William Gallagher
Some iOS 15 or tvOS 15 installs are causing problems for users that rely on HomeKit Secure Video, with troubleshooting looking at setups using a HomePod as a Home Hub.
AppleInsider has not been able to reproduce this, but a number of users have been experiencing issues with HomeKit Secure Video. Most report that it is no longer recording video, but others are also saying they are having trouble getting their security cameras recognized.
It's not confined to any one camera manufacturer. There is a recurring factor that HomePods are being used as HomeKit hubs, but it's not conclusive that HomePod or HomePod mini is somehow to blame.
HomeKit Secure Video was introduced with iOS 13.2, and now with iCloud+, it lets you connect any number of cameras. Or at least it does in theory.
"[Since] updating to iOS 15, my eufy indoor cameras are no longer recording any videos," says Reddit user badmaj5 in one typical discussion. "The last recordings are from Monday before the update, so now my wife isn't happy that I always want to update the new thing when everything was working just fine before."
In this case and seemingly the majority of them, wiping devices, removing them from HomeKit, and starting over again appears to usually be the solution.
"I decided to reset everything," continued badmaj5. "First I removed all HomePods from my HomeKit and iCloud account. Then I reset the Apple TV's and did a reset and update option, and removed them from my iCloud account as well."
The user also removed all the cameras from HomeKit, before then adding back the HomePod "and making sure it showed up as a hub." Following that and the addition of cameras, more HomePods and so on, "everything is working normally again."
It's a cumbersome workaround and since there is no clear cause for it, there's also no way to be sure this fixes the issue permanently.
Apple has yet to comment on the reports.
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Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
8 Comments
I suspect it's the inherent issue with home networking. Thread is supposed to solve that issue by automatically "self-heal" connections if they lose connections. The catch is that you need to have devices with the Thread support. HomePod mini support Thread but devices like cameras and doorbells and alarms are also required to have Thread support in order to take advantage of robust networking.
My circle view cameras no longer do notifications. I couldn’t watch any recordings so switched them to stream from “stream and record” and now I can not move them back. The home UI just spins a while then gives up with no error message.
Furthermore, the home app on my MacBook shows they are set to “stream and record” but not my phone so stuff is out of sync. Trying to remove and re-add the cameras proves futile.
Hope it’s a cloud issue that will get fixed but likely going to have to put in a ticket with support. Overall, not impressed…
I’m pretty convinced that this is an issue with the Home Hub. The other day, my dad visited for the first time since I set up HomeKit Secure Video with my Logi Circle 2’s. After he left, I went to add him as a recognized face in my home but noticed that he didn’t show up there. Found this strange since I do have a lot of cameras in and around my home. Also realized I stopped receiving camera notifications sometime early that day before he showed up. I went to check recordings of my cameras to see if any camera caught his face and noticed all recordings stopped at about 1030 that morning. This couldn’t be a camera specific issue. Checked which of my devices was the active Home Hub and it was an OG HomePod. Went to reboot it and it kept saying there’s no Wi-Fi connection. A-ha! Rebooted the AppleTV it was defaulted to and then unplugged the HomePod until it finally regained connection and sure enough all the recordings for that day were restored, my dad’s face showed up in facial recognition and notifications were coming alive.
I have a Logi Circle 2 camera and 2 Eufy Pan and Tilt camera models. Before iOS 15 my Eufy cameras were intermittently recording, then they both stopped. After IOS 15 install on all my devices nothing changed, both still not recording. The LogiCircle camera has maintained recording consistently. In an attempt to fix, I simply deleted one Eufy cam from my HomeKit app, then went back to the Eufy app and relinked it back to HomeKit and all is working! I repeated the process to the second cam and all is well! I did NOT remove them from the Eufy app, only HomeKit, then used the "HomeKit Portal" in the Eufy menu to reestablish each camera.
Note I have 4 HomePod minis and 1 2021 AppleTV 4K serving as home hubs. Hopefully that helps someone!