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HomeKit Bridge

The HomeKit integration allows you to make your Home Assistant entities available in Apple HomeKit,
so they can be controlled from Apple’s Home app and Siri; even if those devices do not natively support HomeKit.

Please make sure that you have read the considerations listed below to save you
some trouble later. However, if you do encounter issues, check out the
troubleshooting section.

If you want to control HomeKit-only devices with Home Assistant,
check out the HomeKit controller integration,
which provides the possibility to pull HomeKit-enabled devices into Home Assistant.

Configuration

Adding HomeKit Bridge to your Home Assistant instance can be done via the user
interface, by using this My button:

HomeKit Bridge can be auto-discovered by Home Assistant. If an instance was found,
it will be shown as “Discovered”, which you can select to set it up right
away.

If it wasn’t discovered automatically, don’t worry! You can set up a
manual integration entry:

Browse to your Home Assistant instance.
In the sidebar click on Settings.
From the configuration menu select: Devices & Services.
In the bottom right, click on the
Add Integration button.
From the list, search and select “HomeKit Bridge”.
Follow the instruction on screen to complete the set up.

Manual configuration

If you want make specific changes to the way entities are published to HomeKit, override the
IP address the HomeKit integration uses to communicate with your network or change the
IP address the HomeKit uses to advertise itself to the network, then you will need to configure the
HomeKit integration using an entry in your configuration.yaml file.

This is an example entry of how that would look:

# Example configuration.yaml entry configuring HomeKit
homekit
:
  -
 filter
:
      include_domains
:
        -
 alarm_control_panel
        -
 light
        -
 media_player
      include_entity_globs
:
        -
 binary_sensor.*_occupancy
      include_entities
:
        -
 binary_sensor.living_room_motion
    entity_config
:
      alarm_control_panel.home
:
        code
:
 1234
      binary_sensor.living_room_motion
:
        linked_battery_sensor
:
 sensor.living_room_motion_battery
        low_battery_threshold
:
 31
      light.kitchen_table
:
        name
:
 Kitchen Table Light
      lock.front_door
:
        code
:
 1234
      media_player.living_room
:
        feature_list
:
          -
 feature
:
 on_off
          -
 feature
:
 play_pause
          -
 feature
:
 play_stop
          -
 feature
:
 toggle_mute
      switch.bedroom_outlet
:
        type
:
 outlet
      camera.back_porch
:
        support_audio
:
 True
  -
 name
:
 HASS Bridge 
2
    port
:
 21065
    filter
:
      include_domains
:
        -
 light

Configuration Variables

Looking for your configuration file?

homekit

map

Required

HomeKit configuration.

port

integer

(

Optional

, default: 21063

)

Port for the HomeKit extension. If you are adding more than one instance they need to have different values for port.

name

string

(

Optional

)

Needs to be unique for each instance of Home Assistant using the integration on the same local network. Between 3 and 25 characters. Alphanumeric and spaces allowed.

Default:

Home Assistant Bridge

ip_address

string

(

Optional

)

The local network IP address. Only necessary if the default from Home Assistant does not work.

mode

string

(

Optional

, default: bridge

)

HomeKit can expose an entity via a bridge, or a single entity as an accessory which is needed for Television Media Players. (Accessory mode)

advertise_ip

string

(

Optional

)

If you need to override the IP address used for mDNS advertisement. (For example, using network isolation in Docker and together with an mDNS forwarder like avahi-daemon in reflector mode)

filter

map

(

Optional

)

Filters for entities to be included/excluded from HomeKit. (Configure Filter)

include_domains

list

(

Optional

)

Domains to be included.

include_entity_globs

list

(

Optional

)

Include all entities matching a listed pattern (e.g., binary_sensor.*_motion).

include_entities

list

(

Optional

)

Entities to be included.

exclude_domains

list

(

Optional

)

Domains to be excluded.

exclude_entity_globs

list

(

Optional

)

Exclude all entities matching a listed pattern (e.g., sensor.*_motion).

exclude_entities

list

(

Optional

)

Entities to be excluded.

entity_config

map

(

Optional

)

Configuration for specific entities. All subordinate keys are the corresponding entity ids of the domains, e.g., alarm_control_panel.alarm.

