tvOS/audioOS 16.3 update (with new homekit architecture) again breaks openHAB support

abbe79 · January 24, 2023, 7:28pm

Hi fellow openHAB users, hi @yfre,

I know I should not update on the first day, but I could not resist and did the HomePod/AppleTV 16.3 update right after it was released.

I’m using openHab 3.4.1 which restored functionality after I did the “new architecture” update of 16.2, but now I’m in the same situation again:
After several seconds of “Aktualisieren” (“updating”? I do not know how this is labeled in english), I get “Keine Antwort” (“no response”).

I tried restarting all AppleTVs and homePods, restarted the homekit bundle, but no success.

I’ll attach the debug log outputs of a bundle restart, hope this helps.
homekit_bundle_restart.txt (71.9 KB)

Thanks for your help!

yfre · January 24, 2023, 9:53pm

it looks like another nice fix from Apple.
it is not clear from the log what exactly happening but for some reason openHAB cannot find the pairing information anymore
see last raw:
Unknown user: 805F739A-9902-41EA-815C-45B77AD8F0C6

maybe new update has requested to deleted or maybe the user (device id) has changed.
the pairing information is stored in homekit.json
could you please check

whether you have an user entry in your homekit.json (in my setup it is under “/var/lib/openhab/jsondb/homekit.json” )
whether you have an entry for the user above in the homekit.json backups (e.g. search for AD9F0C5 in /var/lib/openhab/jsondb/backup)

@ccutrer any ideas how to troubleshoot this better?

abbe79 · January 25, 2023, 7:15am

Thanks @yfre for the reply.

I do not have such a user either in my current configuration or in the backups.
I observed an “Unknown user” log entry when I still was on iOS 16.2, but everything worked so I did not care.

abbe@nas:/volume1/docker/openhab/userdata/jsondb$ find . -name "*homekit.json" -print0 | xargs -0 grep "user_"
./homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e09515DF4F-F0C2-4A51-B0CA-DFA0AB6A67DB": {
./homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e0EC2475AB-BE03-4D56-B2C9-FF9F18B13AD7": {
./backup/1674251940079--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e018C5E73A-83C4-4D7F-85ED-05469DD3A203": {
./backup/1674251940079--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e09515DF4F-F0C2-4A51-B0CA-DFA0AB6A67DB": {
./backup/1674251940079--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e0EC2475AB-BE03-4D56-B2C9-FF9F18B13AD7": {
./backup/1674254210748--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e018C5E73A-83C4-4D7F-85ED-05469DD3A203": {
./backup/1674254210748--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e09515DF4F-F0C2-4A51-B0CA-DFA0AB6A67DB": {
./backup/1674254210748--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e0EC2475AB-BE03-4D56-B2C9-FF9F18B13AD7": {
./backup/1674255778677--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e018C5E73A-83C4-4D7F-85ED-05469DD3A203": {
./backup/1674255778677--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e09515DF4F-F0C2-4A51-B0CA-DFA0AB6A67DB": {
./backup/1674255778677--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e0EC2475AB-BE03-4D56-B2C9-FF9F18B13AD7": {
./backup/1674256757930--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e09515DF4F-F0C2-4A51-B0CA-DFA0AB6A67DB": {
./backup/1674256757930--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e0EC2475AB-BE03-4D56-B2C9-FF9F18B13AD7": {
./backup/1674585810813--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e09515DF4F-F0C2-4A51-B0CA-DFA0AB6A67DB": {
./backup/1674585810813--homekit.json:  "user_56:6e:29:70:56:e0EC2475AB-BE03-4D56-B2C9-FF9F18B13AD7": {

Do you think doing a fresh start (remove users from homekit.json and the openHAB bridge from my Home app - then re-add it) could fix the issue?

Am I the only one with issues on 16.3?

