we have added a switch to homekit settings that disables deletion of the user from homekit.json by binding.
not sure whether it solves 100% of all issues related to missing user in homekit.json but at least the user will not be deleted by binding.
available in openhab 3.2 and is “off”/“not active” by default
Thanks! I just turned the switch on. I’ll keep you posted.
Just to let you know, I had exactly the same problems as described by Christian (pzcn), and they seem to be fixed with the 3.3M1 release!
Thanks to Christian for the excellent debugging, and to eugen for the fast fixes!!!
@Sankisan thanks for the feedback.
i still hope we can close this forum topic before it gets the longest thread ever… but im afraid, we need also some help from Apple or at least better error messages in home app 
As much as I agree with you there, something tells me that it is not likely to happen any time soon. It will probably happen around the same time the open source their entire HomeKit API implementation, if you get my drift.
HomeKit is stable since I updated to 3.3M1.
Hope this will remain
Just wanted to let you know that I haven’t had any issues since I turned the “Block deletion of HomeKit user” switch last week. Thanks again.
p.s. Running 3.2.0 Stable release.
Unfortunately in my case enabling this switch did not help. It took only a day for all items to lose room assignments. However - interestingly - this time they didn’t end up in the “standard room” like before but in the room where openHAB was located.
The day before yesterday I updated to 3.3.0.M1 and disabled the “Block deletion of HomeKit user” switch. No issues so far – although it is a bit early to tell.
It looks like I jinxed it. Today HomeKit security stopped working. I didn’t want to completely start over, so I tried to remove just security by removing the HomeKit metadata for it. No luck. It’s a zombie that won’t go away. I also tried disabling the “Block deletion of HomeKit user” switch without any luck. I put it back on and everything else seems to still be working for now.
FWIW, I’m also having issues getting HomeKit thermostats working, but that is currently being discussed in another post. I’m starting to second guess upgrading from OH 2.5.
I decided to start over and remove openHAB from HomeKit. Unfortunately I dug a deeper hole. I inadvertently deleted my home without first removing the openHAB bridge and now I can’t install it anymore. HomeKit shows “Accessory Already Added”. I then tried removing the HomeKit binding and reinstalling it to no avail. Does anyone know how to fix this?
Update: I was able to get it back to the point where I can install the openHAB bridge by clearing pairings and changing the HomeKit PIN. However the zombie Security accessory is still there even though I removed all of the metadata for it. At this point I decided I would like to completely remove HomeKit and start over. Does anyone know how to do this?
@GadgetGuy Did you edit your last post? I have subscribed to this topic, and in my mail I find a post from you including some information like "HomeKit shows “Accessory Already Added”.
I think I had this in the past. In your Home app on you Apple device, under Menu (Home icon) > Home Settings > Controllers & Bridges, do you still see the openHAB bridge? Tap on it, select delete from home on the bottom of the screen. After that and reinstalling the Homkit binding in openHAB, you should be able to add the bridge to you Home again as described in the Homekit binding documentation.
Yes, I edited it. Sorry for any confusion. I just put back the original post and added the updated info.
following steps should remove pairing
I just figured it out what the problem was.
After looking at the org.openhab.core.items.Metadata.json file, I noticed an entry for HomeKit security that should no longer be there. Like I said previously, this metadata was removed in the UI. However somehow it did not get removed from the file. I also found one other rogue metadata entry that I had removed in the UI. I’m not sure what happened, but this looks like a bug that needs to be addressed.
Here’s a summary of what I did to fix it:
Now the security accessory is working again. Just need some help with the thermostats.
It’s been eight days since my upgrade to 3.3.0.M1. Happy to report that I haven’t had any issues as well. Fingers crossed! 
I also upgraded to 3.3.0.M1 and turned off the "Block deletion of the HomeKit user " switch. No problems for several days!
I had the same problem. After a reboot I had to toggle the mDNS switch.
The solution:
Enable port 5353 (mdns) and 9123 (homekit) for IPv6 (in the firewall)
Now I can restart openhab without changing the mDNS switch.
Perhaps the mDNS switching causes the change in the response between IPv4 and IPv6.
this could well be.
this logic is like this
I defined a IPv4 like this.
This IPv4 takes first affect after switching mDNS on/off.
After enabling Ipv6 it is working without toggeling the mDNS swich.
So, having had the issue with all items reporting 'No response" for some time (all items would be working for around 2 minutes, then fail) and trying all possible solutions outlined in this thread, I finally bit the bullet and started with a completely new openhab installation and gradually added all my items, rules, etc back in one by one. I’ve now had this up and running for around a month with no issues at all. I have no explanation as to why this now works, but just thought I’d let it be known!
