What Is An Apple 'Home Hub'

While Apple’s HomeKit has been designed to be easily accessible to the ordinary iPhone user, not having a device providing permanent control results in significant limitations to what can be done with the platform.

A simple HomeKit setup can be run just from that one device, but you won’t be able to access anything when off the local Wi-Fi network, and you won’t be able to take advantage of most of the automation functionality that HomeKit provides.

To get the best HomeKit experience, you need what Apple calls a ‘home hub’. This is an apple device that has a permanent presence in the home and can act as the base to ensure all your smart stuff works together.

Is this a smart home hub?

Essentially, yes. Home automation platforms generally require some sort of hub device to provide a central command and control function for your smart devices, especially if you want to avoid relying on third party internet services to run your smart home. Apple uses home hubs to provide this function for HomeKit.

There are clear benefits to running a local hub like this, notably in terms of reliability, performance, and security. Having the bulk of your smart home communications not leave your private network keeps the exposure to bad actors to a minimum and leaves you less exposed to internet outages.

With Apple’s well publicized focus on security and privacy it stands to reason they would take this approach with their own smart home platform. Certified HomeKit accessories always communicate locally whether it’s to a personal device, like an iPhone, or a Home Hub. This is why having a hub is far more reliable and performant.

What Does a Home Hub do?

The home hub acts as a coordination center for your HomeKit Home and provides a number of key benefits:

1. It provides for permanent connectivity to Bluetooth devices, like sensors.

2. It ensures all automation rules are run at the correct time, whether anyone is home or not.

3. It provides for remote access to the Home for any authorized Home member, including control, notifications, and camera feeds.

4. It enables HomeKit Secure Video processing and recording from security cameras.

5. Certain models act as a Thread Border Router enabling communication with Thread accessories.

Can You Have Multiple HomeKit hubs?

You can have more than one home hub in a Home which provides redundancy in case one goes offline, and each hub will also act as a Bluetooth repeater for any HomeKit Bluetooth devices.

Your hub enabled devices will elect one of the configured hubs to be the primary, and the others will go into standby mode. If the primary becomes unavailable for any reason, one of the others will be selected as the primary and take over. I have found that things can get a bit flaky during this time with automations running slowly and some devices taking longer to update in the Home app. This can last about a day or so at worst.

You can check the status of your home hubs in the Home app.

1. Tap the three dots icon in the top right corner.

2. Tap on Home Settings.

3. Scroll down and tap Home Hubs and Bridges.

The page that opens will list any home hubs first, and then any third-party hubs you may have below them under the heading Bridges. In the list of home hubs, each will show its status as Connected (the primary) or Standby (backups).

Checking your home hubs in the Home app

Can I Select The Hub I Want To Use?

Unfortunately, in the interests of ease-of-use Apple has made the selection of the primary hub completely automated. This is not always ideal as there are some cases where we might want to use an ethernet connected Apple TV has the primary for better data throughput. If you have a large number of HomeKit Secure Video cameras, for instance, the Apple TV will likely provide a smoother experience.

How the active (aka Connected) hub is chosen is a black box, and sometimes it seems illogical and arbitrary. One key criteria we can control, however, is the OS version. The algorithm will prioritize devices on the highest OS version available, so we can set our own priority home hubs by selectively updating the OS on the ones we prefer to be active. You’ll need to ensure that automatic updates for HomePods are turned off. This is found in the Home app under:

Home Settings > Software Update > HomePod

Doing this does mean that the Home app will constantly nag you that there are updates available, but it’s worth if it avoids certain issues we may be having by using the wrong one.

If you need to force the issue quickly and you have already updated everything, turn off all the other hubs leaving only the desired one online. Wait for that device to be shown as Connected in the Home app, and then turn the rest back on. So long as nothing else changes (or has a higher OS version) that device will retain Connected status, but after updates or power outages you may have to do this again.

What Apple Devices can be Home Hubs?

Thankfully Apple doesn’t require a specific hub device to be purchased, but rather supports hub functionality on three existing device types.

HomePod

The HomePod is, first and foremost, and good quality room speaker. But given its in-home presence and on-board Siri capabilities it makes sense for it to be a home hub as well. Importantly, it is currently the only way to have Siri available for HomeKit control without needing to use a personal device. Like Alexa and Google, having ubiquitous voice control over your smart devices is a key feature of any smart home. While Siri may not do as well at general knowledge queries, it is actually very capable in the home automation niche thanks to its deep integration with HomeKit.

HomePods will automatically be enabled as a Home Hub if installed in a HomeKit Home, and indeed this can’t be turned off (another hub can be the primary though).

HomePod Mini (Thread enabled)

The newer mini device has all of the same capabilities as the original HomePod, although doesn’t pack the same audio chops as it’s bigger brother. It makes up for this with some new tech, though, in the form of Apple’s U1 ultra-wideband positional chip, and a Thread radio which will enable the connection of a new range of smart home devices to HomeKit.

As with the original HomePod, the mini will automatically become a home hub when added to a HomeKit home.

Apple TV 4K (Thread Enabled)

The Apple TV is a common accessory in Apple households and can be set to act as a Home Hub as well. Being more ubiquitous, and cheaper, than the HomePod makes it a good candidate for new HomeKit users. As of iOS17 TVOS now automatically becomes a home hub just like HomePods. Unfortunately, that removes one of the few ways we had of controlling which devices would be hubs.

iPad

Apple used to support the use of an iPad as a home hub, but this was not the best option for aesthetic and performance reasons, so it has now been discontinued in this role.

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David Mead

David Mead is an IT infrastructure professional with over 20 years of experience across a wide range of hardware and software solutions. David holds numerous IT certifications and has dedicated himself to helping others with technology throughout his career.