18.2 bug stops complex HomeKit automations from working

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Level 1

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18.2 bug stops complex HomeKit automations from working

Do you have some HomeKit automations set up that suddenly stopped working after your Home hub (HomePod or Apple TV) updated to 18.2, and you're losing the will to live trying to diagnose what happened? It's not you, it's an insidious and obscure bug in 18.2. If you have automations that do not only set scenes or accessories but are shortcuts, and these shortcuts contain the 'Calculate' action, this action will fail. It works if you test the automation in the Home app, whether step by step in the godawful shortcut designer (with the 'play' button) or if you just tap 'Test Automation', but it silently crashes if the automation triggers normally.

I reported this bug with the Feedback app during the 18.2 beta cycle, but it nonetheless made it to the final release. It's obscure and probably doesn't affect that many people, so who knows when it'll get fixed - meanwhile the only solution I found is to downgrade a HomePod to 18.1 and hope it stays there.

HomePod mini, 18

Posted on Dec 15, 2024 6:19 AM

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Answer 1

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mvan231

Level 3

985 points

Dec 19, 2024 10:34 AM in response to mvan231

Update: turns out that the get contents of URL action causes the automation to never run. How bizarre.

For now, I've duplicated my home automations and removed the get contents of url action from the ones I want to have working

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Answer 2

Dec 18, 2024 7:32 AM in response to ako9000

not just calculations. I have some "if" actions with multiple criteria that aren't running. seems to have broken all of my automations.

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Answer 3

Jan 5, 2025 10:55 AM in response to ako9000

Same here. It's only the "Get Contents of" in Automations, not all Shortcuts. So there are workarounds possible by changing the state of a switch or a dummy switch which then kicks off another Shortcut, but I also changed my preferred Home Hub to an AppleTV that is still on 18.1.

Also sent feedback to Apple. Recommend everyone do the same whether with Feedback Assistant and/or Apple Feedback and reference FB16244934. If any of you have a Feedback ID, please post and we can add these IDs to help Apple consolidate the responses.

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Answer 4

Jan 5, 2025 1:37 PM in response to ako9000

Interesting… maybe the problem is more nuanced than I thought. It can be confusing because Personal Automations (triggered directly on your iPhone or iPad) are different from Home Automations (triggered by your Home hub, like a HomePod or Apple TV). The personal ones may work as expected since they run directly on your device with fewer background restrictions.

I just realized that some of my Get Contents of URL Shortcuts (which are still working) are not started via Home Automations but rather through Hazel or Keyboard Maestro scripts running on my home Mac. Those execute flawlessly, likely because they’re not constrained by the HomeKit environment. However, the same actions embedded in Home Automations fail for me, just like you’re experiencing.

So the temporary workaround would either be using a Home Hub that is on 18.1 OR using one of the third party automation tools to kick off from a computer that's always on.

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Answer 5

ako9000 Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 5, 2025 1:06 PM in response to CGDaveMac

Thanks a lot.

My feedback ID: FB15749665. I added your ID to my report as well.

I'd be interested to hear more about your workaround. On my side, the shortcut in question gets kicked off by a change in a state of a switch, and it still fails. But I'm not sureI understand well the difference you're making between an automation and a shortcut.

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Answer 6

Jan 11, 2025 7:01 AM in response to ako9000

I have the same issue and just submitted feedback via Feedback - Home App - Apple and also the Apple Support app. I can't see any feedback ID anywhere though, is there a better way to get them to pay attention? This issue is quite problematic for me as I use it to manage an AirBnB based on booking status.

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Answer 7

Jan 11, 2025 2:51 AM in response to ako9000

AI suggested to "Use a Mac with Xcode installed to gather logs from the Home app and analyze for errors."

Has anybody tried this? I'm stuck on Ventura (Intel Mac).

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Answer 8

ako9000 Author

Level 1

19 points

Dec 19, 2024 1:09 PM in response to mvan231

There doesn't seem to be any way around it in 18.2. In my case, I'm certain the issue is specifically with the offending action. I know that the automations trigger, and that they start running, but they silently crash when they reach the 'calculate' action. It sounds from other posts like other actions can also be affected. As soon as I switch the home hub to the HomePod mini I downgraded to 18.1, everything works normally.

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Answer 9

ako9000 Author

Level 1

19 points

Dec 19, 2024 2:28 PM in response to mvan231

It's possible to restore to an old firmware but only for a few days after a new version is released. After some time, Apple stops signing the old firmwares. By now downgrading to 18.1 is no longer possible.

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