`ENTITY_ID`

map

(

Optional

)

Additional options for specific entities.

name

string

(

Optional

)

Name of the entity to show in HomeKit. HomeKit will cache the name on the first run so the accessory must be reset for any change to take effect.

linked_battery_sensor

string

(

Optional

)

The entity_id of a sensor entity to use as the battery of the accessory. HomeKit will cache an accessory’s feature set on the first run so a device must be reset for any change to take effect.

linked_doorbell_sensor

string

(

Optional

)

The entity_id of a binary_sensor entity to use as the doorbell sensor of the camera accessory to enable doorbell notifications. HomeKit will cache an accessory’s feature set on the first run so a device must be reset for any change to take effect.

linked_humidity_sensor

string

(

Optional

)

The entity_id of a sensor entity to use as the humidity sensor of the humidifier/dehumidifier accessory. HomeKit will cache an accessory’s feature set on the first run so a device must be reset for any change to take effect.

linked_motion_sensor

string

(

Optional

)

The entity_id of a binary_sensor entity to use as the motion sensor of the camera accessory to enable motion notifications. HomeKit will cache an accessory’s feature set on the first run so a device must be reset for any change to take effect.

linked_obstruction_sensor

string

(

Optional

)

The entity_id of a binary_sensor entity to use as the obstruction sensor of the garage door (cover) accessory to enable obstruction state tracking. HomeKit will cache an accessory’s feature set on the first run so a device must be reset for any change to take effect.

low_battery_threshold

integer

(

Optional

, default: 20

)

Minimum battery level before the accessory starts reporting a low battery.

code

string

(

Optional

)

Code to arm / disarm an alarm or lock / unlock a lock. Only applicable for alarm_control_panel or lock entities.

Default:

<No code>

feature_list

list

(

Optional

)

Only for media_player entities. List of feature dictionaries to add for a given entity. Comparable to the platform schema.

feature

string

Required

Name of the feature to add to the entity representation. Valid features are on_off, play_pause, play_stop and toggle_mute. The media_player entity must support the feature to be valid.

type

string

(

Optional

, default: switch

)

Only for switch entities. Type of accessory to be created within HomeKit. Valid types are faucet, outlet, shower, sprinkler, switch and valve. HomeKit will cache the type on the first run so a device must be reset for any change to take effect.

stream_count

integer

(

Optional

, default: 3

)

Only for camera entities. The number of simultaneous streams the camera can support.

stream_address

string

(

Optional

)

Only for camera entities. The source IP address to use when streaming to RTP clients. If your Home Assistant host has multiple interfaces, selecting a specific IP may be necessary.

Default:

local IP from Home Assistant

stream_source

string

(

Optional

)

Only for camera entities. A URL, file or other valid FFmpeg input string to use as the stream source, rather than the default camera source. Required for camera entities that do not natively support streaming (MJPEG). If -i is not found in the stream source, it is prepended to construct the FFmpeg input.

Default:

stream source from camera entity

support_audio

boolean

(

Optional

, default: False

)

Only for camera entities. Whether the camera supports audio. Audio is disabled unless this flag is set to True.

max_width

integer

(

Optional

, default: 1920

)

Only for camera entities. Maximum width supported by camera. Used when generating advertised video resolutions.

max_height

integer

(

Optional

, default: 1080

)

Only for camera entities. Maximum height supported by camera. Used when generating advertised video resolutions.

max_fps

integer

(

Optional

, default: 30

)

Only for camera entities. Maximum FPS (frames per second) supported by camera. Used when generating advertised video resolutions.

audio_map

string

(

Optional

, default: 0:a:0

)

Only for camera entities. FFmpeg stream selection mapping for the audio-only stream. Selects the first audio stream in the input stream by default. If your input stream has multiple audio streams, this may need to be adjusted.

video_map

string

(

Optional

, default: 0:v:0

)

Only for camera entities. FFmpeg stream selection mapping for the video-only stream. Selects the first video stream in the input stream by default. If your input stream has multiple video streams, this may need to be adjusted.

audio_packet_size

integer

(

Optional

, default: 188

)

Only for camera entities. RTP packet size used for streaming audio to HomeKit clients.

