HomePod and LIFX lights

I've done that in the past week but it hasn't improved. And I'm not sure what resetting the Home app would actually do anyway. The lights work with the LIFX app and the Eve app, they work by tapping the light in the Home app. It's just controlling them using Siri on the HomePod that seems to be getting worse.

I've read somewhere that having an Apple TV as the Home hub is better than using a HomePod but there seems to be no way to define which device acts as the Home hub. One HomePod seems to be automatically set as the hub with the other two devices set as standby.

If I go into the Home app and flick the lights on and off, Siri then can control them immediately, which leads me to think that there is some problem with Siri on the HomePod rather than a problem with Home itself. It's all a bit hazy with no clear information about how HomeKit actually works. Makes it hard to track down problems like this.

Yes, I've been there and done that. The way I've found to get a light back on HomeKit is to get it paired in the LIFX app, then do a power cycle of the light before trying to get it paired with HomeKit. It's a bit of hit and miss but it will work, eventually. Makes me think the LIFX light compatibility with HomeKit is tenuous. I have 5 bulbs (mini and A19) and two LED Z strips; took me a couple of hours to get them all back on both apps.

All signs are pointing to HomePods being the problem. When Siri fails to turn on or off any light, pulling the plug on the HomePod and letting it restart allows me to immediately turn lights on and off using Siri. So, given that the lights are registered in HomeKit, and Siri can’t control them, my hypothesis is either she is not able to send a message to the lights or their status is not able to be determined by the hub. Of course, I’d have to know how HomeKit actually works to identify where the system is falling down. Anyone got a good source on the architecture of HomeKit?

Don’t give up. It took me a few resets and pairing tries to get it done. Having said that, I think the LIFX HomeKit compatability is aspirational and fancy marketing rather than reality. Lights are constantly showing as offline or updating and my WiFi controller sees them as sleeping. Hit rate for Siri controlling them is probably less than 50% now, as in, she fails to switch them the first time we ask and we either have to ask her again or manually switch then through the Home app or LIFX app. The Home app seems a bit more reliable than Siri (but only marginally) and the LIFX app seems reasonably reliable (although it can sometimes show a light as disconnected or in the wrong state). The Eve app can control most Home devices as well and it’s about as reliable as the Home app. All in all I think the whole ecosystem is not built for reliability and responsiveness. Every app is trying to be the controller for everything so it’s hard to figure out how it’s supposed to work. Does Home app get its light status direct from the light and does the LIFX app do the same? Eve seems to talk to Home app but also shows up LIFX lights so is that through the Home app or direct to the LIFX app or the light itself. Terribly messy and confusing.

I think you’re onto something there. I change the light name for a re-pairing as a habit now because early on it seemed that HomeKit ‘remembered’ light names and I figured it might get confused with a new pairing with an old name. No harm trying that.