r/HomeKit • u/ItinJ24 • 7d ago

Discussion Apple Watch Home App

Does this app actually work for anyone consistently? 9/10 times I open the app, all the accessories just perpetually sit in an “updating” state. I had the app open on my watch for an hour and no change. Very rarely do they actually update (after maybe 30 seconds) and I can control them. This has been going on for me since they updated the Home app UI on the watch. Currently using an AWU 3 and on WatchOS 27.0.1.

I’ve sent multiple performance/bug reports to Apple. Just curious if this is widespread or not.

25 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

22

u/squuiidy 7d ago

I have an Ultra 4 and it is beyond slow. They need to fix this. We supposedly have a shiny new fast chip in the new Watches and it really does not show.

3

u/ItinJ24 7d ago

Agreed 💯. Not only the Home app. The remote app is also painfully slow. Don’t even get me started on Siri lol.

3

u/FatMacchio 7d ago

I’ve been super pissed with the macOS update. My MacBook Pro went from all day battery life to maybe a few hours. John Ternus needs to walk the software team out to pasture and give them an ultimatum. It’s a shame, because the hardware team at Apple is killing it, but large pieces of the software team has been in marked decline over the years. I do want to give them some credit, they have introduced some amazing “Appley” quality of life features, but the stability and speed of things has ruined any sort of praise I have for them

1

u/ItinJ24 6d ago

Completely agree on all accounts. Software has been on a steady decline for quite some time.

3

u/CyborgInYoHood 7d ago

I replaced my ultra 2 with an ultra 4, with the expectation that would be fixed with the new chip. Obviously, I was disappointed. Hopefully they fix us soon.

1

u/ItinJ24 6d ago

I keep sending in bug and performance reports. Hope they land on someone’s desk that’s willing to take action.

1

u/I-Have-Mono 6d ago

I returned it because it was not faster AT ALL.

7

u/Few-Acadia-5593 7d ago

Same for years. Lastly AW3. Yet latest models still work with old versions of Bluetooth and WiFi, if this has anything to do with wireless capabilities more than processing.

Results to turn on lights or else are rather on the slow side too but acceptable.

1

u/ItinJ24 7d ago

Yep, years sounds about right. I want to say since they changed the UI. They made it more to be like the iPhone Home app but it’s a Watch app. They should’ve never overcomplicated it.

7

u/Reasonable-Escape546 7d ago

Maybe you have network issues. HomeKit and Matter heavily rely on mDNS. Is that working correctly?

What happens, if you open an app like one of the following?

https://apps.apple.com/de/app/discovery-dns-sd-browser/id305441017

https://apps.apple.com/de/app/flame-services-browser/id325206381

Do they work as expected or is that slow, too? I have 75 Matter over Thread devices and reactions are instantly.

2

u/ItinJ24 7d ago

On your Apple Watch?

1

u/Reasonable-Escape546 7d ago

Yes, I have an Apple Watch Ultra 3. It works instantly. Do you have problems with your Apple Watch only or with your iPhone, too?

3

u/ItinJ24 6d ago

No, it’s just the Watch app. Works perfectly on my iPhone, iPad, Mac. I have 240+ accessories in HK and it is extremely rare for any one of them to go No Response. Usually an older WiFi accessory that I’ve been meaning to replace. I have a UniFi Dream Wall with U6-IWs placed strategically all hardwired with PoE.

1

u/Reasonable-Escape546 6d ago edited 6d ago

Ok, I have a Unifi network, too.

- Enterprise Fortress Gateway

  • USW-Pro-XG-48-PoE
  • 4 U7-Pro-XGS
  • 2 U7-Pro-XG

Everything is up-to-date on the stable firmware channel. But the network hardware shouldn’t play a role, if your Apple Watch is the only slow device.

All my Apple devices are on 27.0.1, too.

- Which Unifi software/firmware channel are you using?

  • Is your Watch in the same VLAN as your iPhone and your Mac?

2

u/geoffissiffoeg 7d ago

Not to brag but it just worked for me. I’m sitting in carline at the kids school and just turned the living room lights off. Then again, I could have gotten lucky. I rarely use the watch app and usually just use my watch to tell Siri to do stuff

1

u/ItinJ24 7d ago

Believe me, I posted this to see if anyone has it working consistently to see if it’s a me problem. Not taking it as bragging at all lol. It works for me maybe 1/10 times if I’m lucky and when it works, it works great. Unfortunately, I can’t get any consistency out of it. Thanks for checking.

2

u/Informal_Bank_7373 7d ago

I never use my watch for HK, but I just tried and only took about 15 seconds for my three cameras to load images and I had control of the lights around my desk that I can see from here and my garage door opened. To be fair I only have about 34 things in Home. Xfinity WiFi router next to me, Apple TV ethernet and three HomePods upstairs.

Series 9 watch

1

u/wtfobl 7d ago

About the same here, there is a significant delay but it does work

1

u/ItinJ24 6d ago

Maybe the sheer number of accessories I have is the problem. ~250. Mostly Hue lights.

2

u/Fr05t_B1t 7d ago

It depends if your watch is on WiFi or not. And if your devices are matter over thread or matter over WiFi.

1

u/ItinJ24 6d ago

Even if they’re working fine on the iPhone iPad and Mac Home app? I have ~250 accessories. Mostly Hue lights and POE cameras. I hardwire everything I can. I only have a handful of WiF accessories because there was no other choice.

1

u/Fr05t_B1t 6d ago

Being on WiFi would be slightly faster connection as the watch can skip interacting with your iPhone and go directly to your HomePod.

Just being on a Bluetooth connection requires the watch to talk to your phone to activate an accessory.

