Thread and HomePod: HomePod Does Not Support Thread, Takes Down Thread Mesh

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Level 1

41 points

Thread and HomePod: HomePod Does Not Support Thread, Takes Down Thread Mesh

I recently added eve Smart plugs to my home, and they run on Thread. My home includes 2 HomePods, a HomePod mini, 2 iPads, an ATV4K (newest) and an iPhone 12.

All of those devices can slide into the Connected Home Hub position in the Home app. The problem is that when a HomePod is the Connected Home Hub, the Thread mesh implodes and the Thread smart devices are inoperable. The HomePod does not support thread, hence HomePod can not support HomeKit devices that run on Thread. This is not good at all, this is very, very bad, especially since HomePod is so very young and has a useful life expectancy of decades. First and foremost, the HomePod is a speaker.

Thread is the future and is deploying rapidly. HomePod does not have the hardware to support Thread. Therefore, can the HomePod be PROHIBITED from taking the Connected Home Hub position? This could be a switch in the Home app or HomePod setup. The deployment of Thread effectively obsoletes the HomePod, and prevents them from being a part of a home system. The HomePod should have a life of many years, if not decades.

Apple: Can this be fixed so the HomePod can continue to be used as a speaker, or did you just obsolete the HomePod?

Posted on Apr 6, 2022 8:14 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Diesel Author

Level 1

41 points

Jul 9, 2022 6:37 PM in response to Mac Australia

Yeah, but the OG HomePod is an excellent speaker, and just about everything EXCEPT a Thread capable Connected Home Hub. Revise the softwares/firmwares to exclude OG HomePods from the Connected Home Hub role and let people continue to use and enjoy these excellent speakers.

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Answer 2

Vancouver22

Level 8

36,703 points

Apr 27, 2022 6:36 PM in response to Diesel

Well you can submit feedback to Apple for consideration: Feedback - HomePod - Apple. They just can’t communicate with old hardware not designed to work with the newer hardware and software

As to taking them out of the equation so they don’t act as a Hub, you’d have to remove them from the home App and sign them out of your Apple ID. Or try unplugging it to see if it makes a difference. Except they aren’t much use then.

Unfortunately you can’t decide for yourself which devices act as Hubs. There is no “switch”. Mention this in your feedback submission.

The Hubs can be HomePods, iPads or Apple TV’s.

if you have Apple TV signed in to HomeKit, this also might be interfering You can see if working on that helps: In Settings - User Accounts- iCloud- Sign out, Restart ATV - Then sign back in again. It will ask you to bring your iPhone near to set up Home. Then you might see a red badge in settings to complete HomeKit set up. This resets HomeKit on that device and fixes a lot of HomeKit issues. I just did this with mine because automations weren’t working. The Apple TV was the culprit following a tvOS update.
Update all software on all devices.
Restart all HomePods. Reset the big HomePods if you want, then set them up again.
if you have an iPad , look in settings - iCloud and disable Home on that, if you don’t need it for HomeKit

Set up your HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV, or iPad as a home hub - Apple Support

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Answer 3

Diesel Author

Level 1

41 points

Apr 28, 2022 9:51 AM in response to Vancouver22

Vancouver22 wrote, "Unfortunately you can’t decide for yourself which devices act as Hubs. There is no “switch”. '

That is the key right there.

It has nothing to do with just about everything else you wrote, much of which are assertions. Indeed, new stuff can work with old stuff, it is happening all the time. And a HomePod is not old at all. I know of no reason the OS and Home app can not be revised to allow a HomePod on a THREAD network and prohibit it from being a Connected Home Hub, and retain all other functionality. All non-THREAD capable devices, including iPads, need to be prohibited from the Connected Home Hub position when THREAD is present on the network. That's what is needed, or even millions of iPads that have many years of useful life are laid to waste.

I am not aware of the so-called backend and what it entails, but when THREAD is present, only Thread capable devices are to be allowed in the Connected Home Hub position and all other devices that are hub capable but not Thread capable need to be prohibited from the Connected Home Hub position.

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Answer 4

Jun 5, 2022 2:32 PM in response to Diesel

Actually I found that the 2 original Homepods do fine and do not cause a problem in Homekit. However my Homepod Mini will

kill the Thread network when it becomes the home hub, which is as soon as it can when it is in the network. I still don't know why Apple refuses to let the users manage the Hub selection or at the very least allow you to exclude the Homepods from hub selection. The original Homepods were well designed hardware and Apple killed them with their poor software design, or lack thereof.

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Answer 5

Diesel Author

Level 1

41 points

Jun 5, 2022 4:50 PM in response to larryfromwright city

Larry, HomePods are just fine with HomeKit, a disaster when Thread is present. The older HomePod mini is not Thread capable, the newer HomePod mini is Thread capable.

The newer HomePod mini and the latest Apple 4K TV are Thread capable as Connected Home Hub. This is why we need an option to select and prohibit certain Connected Home Hub eligible devices to prevent them from being the Connected Home Hub and taking down the Thread mesh.

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Answer 6

Jun 5, 2022 6:09 PM in response to Diesel

How do I tell which HomePodMini I have? Is there a revision number? Or a purchase date etc? That would be very helpful to know. Apple ought to have a software fix to allow is to exclude them from becoming a hub at a minimum. So much for backwards compatibility.

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Answer 7

Jun 5, 2022 7:18 PM in response to Diesel

Mine is the original model as I got it about a month or so after they came out, sometime in late 2020. I will check with Apple tomorrow. I am assuming that probably the "newer version is the one that was released with "colors" last year. I will talk with Apple tomorrow about it.

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Answer 8

Jul 9, 2022 6:33 PM in response to Vancouver22

True. But they would have still sold several millions of them. There should be a software or firmware update to fix this!!

might also be a reason they discontinued the OG HomePod to get more thread compatible HomePod minis in peoples homes ready for when matter is rolled out.

also might be why a new larger HomePod is expected to be released which will have thread networking.

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Answer 9

Jul 10, 2022 4:19 PM in response to Diesel

I have the original HomePod and it does appear to be Thread compatible. I ended up doing a complete restore (Not factory reset) by connecting it to finder and using iTunes to do a software restore. Once that was done mine has worked fine since as a thread hub. I believe Thread requires a special hardware chip and therefore the original Homepods will never be thread compatible. That is probably why they are bringing out a new HomePod. The Original ones are not really useful at all for much more than a speaker (They are good at that). Handoff doesn't work to transfer music, you can't even ask Siri to play anything from your library (without an Apple Music subscription) which I will never have. Since they renamed iTunes to Music the whole music experience has gone downhill and is used primarily to push (or try and force you) to a subscription. Anyway thread has been working fine on my Homekit with an iPod mini now for about a month with none of the earlier problems I have seen with it.

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