video_packet_size

integer

(

Optional

, default: 1316

)

Only for camera entities. RTP packet size used for streaming video to HomeKit clients.

video_codec

string

(

Optional

, default: libx264

)

Only for camera entities. FFmpeg video codec for transcoding. copy option reduces CPU load when video source is already encoded with H264 (MPEG4). h264_v4l2m2m can be used with supported hardware, e.g., the Raspberry Pi, to offload encoding to hardware. The h264_omx option is only available with custom FFmpeg builds and enables GPU Hardware acceleration on Raspberry Pi.

video_profile_names

list

(

Optional

)

Only for camera entities. FFmpeg video profile names for transcoding, only relevant if video_codec isn’t copy. Some encoders, e.g., the Raspberry Pi’s h264_v4l2m2m, don’t use the standard ["baseline", "main", "high"] profile names but expects ["0", "2", "4"] instead. Use this option to override the default names, if needed.

Default:

[“baseline”, “main”, “high”]

audio_codec

string

(

Optional

, default: libopus

)

Only for camera entities. FFmpeg audio codec for transcoding. copy option reduces CPU load when audio source is already encoded with libopus.

devices

list

(

Optional

)

Include device triggers for all matching device ids. Configuration in the UI via Options is recommended instead.

Setup

To enable the HomeKit integration in Home Assistant, add the following to your configuration file:

# Example for HomeKit setup
homekit
:

After Home Assistant has started, the entities (depending on the filter) are exposed to HomeKit if they are supported. To add them:

Open the Home Assistant frontend. A new card will display the pairing QR code and the pin code as seen in the example below. Note: If pin code is not displayed, check “Notifications” (the bell icon) in the lower-left of the Home Assistant UI.
Open the Apple Home app.
Click Add Accessory, then scan the QR code or select Don't Have a Code or Can't Scan? and choose the Home Assistant Bridge.
Confirm that you are adding an Uncertified Accessory by clicking on Add Anyway.
Enter the PIN code (skip this step if you scanned the QR code).
Follow the setup by clicking on Next and lastly Done in the top right-hand corner.
The Home Assistant Bridge and the Accessories should now be listed in the Home app.

After the setup is completed, you should be able to control your Home Assistant integrations through Apple’s Home and Siri.

Move Home Assistant install

If you would like to retain your HomeKit pairing when moving to a new Home Assistant device or installation, besides copying the configuration files you also need to copy the .storage/homekit.* file inside your configuration directory. Keep in mind that the folder is usually hidden by default, depending on your operating system.

Before you copy it, make sure to stop the old and new Home Assistant instances first entirely, otherwise it won’t work.

Considerations

Accessory ID

Currently, this integration uses the entity_id to generate a unique accessory id (aid) for HomeKit. The aid is used to identify a device and save all configurations made for it. This, however, means that if you decide to change an entity_id that does not have a unique_id, all configurations for this accessory made in the Home app will be lost.

Device Limit

The HomeKit Accessory Protocol Specification only allows a maximum of 150 unique accessories (aid) per bridge. Be mindful of this when configuring the filter(s). If you plan on exceeding the 150 devices limit, it is possible to create multiple bridges. If you need specific configuration for some entities via entity_config be sure to add them to a bridge configured via YAML.

Multiple HomeKit instances

If you create a HomeKit integration via the UI (i.e., Settings -> Devices & Services), it must be configured via the UI only. While the UI only offers limited configuration options at the moment, any attempt to configure a HomeKit instance created in the UI via the configuration.yaml file will result in another instance of HomeKit running on a different port.

It is recommended to only edit a HomeKit instance in the UI that was created in the UI, and likewise, only edit a HomeKit instance in YAML that was created in YAML.

Accessory mode

When exposing a Camera, Activity based remote (a remote that supports activities), Lock, or Television media player (a media_player with device class tv) to HomeKit, mode must be set to accessory, and the relevant include filter should be setup to only include a single entity.

To quickly add all accessory mode entities in the UI:

Create a new bridge via the UI (i.e., Settings >> Devices & Services).
Select media_player, remote, lock, and camera domains.
Complete the flow as normal.
Additional HomeKit entries for each entity that must operate in accessory mode will be created for each entity that does not already have one.
If you have already created another HomeKit bridge for the non-accessory mode entities, the new bridge can safely be removed.
Pair each bridge or accessory.

