Can I replace an iPad acting as a Homekit hub with HA? As in, I’d like to be able to control my devices with HA from outside my LAN.
I do have HK integration and can control my devices via the Home app and Siri but only within my LAN.
To have a WAN access, I need to have my iPad charged and online which is not always the case.
Is this possible? It’s not necessary as I can always control with the HA app, but it would be nice. I thought that HA Controller integration does this but it doesn’t. Thanks.
Apple requires a HomeKit hub for outside your home access through HomeKit. This means an iPad, AppleTV, or HomePod. I don’t remember exactly what the minimum version requirements are except the AppleTV needs to be a 3 or newer.
Like you said though, you can always use HA with external access to control your devices.
Looks like @Stooovie you are doing the “HomeKit Bridge” integration at the moment, where the integration would introduce things from HA into your HomeKit setup, where iPad being the hub at the moment.
This works locally and remotely using the Apple’s Home app and Siri, as long as the hub (iPad or AppleTV, from Apple) is charged and stays at home and online all the time.
Now, if you want to remove your iPad from the equation and still control everything remotely, then the “HomeKit Bridge” integration you have today is not what you want, because it would still rely on your iPad.
You would want to use the “HomeKit Device” integration instead, to bring HomeKit-only devices directly into your HA setup.
Doing so, devices that was on HA would still in HA, devices that are HomeKit-protocol-only would now talk to and see your HA as the HomeKit hub. You will have to then (1) setup your HA to be accessible from outside your LAN, (2) use the HA iOS app instead and set it up per #1, (3) give up the home app, (4) live with the fact that Siri might not function as tightly as before, and (5) can remove your iPad from the equation.
Does it make sense? I have links on both of the integrations here.
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EDIT: They have changed the names of both of the integrations for clarity. So I’m changing the names here accordingly.
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EDIT 2: It is possible to use HomeKit Bridge and HomeKit Device integrations at the same time. In short you first bring HomeKit devices (bulbs, sensors) into HA using the HomeKit Device integration. And then you can expose all your HA setups to Apple’s i-devices via the HomeKit Bridge integration.
The HomeKit Controller would be able to act (or fake) as an HomeKit hub.
However, while the HA with HomeKit Controller is indeed a HomeKit hub, it is not a hub that Apple would recognize or know.
So to be clear: yes, HA can fake as an HomeKit hub, but no, HA cannot be faking as a 100% replica of Apple’s hardware.
… since the HA-as-HomeKit-hub setup is not an Apple device that ties to your Apple account, you would not be able to control things via Apple’s Home app, which ties to your Apple account also, remotely.
However you could control tings via the iOS HA app, locally and remotely.
So, I suppose keeping the Home app / Siri setup is taking a higher priority than removing the iPad, correct?
If you recall, the OP also wants to remove the iPad (as a HomeKit hub) from the equation, while being able to control devices remotely. That was the intension to begin with.
Using both homekit controller and homekit together is possible, yes. OP has confirmed that he is using the same setup already.
Yes, I’d like to be able to remove the iPad from the setup as it seems a bit awkward, but it’s not necessary. I was just wondering if I was doing something wrong.
I’m in the exact same position now you were last year and my solution is probably buying an HomePod Mini for 70 € and using it as the HomeKit hub instead of the iPad (which I sometimes take with me).
