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Apple is ending home hub support for the iPad
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Apple plans to ditch home hub support on its iPad tablets, according to a line of code spotted byMacRumors’ Steve Moser iniOS 16.
“A home hub is required to take advantage of features like receiving accessory notifications and allowing other people to control your home”, readsa message displayed in the Home appin Apple’s iOS 16 code.
“You will not be able to view shared homes until those homes are also upgraded to the latest HomeKit. iPad will no longer be supported as a home hub”.
iOS 16 andiPadOS 16are expected to roll out this fall, meaning Apple Home users seemingly won’t be able to use the iPad as a home hub to connect and control theirHomeKitsmart devices from then.
This means that those currently using their Apple tablets as home hubs will also lose features such as the ability to control HomeKit accessories while they’re away, the option to approve access for friends and family and custom automations.
The update appears to include all iPads, including theiPad Pro,iPad Air,iPad MiniandiPad, and means that users will need to pick up aHomePod,HomePod MiniorApple TVto use as a home hub for their HomeKit devices if they want to continue to access the above features going forward.
It sounds as though they’ll still be able to control their smart devices remotely through the Home app on iOS phones, such as theiPhone 13, by signing in with the same Apple ID, but an iPad won’t cut it as a hub anymore.
This report wasn’t the first clue we’d seen that Apple was dropping home hub support from the iPad. As mentioned in the MacRumors report, the company’s iOS 16 preview webpage had already hinted that only Apple TV and HomePod devices would be supported as home hubs going forward.
However, the line of code spotted by Moser comes a step closer to confirming the loss of tablet support for Apple Home and HomeKit users.
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Hannah joined Trusted Reviews as a staff writer in 2019 after graduating with a degree in English from Royal Holloway, University of London. She’s also worked and studied in the US, holding positions …
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
