Apple plans to ditch home hub support on its iPad tablets
Apple intends to remove home hub support from its iPad tablets, as evidenced by a piece of code found in iOS 16 by MacRumors’ Steve Moser. A statement displayed in the Home app in Apple’s iOS 16 code states that a home hub is necessary to utilize features like getting accessory notifications and letting other people control your home.
“Until shared houses are likewise updated to the most recent version of HomeKit, you won’t be able to view them. As a home hub, iPad will no longer be supported. Apple Home users may not be able to utilize the iPad as a hub for connecting to and managing their HomeKit smart devices with the release of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 this fall.
As a result, users who now use their Apple tablets as home hubs will also lose access to features like custom automation, the ability to operate HomeKit accessories while they’re away, and the opportunity to allow access for friends and family. Users who want to continue using the aforementioned capabilities in the future will need to purchase a HomePod, HomePod Mini, or Apple TV to serve as a home hub for their HomeKit devices as the update looks to affect all iPads, including the iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad Mini, and iPad.
By logging in with the same Apple ID, it appears that they will still be able to remotely operate their smart gadgets via the Home app on iOS phones like the iPhone 13, but an iPad won’t suffice as a hub any longer.
This revelation wasn’t the first indication that Apple was removing support for home hubs from the iPad. The company’s iOS 16 preview homepage had already made a suggestion that only Apple TV and HomePod devices will move forward be supported as home hubs, as was highlighted in the MacRumors story. However, Moser’s discovery of the line of code brings us one step closer to concluding that Apple Home and HomeKit users no longer have tablet support.