To add a single entity in accessory mode:

Create a new bridge via the UI (i.e., Settings >> Devices & Services)
Before pairing the bridge, access the options for the bridge.
Change the mode to accessory
Select the entity.
Complete the options flow
Pair the accessory.

Configure Filter

By default, all entities except categorized entities (config, diagnostic, and system entities) are included. To limit which entities are being exposed to HomeKit, you can use the filter parameter. Keep in mind only supported components can be added.

# Example filter to include specified domains and exclude specified entities
homekit
:
  filter
:
    include_domains
:
      -
 alarm_control_panel
      -
 light
    include_entity_globs
:
      -
 binary_sensor.*_occupancy
    exclude_entities
:
      -
 light.kitchen_light

Filters are applied as follows:

No filter
- All entities included
Only includes
- Entity listed in entities include: include
- Otherwise, entity matches domain include: include
- Otherwise, entity matches glob include: include
- Otherwise: exclude
Only excludes
- Entity listed in exclude: exclude
- Otherwise, entity matches domain exclude: exclude
- Otherwise, entity matches glob exclude: exclude
- Otherwise: include
Domain and/or glob includes (may also have excludes)
- Entity listed in entities include: include
- Otherwise, entity listed in entities exclude: exclude
- Otherwise, entity matches glob include: include
- Otherwise, entity matches glob exclude: exclude
- Otherwise, entity matches domain include: include
- Otherwise: exclude
Domain and/or glob excludes (no domain and/or glob includes)
- Entity listed in entities include: include
- Otherwise, entity listed in exclude: exclude
- Otherwise, entity matches glob exclude: exclude
- Otherwise, entity matches domain exclude: exclude
- Otherwise: include
No Domain and/or glob includes or excludes
- Entity listed in entities include: include
- Otherwise: exclude

The following characters can be used in entity globs:

* – The asterisk represents zero, one, or multiple characters
? – The question mark represents a single character

Categorized entities are not included (config, diagnostic, and system entities) unless they are explicitly matched by include_entity_globs or include_entities or selected in the UI in include mode.

Docker Network Isolation

The advertise_ip option can be used to run this integration even inside an ephemeral Docker container with network isolation enabled, e.g., not using the host network.

You may need to set the default network interfaces Home Assistant uses, in its network configuration.

To use advertise_ip, add the option to your homekit configuration:

homekit
:
  advertise_ip
:
 "
STATIC_IP_OF_YOUR_DOCKER_HOST"

Restart your Home Assistant instance. This feature requires running an mDNS forwarder on your Docker host, e.g., avahi-daemon in reflector mode.

Firewall

If you have a firewall configured on your Home Assistant system, make sure you open the following ports:

UDP: 5353
TCP: 21063 (or the configured/used port in the integration settings).

Supported Components

The following integrations are currently supported:

Component
Type Name
Description

alarm_control_panel
SecuritySystem
All security systems.

automation / input_boolean / remote / scene / script / vacuum
Switch
All represented as switches.

input_select / select
Switch
Represented as a power strip with buttons for each option.

binary_sensor
Sensor
Support for co2, door, garage_door, gas, moisture, motion, occupancy, opening, smoke and window device classes. Defaults to the occupancy device class for everything else.

camera
Camera
All camera devices. HomeKit Secure Video is not supported at this time.

climate
Thermostat
All climate devices.

cover
GarageDoorOpener
All covers that support open and close and have garage or gate as their device_class.

cover
WindowCovering
All covers that support set_cover_position.

cover
Door
All covers that support set_cover_position and have door as their device_class.

cover
WindowCovering
All covers that support open_cover and close_cover through value mapping. (open -> >=50; close -> <50)

cover
WindowCovering
All covers that support open_cover, stop_cover and close_cover through value mapping. (open -> >70; close -> <30; stop -> every value in between)

device_tracker / person
Sensor
Support for occupancy device class.

fan
Fan
Support for on / off, direction and oscillating.

