we call a bridge.
A bridge is a device that links two different hubs or protocols together, so that you can control all your devices from one app or voice assistant.

And I believe, this is what MATTER is trying to solve, but it has it's own nuances?. For example, I'm missing the Adaptive lighting on Matter based ligjht-bulbs.


Agree?

[mikewolf]

2:58 this has changed in iOS 18. Now you can manually choose which device is the hub or leave it on automatic.

[mcmdm]

That…….was extremely helpful. Thank you!

[jonathanbutton]

I am in need of a thread border router...I currently have 2 older Apple TVs but they cannot act as that. I was thinking about the Apple HomePod Mini . This will work...but is wireless. I am wondering which one will work best solely as a thread border router ? The TV/music functions are not important to me.

[Jaspermoises]

Had to put all my HonePods on smart plugs so I can turn them off whenever one of them takes over as the hub rather than my TV4k. For some reason every time a HomePod takes over my automations decrease in operation speed by a factor of 2. Most infuriating thing ever that Apple can’t give us the ability to pick which hub we want in control. A simple toggle switch that says “Make this device the primary hub” on every Apple TV and HomePod would be ideal. And if they can’t do it (hard to believe) then they should at least write the logic so that the AppleTV 4K takes priority, then AppleTV HD is next AND THEN a HomPod/Mini as a “break glass in case of emergency” option.

[alastairclarke]

Another great video. Thank you for these explaners.

[stevedenruyter]

I’ve recently bought a tahoma somfy switch for my screens, do I also need to have a hub for using the screens with Siri etc?

[martyparshall]

I know this has been out for a bit but today I use an AppleTV connected by either net. However I have an old MacBook that I can’t upgrade so looking again at Mac mini since so powerful now. Would you recommend that setup?

[glenmcfarlane]

Thank you so much for this video. I love Apple’s Home Kit but have been so limited by the support by 3rd parties.

[derekluk]

I have an incident that one or more of my HomeKit Hub was having problem. It seems work perfectly but It is not. I cannot add/edit automation. I was having problem with my Schlage Encode Plus. I thought there was something wrong with the lock and I ordered a new one and it has exact problem. It took me 3 weeks or so troubleshooting and realized that it is the HomeKit Hub problem. I have 3 HomePod mini and 1 Apple TV. I factory reset them all and re-add them. Once it is done, all problem resolved.

[microsnook]

I updated my ATV and restarted it and I cannot get it to work for the home hub....I'd prefer to use apples homekit but I am having to use the Tapo not sure why its not working.

[jmoya]

This is probably one of the key points where non-tech folks usually struggle on when trying to set up a smart home, they don’t even know where to begin, what to buy and then why the need “2 hubs”.
Thankfully this is changing with Matter over Thread 🔥

[retiredfdnyhm]

Your videos are very helpful.
Having problems connecting home hubs to HomeKit. Can you give me some help. Apple couldn’t fix the problem

[michaelgore]

How few or many bridges do you NEED to run Apple home kit - is it enough with Apple TV and Phililps Hue bridge or do you also need an eva bridge for Matter etc with Homey pro ???

[dankelley]

Great video, offhand does the Aqara hub link up to the HomeKit hub, like the Lutron hub does? Is there any info as what links up to the Apple HomeKit hub? Thanks

[Chenny]

On the lastest Apple TV I’ve noticed there a ton of issues with HomeKit. I’m not sure if the device is overheating since the new one doesn’t have a fan or is it because the OS corrupted. When I check the cameras on the Apple TV the camera view does not go away I have to unplug the Apple TV to close the camera view.

[ElevationEveryWeekend]

Good info. I have four Apple TV’s (three are the current gen) and the latest HomePod. I have yet to set up Apple Home and any smart function, but have been curious how the home devices would control/manage the Smarthome with so many in the house.

[myHomeKithome]

Your spiel on the difference between a hub and a bridge I think is the best I've heard yet. Oh how Internet loves to jump on people for semantics.

[Brian-rpcv]

I just wish I could set a primary hub in case of power outages, sometimes it goes to an AppleTV and Matter accessories stop working until it switches to a HomePod. Additionally HomePod’s randomly will stop working as HomeHub’s, how do you fix that?