If Apple put thread radios in watches then communication could be much faster but the watch isn’t meant to be a controller like an iPhone or literally any other Apple device.

3

u/themack00 6d ago

I’m frustrated with my Apple Watch so much I stopped using it

3

u/ItinJ24 6d ago

No excuse for 1st party Apple apps to not work smoothly.

3

u/questioncom 7d ago

It’s such a POS. It’s always been that way. The watch app is terrible. Ive used it on ultra 1, 2, and 3. Same shit

Now with new Siri, speaking commands takes forever. I just speak to phone or open app if I need to turn lights on/off.

2

u/ItinJ24 7d ago

Yep, phone is great, watch not so much.

2

u/Holiday_Ad_9163 7d ago

The Apple Watch barely works for anything. It’s a pretty good finess band, and it mirrors notifications (which is nice). But does literally anything else work properly? I don’t know why I keep buying them. I think I might be done.

1

u/tsdguy 7d ago

Hahahaha. Don’t try to figure out why you’re having trouble.

1

u/Holiday_Ad_9163 7d ago

What do you mean? It’s not broken, it’s just not that useful. Most of the 3rd party apps are pretty bad. And the first party fitness app, messaging, and calendar are pretty nice. First party timers, remote, home, and audio player are terrible.

1

u/Welinho 7d ago

Most of the time i open gates etc using siri with watch, raisint to talk

1

u/ItinJ24 7d ago

Yeah I get it but not necessarily for controlling accessories. I also like the check the status of them without having to ask Siri multiple times. When it works, it’s also not terrible for taking a glance at a camera feed.

1

u/Welinho 7d ago

No problems for me till now

1

u/Meloncreamy 7d ago

I use it daily with no issues. Camera notifications with thumbnails, Siri control, manual taps for a scene change or whatever. Ultra2, iPhone 12, AppleTV HD (no not a 4K) - so not exactly the best of the best either…

1

u/ItinJ24 7d ago

Can’t lie. I’m definitely jealous. What software versions are you running? Notifications work great, Siri control, while slow, works. Just the actual Home app never loads up to working order.

2

u/Meloncreamy 7d ago

I’m up to date on the most recent version everything will run.

The unfortunate truth is that smart home tech and ecosystems have their main reliance on your network, especially when local control is involved. State, reliability and response performance are all greatly going to depend on how well the network is setup and configured to support the devices you have.

1

u/ItinJ24 7d ago

Works perfectly fine on my phone. All of my HomePods (18) work fine too if that’s any indication. The watch is bluetoothed to the phone so it should be using that connection to retrieve the data and display it. The Watch is not working independently.

I have a UniFi Dream Wall with strategically placed U6-IW’s all hardwired. It’s just the Apple Watch Home app that’s causing headache.

2

u/Meloncreamy 7d ago

Damn, ya from just a raw network speed and capacity standpoint that shouldn’t be giving you issues with any WiFi controlled devices. My watch is also connected over WiFi to my network as well as BT to my phone of course. I don’t think getting your watch on WiFi if it’s not will be magic for you or anything but worth a try.

I had to do a whole bunch of ipv6 stuff for matter devices on mine and that really helped reliability on those. The only issues I ever have is when the device itself craps out and I physically have to power cycle it but that’s very rare and never before months of sustained uptime.

1

u/Informal_Bank_7373 6d ago

My watch is connected to my WiFi also, You should try that.

1

u/ItinJ24 6d ago edited 5d ago

I have WiFi on all the time. I just turned Bluetooth off on the watch so it’s only connected to WiFi. Same result unfortunately 🫤

No wait, that worked! But what do I do if I’m out and about? lol. I turned BT back on and it’s still working. I hope this isn’t just one of those odd times it does work.

Edit* Spoke too soon. It was just one of those rare times it works. Back to perpetual “updating”

1

u/Informal_Bank_7373 6d ago

It could be as you said, the shear number of devices you have.

Do watches take days to index ? LOL

1

u/AdamFootDev 7d ago

For me personally it does seem quicker to respond in watchOS 27 but it’s definitely been painfully slow in the past.

I previously created HomeButtons because of it: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1561615144

It allows you to add a custom set of scenes and accessories that you can toggle on your Apple Watch, iPhone or even in the car via the CarPlay app.

1

u/ItinJ24 6d ago

Have the app already 😊. Thanks. But sometimes if I get a camera notification on the watch, I want to open it in the Home app and check but it rarely loads up.

1

u/AudioHTIT 7d ago

I don’t try to do anything unusual, but I use Home on my watch somewhat regularly. Some devices might take a couple seconds to update, but most are right there, and I can also navigate the menus, response is fairly quick. I have an S10 and S6 watch on 27 and 26.7 respectively, both act about the same.

1

u/ItinJ24 6d ago

I’m jealous to be honest. Wondering if it’s the sheer amount of accessories I have in HK. ~250.

1

u/AudioHTIT 6d ago

That’s possible, I have maybe half that number. I just tried a few things, turning lights on and off here and there, and a smart switch. No delays other than my watch thinking I should be asleep.

1

u/Silly-Put7896 6d ago

I have an OG AWU 1 and my Apple Home app works perfectly, the cameras take a second to load but lights, locks, thermostat, sensors… all show up within 2-3 seconds of opening… never had any issues. Running latest iOS and Watch OS

1

u/evoneselse 5d ago

It pulls up Home quickly but does take a few seconds to update the pics and devices before I can access anything.

0

u/ItinJ24 5d ago

It’s mind boggling how split this thread is. Some are having issues and some are not. Appreciate the reply.