fan
Fan
All fans that support speed and speed_list through value mapping: speed_list is assumed to contain values in ascending order. The numeric ranges of HomeKit map to a corresponding entry of speed_list. The first entry of speed_list should be equivalent to off to match HomeKit’s concept of fan speeds. (Example: speed_list = [off, low, high]; off -> <= 33; low -> between 33 and 66; high -> > 66)

humidifier
HumidifierDehumidifier
Humidifier and Dehumidifier devices.

light
Light
Support for on / off, brightness and rgb_color.

lock
DoorLock
Support for lock / unlock.

media_player
MediaPlayer
Represented as a series of switches which control on / off, play / pause, play / stop, or mute depending on supported_features of entity and the mode list specified in entity_config.

media_player
TelevisionMediaPlayer
All media players that have tv as their device_class. Represented as Television and Remote accessories in HomeKit to control on / off, play / pause, select source, or volume increase / decrease, depending on supported_features of entity. Requires iOS 12.2/macOS 10.14.4 or later.

sensor
TemperatureSensor
All sensors that have °C or °F as their unit_of_measurement and temperature as their device_class.

sensor
HumiditySensor
All sensors that have % as their unit_of_measurement and humidity as their device_class.

sensor
AirQualitySensor
All sensors that have gas/pm10/pm25 as part of their entity_id or gas/pm10/pm25/nitrogen_dioxide/volatile_organic_compounds as their device_class. The VOC mappings use the IAQ guidelines for Europe released by the WHO (World Health Organization).

sensor
CarbonMonoxideSensor
All sensors that have co as their device_class

sensor
CarbonDioxideSensor
All sensors that have co2 as part of their entity_id or co2 as their device_class

sensor
LightSensor
All sensors that have lm or lx as their unit_of_measurement or illuminance as their device_class

switch
Switch
Represented as a switch by default but can be changed by using type within entity_config.

water_heater
WaterHeater
All water_heater devices.

device_automation
DeviceTriggerAccessory
All devices that support triggers.

Device Triggers

Devices that support triggers can be added to the bridge by accessing options for the bridge in Settings >> Devices & Services. To use this feature, Advanced Mode must be enabled in your user profile.

Bridged device triggers are represented as a single press button on stateless programmable switches. This allows a HomeKit automation to run when a device trigger fires. Because the Apple Home app currently only shows the number of the button and not the name, users may find it easier to identify the name of the button in the Eve for HomeKit app.

iOS Remote Widget

Entities exposed as TelevisionMediaPlayer are controllable within the Apple Remote widget in
Control Center. Play, pause, volume up and volume down should work out of the box depending on the supported_features
of the entity. However, if your television can be controlled in other ways outside of the media_player entity, (e.g.,
service calls to an IR blaster), it is possible to build an automation to take advantage of these events.

When a key is pressed within the Control Center Remote widget, the event homekit_tv_remote_key_pressed will be fired.
The key name will be available in the event data in the key_name field. Example:

automation
:
  trigger
:
    platform
:
 event
    event_type
:
 homekit_tv_remote_key_pressed
    event_data
:
      key_name
:
 arrow_right
  # Send the arrow right key via a broadlink IR blaster
  action
:
    service
:
 broadlink.send
    host
:
 192.168.1.55
    packet
:
 XXXXXXXX

Events

The HomeKit integration emits homekit_state_change events. These events can be used in automations to know when an entity’s state was changed from HomeKit.

# Example for handling a HomeKit event
automation
:
  trigger
:
    -
 platform
:
 event
      event_type
:
 homekit_state_change
      event_data
:
        entity_id
:
 cover.garage_door
        service
:
 open_cover
  action
:
    -
 service
:
 persistent_notification.create
      data
:
        message
:
 "
The
 
garage
 
door
 
got
 
opened
 
via
 
HomeKit"

Troubleshooting

All or some devices are intermittently unresponsive

HomeKit relies heavily on your home hub to keep track of Bluetooth devices. Additionally, each home hub has to keep track of every HomeKit accessory that you bridge. If you have many accessories, notably cameras or Bluetooth devices, consider disabling HomeKit on older home hubs.