Thanks again!

ccutrer · January 25, 2023, 3:43pm

I’ve not had any issues with 16.3, and I’ve been running it since shortly after all the issues with 16.2 in hopes of catching things early for people. Guess that didn’t work :(.

abbe79 · January 25, 2023, 5:19pm

Thanks @ccutrer for the sacrifice!

Seems like there wasn’t any change yet?

ccutrer · January 26, 2023, 1:18am

Heh, it’s partially selfish. Ever since updating to the new architecture in 16.2, it’s almost impossible for me to update anything in the Home app, like renaming an accessory or changing its icon. I’ve been obsessively updating to betas in hopes that they’ve fixed that ;).

abbe79 · January 26, 2023, 8:32am

So to understand correctly @ccutrer:
You’re in the same boat as me, iOS/tvOS/audioOS 16.3 with previously enabled “new architecture”, but your setup is working?
Then I should probably try to re-pair my Apple devices with openHAB…

ccutrer · January 26, 2023, 1:55pm

That’s correct. My phone and Apple TVs are on 16.3. I’m on the new architecture. Everything is working except in the Home app editing any accessory is a crapshoot on if the edit will “stick”.

abbe79 · January 29, 2023, 10:02pm

Warning, this potentially contains some sarcastic comments, but those are targeted agains Apples SW department, not the openHAB community:

Ok, so I did remove the openHAB bridge from the home app, stopped openHAB, removed homekit.json from jsondb.

Afterwards I was not able to complete the pairing. Tried again and the home app told me that the device is already added (while it was not listed in there as bridge) and I should reset it.

I opened up the openHAB console and did both “homekit allowUnauthenticated” and “homekit clearPairings”.

Afterwards I was able to pair the bridge again.

Full of anticipation I tapped through the endless dialogs of adding every single device to the particular room, potentially rename the device and skipping the “create automation” screen.

Yes I wondered with each of the 87 entries I added: Why was I being asked for the room name - when in my scheme it is always part of the device name. But this probably only bugs us heavy users with this much devices that are already configured and do not introduce themselves as “GenericLightBulb in Default room”

One eternity later it was done and the beautiful overview page was presented to me with all my 87 devices - each of them labeled as “no response”

So again: No blame to you - you’re doing a wonderful job and i owe you a debt of gratitude. Apple fucked this up (and I should not have switched to the new architecture).

Let’s hope this will stabilize with 16.4 - I heard they will fix some stuff in it.

yfre · January 30, 2023, 8:11pm

just to add, the main challenges for us in openHAB dev community is the bad (or actually missing) communication from apple.

we have 0 information what new architecture means technically, we dont know what exactly apple changes from one iOS version to another, we dont know what home app expects from a bridge. we have only an old excerpt from 2 years old technical specification apple has published.

only based on your feedback and troubleshooting we are trying to understand what that change could be. please keep sharing your experience, although it could be a frustrating one. everything helps.

and of course we are also looking on other homekit implementation like homebridge, maybe they are more lucky to find the right config/implementation

abbe79 · February 6, 2023, 8:21pm

Just installed 16.3.1 on my HomePods/AppleTVs, unfortunately still broken for me.

Christian1024 · May 23, 2023, 4:05am

I wonder if the problems have been fixed now - with OpenHAB 3.4.3 and HomeKit from iOS 16.5?

Until now I have avoid upgrading the architecture but guess I have to take a chance in a nearby future.

Thanks in advance
Christian

abbe79 · May 23, 2023, 2:25pm

Sorry, can’t tell you: I’ve installed installed Home Assistant and am slowly migrating away from openHAB.

John_Siemon · May 23, 2023, 6:59pm

I’m running 3.4.3 and iOS 16.4.1a and it is working fine. Haven’t moved to 16.5 yet though.

SchmidSP · May 24, 2023, 12:35pm

Did you switch homekit to the new architecture?

John_Siemon · May 24, 2023, 12:52pm

No. I have neither a HomePod nor AppleTV so I have not even seen the option to update. Just iPads, iPhone, and OH.