iPadOS 16, no more iPad as a hub for the smart home

Con iPadOS 16 you will no longer be able to use the your iPad as a hub for the smart home: Apple will leave support to manage HomeKit only for HomePod, HomePod mini e Apple TV. If you want to control your smart home, where to buy one of these products.

iPadOS 16, no more support for iPad as a hub for the smart home

Apple has made official something that many experts had already found by analyzing the code of iPadOS 16, the new update that Apple announced at WWDC 2022 and that should arrive on all Apple tablets this fall.

In the Home app, after the update you will find a message that reads: “A home hub device is required to take advantage of features such as receiving notifications from accessories and allowing other people to control your home. You won’t be able to see shared homes until those homes are updated with the latest HomeKit. IPads will no longer be supported as home hubs ”.

Given the end of iPad support as a home hub, you will need to use a HomePod device (or HomePod mini) or an Apple TV for abilitate the control of your home even remotely via Siri.

Apple had announced this change on the iPadOS preview site explaining that “Only Apple TV and HomePod will be supported as a hub”. And in codice of the operating system eIndeed, analysts found that Apple removed the lines that allowed this connection.

One of the explanations for this end of support could lie in the introduction of the Matter standard, which should allow the management of many more accessories for the smart home. iPad already had to be charging to function as a hub, which many customers found inconvenient. Apple may have decided to remove support to avoid updating devices that weren’t as stable as those designed specifically for the smart home.

But this decision also allows to push for the purchase of Apple TV and HomePod, on which it seems that Apple wants to return to invest.