The below testing was conducted with Home Assistant 2021.6 (HAP-python 3.5.0) and iOS/tvOS 14.6

The following home hubs showed strong results when testing with 400 accessories:

HomePod
HomePod Mini
Apple TV 4k Gen 2 (best results when using Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi)

The following home hubs showed strong results when testing with 300 accessories:

Apple TV 4k Gen 1 (best results when using ethernet instead of Wi-Fi)

The following home hubs have been reported to have trouble with a large number of accessories:

Apple TV HD
Various iPad models

Resetting when created via YAML

Delete the HomeKit integration in the Devices & Services panel.
Restart Home Assistant.
The configuration will be automatically reimported from YAML.
Pair the bridge or accessory.

Resetting when created via the Integrations panel

Delete the HomeKit integration in the Integrations panel.
Recreate the HomeKit integration in the Integrations panel.
Pair the bridge or accessory.

Errors during pairing

If you encounter any issues during pairing, make sure to add the following to your configuration.yaml to try and identify the issue(s).

logger
:
  default
:
 warning
  logs
:
    homeassistant.components.homekit
:
 debug
    pyhap
:
 debug

Follow the above instructions for resetting.

Minimal Configuration

If pairing still fails after trying the steps in (Errors during pairing), it may be caused by a specific entity. Try resetting with a minimal configuration like:

homekit
:
  filter
:
    include_entities
:
      -
 demo.demo

PIN doesn’t appear as persistent status

You might have paired the Home Assistant Bridge already. If not, follow the above instructions for resetting.

Home Assistant Bridge doesn’t appear in the Home App (for pairing)

This is often setup and network related. Make sure to check the other issues below as well, but things that might work include:

Check your router configuration
Try with Wi-Fi and LAN
Change the default port

Remember that the iOS device needs to be in the same local network as the Home Assistant device for pairing.

Home Assistant Bridge doesn’t appear in the Home App (for pairing) – Docker

Set network_mode: host in your docker-compose.yaml. If you have further problems this issue might help.

You can also try to use avahi-daemon in reflector mode together with the option advertise_ip, see above.

Home Assistant Bridge doesn’t appear in the Home App (for pairing) – VirtualBox

Configure the network mode as networkbridge. Otherwise the Home Assistant Bridge won’t be exposed to the network.

Accessory does not appear in the Home App (for pairing) – Libvirt QEMU/KVM virtual machine with macvtap adapter

Please see the Zero-configuration networking integration for more details.

Pairing hangs – zeroconf error

Pairing eventually fails, you might see the error message, NonUniqueNameException, you likely need to enable default_interface: true in the zeroconf integration configuration and set a unique name such as name: MyHASS42.

If you had previously paired (even unsuccessfully), you may need to delete your .homekit.state file in order to able to successfully pair again. See Errors during pairing.

Pairing hangs – only works with debug configuration

Pairing works fine when the filter is set to only include demo.demo, but fails with normal configuration. See specific entity doesn’t work

Pairing hangs – no error

Make sure that you don’t try to add more than 150 accessories, see device limit. In rare cases, one of your entities doesn’t work with the HomeKit component. Use the filter to find out which one. Feel free to open a new issue in the home-assistant repository, so we can resolve it.
Check logs, and search for Starting accessory Home Assistant Bridge on address. Make sure Home Assistant Bridge connected to a correct interface. If it did not, explicitly set homekit.ip_address configuration variable.

Issues during normal use

Bridge spontaneously unpairs

Multiple users have reported that iOS 12 and earlier devices will spontaneously remove pairings. Ensure all iOS devices that have administrator access to the Home are running iOS 13 or later. If you cannot update the device to iOS 13, disable Home in the device iCloud settings.

My entity doesn’t show up

Check if the domain of your entity is supported. If it is, check your filter settings. Make sure the spelling is correct, especially if you use include_entities.

HomeKit doesn’t work on second Home Assistant instance

To use the HomeKit integration with multiple different Home Assistant instances on the same local network, you need to set a custom name for at least one of them. config/name

Specific entity doesn’t work

Although we try our best, some entities don’t work with the HomeKit integration yet. The result will be that either pairing fails completely or all Home Assistant accessories will stop working. Use the filter to identify which entity is causing the issue. It’s best to try pairing and step by step including more entities. If it works, unpair and repeat until you find the one that is causing the issues. To help others and the developers, please open a new issue here: home-assistant/issues/new

If you have any iOS 12.x devices signed into your iCloud account, media player entities with device_class: tv may trigger this condition. Filtering the entity or signing the iOS 12.x device out of iCloud should resolve the issue after restarting other devices.

