Hands-On Apple 218 transcript
Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show.
Mikah Sargent [00:00:00]:
Coming up on Hands On Apple, look, we need to talk about HomeKit. Stay tuned. Podcasts you love from people you trust. This is TWiT. Welcome back to Hands On Apple. I am Micah Sargent, and as is always the case, we are taking a look at what's going on in the world, the land, uh, the place that is Apple. And this episode is about something important that you need to know, and that is that Apple is making a final and full change to the Home, uh, system. If you use any HomeKit items or Apple Home items, uh, then you are probably going to want to check out your settings to figure out what need to do to get right.
Mikah Sargent [00:01:02]:
So let's kind of talk about what's going on here. When Apple first introduced HomeKit and released, you know, the specs for, for different manufacturers to be able to make devices that were controlled by both Siri and the Home app, what that did was it allowed for you to, you know, work through these, these different products and services and have them all kind of work together. Well, Over time, the technology has improved immensely. Matter came onto the scene to add even more cross-compatibility, and with that came the need to have a new architecture at the base of the Apple Home app. And so that is what we're going to take a look at today because as of February 10th, 2026, which is going to be— when you see this, it will be 2 days past— that is the end support date for the previous version of Apple Home. You need to have your Home updated in order to be able to use features like guest access, be able to control robot vacuum cleaners, which is nice, and also view activity history in the Home app. So let's talk about how we go about doing this. Well, first and foremost, you need a device that has access to your Home.
Mikah Sargent [00:02:20]:
It is actually to sort of be able to access this because if you are part of a home in the Home app that has at least one smart home accessory, Apple says, it could be a HomePod, it could be an Apple TV, it could be a smart light bulb, then you're actually going to get a prompt that pops up to say, hey, you're not part of the latest version of the Home app. Uh, it may appear in different places and you you may, know, have dismissed it. And so that's why we're going to look at it today. Um, if you are part of that Home and you are not kind of in control of the update, it'll probably happen automatically. Now, Here's what Apple says about what you should do before you update. First and foremost, update your devices to the latest software. So any of the devices that are connected to an updated Home that doesn't use iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1, tvOS 16.2, or watchOS 9.2 or later, those are all going to lose access to the updated Home until you update the device. So That also includes family members or other people who have access.
Mikah Sargent [00:03:25]:
If they do not have those versions of the software running, get them going on that first. Once that's done, then you're good to go. Now, after you do that, it's very easy to just simply follow the update. So let's take a look at what this looks like. Let's take a look at this— look, in order to do the update, first and foremost though, I want to show you, I'm going to pull it up on screen here. A nice little screenshot showing you what you will see in the app. It says Apple Home will update soon. Support for your current version of Apple Home will end in February.
Mikah Sargent [00:04:06]:
Update now to avoid interruptions with critical alerts and accessories with features such as AirPlay. And then you have that option to update now. So how do we get there? What do we do? Well, as I showed you before, we went to the Home app. In the top right corner of the screen— let's look at our iPhone you'll again— you'll see the three dots, my favorite button. You press the three dots and you choose Home Settings. I'm going to switch away temporarily because the Home Settings have some personal information in there, but I'll scroll down and now you can see, uh, here on my screen that I have all of my settings for activity, for energy monitoring, for home hubs and bridges, for the intercom, for safety and security, for sensors, for speakers and TVs, and of utmost importance for vacuums. Now that is because I have already done this update. If you have not done this update, you'll need to do that first.
Mikah Sargent [00:04:59]:
So how do you go about doing this if you're not seeing the prompt? All you have to do is go into the settings, find software update, and then from there hit that update button and you're good to go. You can have it automatically update your HomePod or your home accessories as you're going through that process, and then you can also tap updated recently to see the devices that have been updated automatically. Now, if you don't have automatic updates turned on, the updates will appear in this sort of middle section where that orange check mark is to say, hey, there's an update available for you. Now, if we keep scrolling, I just want to show you some of the other stuff here. Uh, in fact, let's take a look. We can look at Activity, and what this does is it shows how people have been using different items in the home. Energy lets you, if it's a supported location, connect your energy account and also see what the grid forecast is, meaning when energy sources for electricity are cleaner rather than not cleaner. So better energy.
Mikah Sargent [00:06:04]:
Home Hubs and Bridges show you all of the devices that are either bridged devices or are serving as your home hub. We've talked about home hubs before, so I won't go into that. Intercom lets you set up the intercom system where different HomePods and HomePod Minis can serve as speakers in your home. Safety and Security has features for giving you the ability to turn on or off security systems. Sensors will let you change notifications for different sensors that you have in your house. Speakers and TV is set to allow people to control those devices if they're on the same network. And then of course Vacuums lets you control the notifications for vacuums. Listen for Hey, You Know Who is a feature that is set up so that you can have it on all of the HomePod or other listening devices in your home.
Mikah Sargent [00:06:57]:
You get to choose. And you'll notice I have an Ecobee thermostat that actually has Hey Siri support, and so I'm able to turn that on, on that as well. We've already talked about software updates. Connected services— those are all of the Matter accessories and other accessories that support Matter, giving you the ability to address them wherever you are. Sound check Equalizer is just the feature that says when I'm playing music through my HomePods or my HomePod Minis, make sure that all of it comes out at around the same volume. Scenes, that lets you choose to show suggested scenes. So these are scenes that HomeKit thinks that you might want to have set up, like a, a goodbye scene or a goodnight scene or a now leaving scene. And of course, Home Wallpaper gives you the ability to choose a wallpaper to be in the background of your Home app.
Mikah Sargent [00:07:50]:
And Home Notes will give you the ability to add notes that people can see when they open the app and look at it. Last but not least, the HomePod in my house is serving as a means of telling the Apple Home app what my location is. So again, the most important thing when it comes to this is that software update section. Because— or update section— because you need to update now in order to have access to the most recent features. So be sure to head there, check it out, get it set up, and of course, as always, let me know if you run into any issues. You can reach me, Micah, at twit.tv is how you get in touch. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode of Hands On Apple. I'll catch you again next week for another episode.
Mikah Sargent [00:08:38]:
Bye-bye.
