Home.app created a new home: how to get back to my original home?

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Home.app created a new home: how to get back to my original home?

On my iOS devices (iPhone, iPad) I have a home set up with various accessories linked.

Yesterday, I was able to see it all on my mac (10.15.6) with the Home application.

Today, I opened Home and it created a new home with nothing linked.

On my iOS devices I can now see two homes, the one with all the stuff and the new one created by the Home application on catalina.

I've tried turning off iCloud for Home, then turning it back on again (either in the same session or after a reboot), but still I can't get to the original home.

It gets worse: each time I log out and log in again, I am getting a new home. So if I log in 3 times on macOS and start Home each time, then look at the list of homes in iOS, I have three new homes all titled "My Home", and the original home.

Help? How to get back access to the original home through the mac app?

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 22, 2020 8:16 AM

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Answer 1

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jtkohl Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 3, 2020 10:02 AM in response to jtkohl

To diagnose/try to fix a separate problem (Mail app issue I have open with Apple Support), I logged totally out of iCloud and logged in again, and that fixed this problem. I'm able to see just the one original Home now.

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Answer 2

jeremy_v

Community Specialist

Aug 23, 2020 9:20 AM in response to jtkohl

Good day jtkohl,

It sounds like you're seeing duplicated Homes when signing in to iCloud on your Mac. We'd like to find out what happens if you delete the duplicated Homes instead of signing out. Follow these steps to edit and remove unwanted Homes:

Set up and use the Home app

Once they're removed, start up your computer in Safe Mode:

How to use safe mode on your Mac

Then restart normally and see if it works as expected.

Have a great day!

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Answer 3

jtkohl Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 23, 2020 10:20 AM in response to jeremy_v

I reenabled iCloud for Home on my mac today. Then opening up Home, I saw my original home, but only with a few items in it...it was missing many rooms and accessories that I can see on my iPhone and iPad.

I logged out, restarted in safe mode, and opened Home app: this time it created a new home.

I could see this home and also my original home on iPhone & iPad, but on Mac I could only see the new one.

I deleted the home on Mac, which brought me back to a setup screen, so I closed the application.

Logged out of safe mode, restarted normally, logged in again, and Home still can't see the original home, so it created another new home. I can see that on Mac and iPad/iPhone.

But still no luck on Mac seeing the "real" home with all the accessories and rooms defined

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Answer 4

i_rina

Community Specialist

Aug 23, 2020 2:25 PM in response to jtkohl

jtkohl,

If you clear everything from the Mac, do duplicates remain on the iOS devices?

Once you have the iOS devices setup correctly, let's create a new user to test the issue there using these steps:

Open System Preferences > Users & Groups > click the lock if it's not unlocked already.

Click '+' in the bottom left corner > admin account, fill out the account details, then Create User.

Let us know if the Home setup duplicates after set up there.

Have a good day.

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Answer 5

jtkohl Author

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10 points

Aug 28, 2020 2:04 PM in response to i_rina

I cleaned out all the extra Homes visible through my iPad and iPhone, leaving only the one "real" home with accessories, scenes, rooms, etc.

I booted my Mac, logged in as my regular account, and opened Home app. I saw the correct name for my home (only one home defined) but with no rooms or accessories.

I created a new Mac user, then logged in as that user, then setup iCloud to handle keychain and Home only.

Then I opened the Home app as this test user.

It shows the "real" home with accessories, scenes, rooms, etc.

I logged out, and logged back into my regular Mac account.

I started the Home app, it created a new "My Home" home. That was visible on my iPhone/iPad.

I closed the Home app on the mac, deleted the newly created extra home using my iPad, then reopened Home app on the mac.

It created "My Home" again.

So it appears there is something stuck in my regular Mac account that won't link up correctly with the Home defined and saved in iCloud? How can I reset this stuck state to get Home to see the correct state, the same as what I see with iPhone/iPad?

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Answer 6

jtkohl Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 24, 2020 1:07 PM in response to i_rina

Thanks, I will try these steps at the end of the week when I have time to try more experiments.

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Home.app created a new home: how to get back to my original home?

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