Accessories are all listed as not responding

There were reports where the IGMP settings in a router were causing issues with HomeKit. This resulted in a situation where all of the Home Assistant HomeKit accessories stopped responding a few minutes after Home Assistant (re)started. Double check your router’s IGMP settings if you experience this issue. The default IGMP settings typically work best.

See specific entity doesn’t work

Accessory not responding – after restart or update

See resetting accessories and Unpairing and Re-pairing.

The linked battery sensor isn’t recognized

Try removing the entity from HomeKit and then adding it again. If you are adding this configuration option to an existing entity in HomeKit, any changes you make to this entity’s configuration options won’t appear until the accessory is removed from HomeKit and then re-added. See resetting accessories.

My media player is not showing up as a television accessory

Media Player entities with device_class: tv will show up as Television accessories on devices running iOS 12.2/macOS 10.14.4 or later. If needed, try removing the entity from HomeKit and then adding it again, especially if the media_player was previously exposed as a series of switches. Any changes, including changed supported features, made to an existing accessory won’t appear until the accessory is removed from HomeKit and then re-added. See resetting accessories.

The Universal Media Player has an example of how it can be used to wrap existing entities to enable them to be used as a Television accessory in HomeKit.

Can’t control volume of your TV media player?

The volume and play/pause controls will show up on the Remote app or Control Center. If your TV supports volume control through Home Assistant, you will be able to control the volume using the side volume buttons on the device while having the remote selected on screen.

Camera video is not streaming

Ensure that the ffmpeg integration is configured correctly. Verify that your stream is directly playable with ffplay <stream_source> or VLC Media Player. If you have changed your camera’s entity configuration, you may need to reset the accessory.

Camera streaming is unstable or slow

If your camera supports native H.264 streams, Home Assistant can avoid converting the video stream, which is an expensive operation. To enable native H.264 streaming when configured via YAML, change the video_codec to copy. To allow native H.264 streaming when setting up HomeKit via the UI, go to Settings -> Devices & Services in the UI, click Options for your HomeKit Bridge, and check the box for your camera on the Cameras that support native H.264 streams screen.

Multiple camera streams

Multiple streams can be configured with the stream_count configuration option. If you alter the number of streams, you must reset the accessory.

Camera audio is not streaming

Make sure support_audio is True in the camera’s entity configuration.

Camera motion notifications

A motion sensor can be linked via the linked_motion_sensor configuration setting to enable motion notifications.

Doorbell button notifications

A doorbell sensor can be linked via the linked_doorbell_sensor configuration setting to enable motion notifications.

HomeKit stalls or devices respond slowly with many cameras

HomeKit camera snapshots tie up the HomeKit connection during snapshots. To avoid this problem, create a separate HomeKit instance in Accessory Mode for each camera.

Resetting accessories

You may use the service homekit.reset_accessory with one or more entity IDs to reset accessories whose configuration may have changed. This can be useful when changing a media player’s device class to tv, linking a battery, or whenever Home Assistant adds support for new HomeKit features to existing entities.

On earlier versions of Home Assistant, you can reset accessories by removing the entity from HomeKit (via filter) and then re-adding the accessory.

With either strategy, the accessory will behave as if it’s the first time the accessory has been set up, so you will need to restore the name, group, room, scene, and/or automation settings.

Unpairing and Re-pairing

The HomeKit integration remembers a public key for each paired device. Occasionally the public key for a device pairing will be missing because of pairing failures. Suppose one or more devices show the accessory as unavailable. In that case, it may be necessary to unpair and re-pair the device to ensure the integration has the public key for each paired client. The homekit.unpair service will forcefully remove all pairings and allow re-pairing with the accessory. When setting up HomeKit from the UI, this avoids the sometimes time-consuming process of deleting and create a new instance.

The accessory will behave as if it’s the first time the accessory has been set up, so you will need to restore the name, group, room, scene, and/or automation settings.

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