Hue Bridge suddenly not working with Home app

Some sort of power and/or Internet glitch last night made some of our devices offline this morning...notably our thermostats, Wyze cameras, and Philips Hue bulbs. Rebooting the router brought the thermostats back online and some of the cameras. Rebooting the other cameras brought those back online. Restarting the Hue bridge did nothing and neither did turning power to the bulbs off and on.

I could see the bulbs working fine in the Hue app, so I tried removing the bridge from the Home app and re-adding it...but could not.

1. Tried re-adding from inside the Hue app. Didn't work...but did end up removing all my "not responding" Hue lights from the Home app. Bleh.
2. Tried in Home app by going to + and "Add Accessory" and scanned the code on the bottom of the Huebridge. Didn't work.
3. Tried in Home app by going to + and "Add Accessory" and "More options" and it is scanning for some nearby accessory. Pressing the button on the Hue bridge does nothing. Spins and searches forever.
4. Did a factory reset on the Hue bridge, re-added all 7 active lights, and tried to add to Siri/Homekit from within the Hue app. Didn't work.
5. Retried steps 2 and 3 after that factory reset. Still not adding.

Saw someone else mentioned removing Matter settings under "iPhone Settings - General - Matter Networks", but I don't have anything Matter-related under General.

I spent several hours on this and tried all of the following:

• Restarted my network
• Restarted Hue Bridge
• Changing around several network settings
• Removed all Apple devices that could act as a Home Hub (several Apple TVs, HomePod Minis, and HomePods) and re-setup just one AppleTV to act as the Home Hub (you have to have at least one set up)
• Unlinked and relinked the Hue Bridge from HomeKit in the Hue app
• Removed and readded the Hue Bridge from HomeKit directly (under Home Settings)
• Made sure the Hue Bridge and all other devices were on the latest version
• Performed a full factory reset on the Hue Bridge (yes, this means you have to set all Hue devices back up from scratch)

Nothing worked! Finally, I came across this post and it solved it!!!! Thank you so much!

For anyone having issues with this - it's most likely exactly what is outlined in arsmatticus' post.

Here are more detailed steps:

• Go to HomeKit - Home Settings - Home Hubs & Bridget - Remove the Hue Bridge
• Go to Hue App - Settings - Smart home - Unlink HomeKit
• Go back to HomeKit, click Add Accessory, then select More options ...
• Make sure to select the one listed Philips Hue HomeKit that is not the one listed under OTHER MATTER ACCESSORIES as Philips Hue Bridge. If the Philips Hue HomeKit doesn't show up, you may need to press the button on top of the Hue Bridge.

• This will ask for the device code which should be on the back of the Hue Bridge:

• Enter that and then click through the rest of the steps and you should be good to go!

Could be please be more precise with your wording when you say “You have to instead tap the button on top and wait for it to appear in the list of devices (it’ll say Hue Bridge-XXXX [insert string of random numbers likely unique to your device], and then scan the code to add to HomeKit. Not as intuitive but crucial.”

The button on top of what? The big button on the physical PH bridge? The app? Which app? Apple Home? P.H.? If so, which tab/button?

What list of devices? In Apple Home or PH? Either way, where exactly are you within that app?

Thanks :-)

@arsmatticus not to be mean, but you don't have to be rude about it. Some people aren't as technically inclined. If you can't prevent yourself from being rude, then just don't answer. Be respectful of others. I'll save the colorful language I would have loved to use in this.

Read the whole thread. Tried every suggestion. Spent hours. Talked to Hue support and Apple support. After factory reset of Hue bridge, never got the third light, ie couldn't get connected to the Hue portal. Finally, found out (from another Hue support guy) that updates to my old XB6 Xfinity gateway were interfering with the communication. Went to Xfinity and exchanged the XB6 with an XB8. After reinstalling everything we have communication - Hue Portal, Homekit, Voice control with Siri. YAY!! Xfinity will swap out at no charge.

I swapped my Xfinity router to the XB8 and problem solved.

I was not able to add it your way, but here is another work around that worked for me, in case it's useful to y'all.

In the Hue app: The Matter pairing code for the Hue bridge is generated through Settings > Smart Home > "+" > Other Apps > Get Pairing Code

On the Apple Home App: + > Add accessory > More options... > My Accessory Isn't Shown Here > Enter Set Up Code > Enter code...

This allowed me to add the Hue bridge as a generic "Matter" device, but all my lights came along with it and I am able to control them from the Home App now.

Mine is working and didn’t change with the update. The only time I’ve had to add it again by pressing the top is to use the Hue App, when installing the app on a new device. There’s different generations of these bulbs and bridges so it could be that too.

Apart from using to Siri to ask the lights be turned on or off I don’t rely on it to control automations and scenes - the Hue App is far better for that. Or I end up having the wrong colours coming on. The Hue App might need an update from the App Store.

In the Hue App you should ensure it’s linked by going into Settings - Smart Home and making sure Siri & Home is enabled.

Thank you. You were a great help! There were other things I had to do (iPhone Settings - General - Matter Networks - Delete them for each hub) and log out each of my PH hubs from PHs online service and then connect to the hubs locally first.

But, you got me on the right path, and I am greatly appreciative. I have 3 hubs and 125 lights. Everything got all messed up in HomeKit when I tried swapping the PH hubs to Matter. Glad they're now back to using Zigby(sp) and everything is named and roomed correctly. Cheers!

Looking for a solution to this problem. I am not the most tech savvy (one reason I try to stay with proven tech).

I have had my Hue for many years without problem. Suddenly stops working with the HomeKit. I installed a system at another location recently and it is still working with no issue so I figured it must be hardware related. Ordered a new Hub. Got it last week and immediately ran into the problems you guys are describing. HomeKit can't find the accessory. Tried all the workarounds. No luck. Contact Hue customer support to see if maybe something has been figured out. As of 1:13 pm EST, " the problem we have with Homekit is massive. Our team is constantly working with Apple to solve this problem and provide you with the best service. "

"for the moment we are kindly asking our customers to use only app until we can solve the problem with Homekit."

"We are sorry to hear that your experience with our products is not the best at the moment, as soon as we hear about an update to resolve the problem, we will let you know. "

Sorry, but that is all I can contribute. Doesn't look like there will be a resolution anytime soon.

I got a similar response from HUE support. Two weeks into this since it first started and no answers or resolutions.

I tried everything in these threads with no success.

HUE support is blaming the Xfinity router in my case. The funny thing is that the router has not changed in years now. I think they have NO IDEA but at least they engage and respond. Apple Support no where to be found.