iOS and iPadOS 16.2 Betas Overhaul Home App Architecture With Improved Performance

The iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, and macOS Ventura 13.1 betas introduce a new Home app architecture upgrade, which can be installed to upgrade performance. The architecture overhaul follows the addition of the Matter smart home standard in iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16.1.

home app architecture update
Apple ahead of the launch of iOS 16 promised a new architecture for the Home app, and said that it would be a separate update. Apple says that it brings faster, more reliable performance, especially for smart homes with a lot of smart accessories installed. Users will be able to communicate with and control connected accessories more efficiently from multiple devices at the same time with the Home app.

Updating the Home app architecture will require all Apple devices that access the home to be using the latest software, and those that aren't updated will not be able to access the HomeKit setup through the Home app. To install the architecture update, users will need to have a device running iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, or macOS Ventura 13.1, as well as the HomePod 16.2 software, which is available in a beta capacity to a limited number of testers.

Related Forum: iOS 16

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Top Rated Comments

WiiDSmoker Avatar
34 months ago
The best upgrade would be fixing Siri
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xpxp2002 Avatar
34 months ago

Hope this fixes the HomePods and hue being so bad
I just hope/wish this would allow you to exclude individual HomePods from being home hubs. Or at least set priorities. All of my Apple TVs have wired connections, but half the time the HomePods become the connected hub.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jason_G Avatar
34 months ago
Hi does anyone know if this will impact Homebridge?
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KENESS Avatar
34 months ago

They're repeaters, not hubs. You can pick which is the main one.
You've never been able to select which hub is your main hub. If you're saying it IS possible, which goes against the many thousands of comments and threads devoted specifically to wishing to be able to do exactly this, please detail the process.

Because even if you trick it into using one certain hub as main by powering them on in a certain sequence, or some other some such trick, it changes from one to another at its own (often illogical) discretion eventually anyway.

This has been a point of pain for many many users for years, myself included.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kylo83 Avatar
34 months ago
Hope this fixes the HomePods and hue being so bad
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PJWilkin Avatar
34 months ago
And I now come off the Beta train
i can’t afford to muck with the home setup, as the wife uses it, and has the normal release
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)