Only HomeKitLink Siri devices showing No Response

I am having an issue that came up all of a sudden where all of my HomeKit devices published through the HomeKitLink Siri Plugin Bridge are showing "No Response". Things had been working fine for months, even with older version of the plugin.

Other devices that are published outside of Indigo, such as my Lutron Serena shades or Ecobee thermostat are available fine in the Home App.

I have tried several checks and troubleshooting steps, listed below, but I cannot seem to get it resolved.

-Restarting all my HomeKit hubs (Apple TVs, HomePods)
-Restarted all my Unifi gear (APs, Dream Machine)
-Restarted the Mac running Indigo
-Checked "Identify Devices Running/Not Running", all looked good
-Checked in the Home App that a main Home Hub is connected and the HomeLitLink Siri Bridge shows
-Tried Home app from other devices (MacBook and iPad)
-Configured the "mDNS Options: IP Version" to IPV4 only and reloaded the plugin
-I wasn't sure of the difference between "HomeKit Server Options: Advertised Interfaces" and "HomeKit Server: IP Address", so I left those alone
-Downgraded to 0.6.60 of the plugin, which failed because it needed XCode command line tools. After that I tried again with a successful install, and then upgraded to 0.6.61. Still no dice.

I know there are some other troubleshooting & logging that can be done, but wanted to take a pause here and see if I am missing something obvious.

Thanks,

Chris

Indigo version 2023.2.0
HomeKitLink Siri Plugin version 0.6.61
macOS version 14.3.1

Hi

You certainly have run down a few checks.

Few thoughts

1. Likely a Home or at least Home communication with Plugin issue, unless really broken device setting somewhere.

2. Would double check mDNS settings - can introduce new problems here very easily and then can be additional reason for no connection.

3. See the troubleshooting page - can try the discovery app (free) and see if can see the HomeKitLink instance. If can’t see it - is Mac/Firewall/Network settings somewhere.

4. Double check plugin by creating a new bridge put a single device on it - eg. light. And Pair this. If this works - then something is up with device setup on original bridge. Would seem unlikely, but if plugin devices published that change eg. not longer True/False - may have some impact. Least this simple step would remove that from equation.

Glenn


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2. Would double check mDNS settings - can introduce new problems here very easily and then can be additional reason for no connection.

For now I reverted it to defaults. Not sure if I should tinker with that.

3. See the troubleshooting page - can try the discovery app (free) and see if can see the HomeKitLink instance. If can’t see it - is Mac/Firewall/Network settings somewhere.

I ran the Discovery app and I can see the original HomeKitLink instance (Bridge), as well as the new Bridge I added. Attached screenshot

4. Double check plugin by creating a new bridge put a single device on it - eg. light. And Pair this. If this works - then something is up with device setup on original bridge. Would seem unlikely, but if plugin devices published that change eg. not longer True/False - may have some impact. Least this simple step would remove that from equation.

I created the new bridge, added an Indigo light switch device to it, and added the bridge to the Home app. The light switch appears, but it is the same problem "No Response".

One extra note (see screenshots). The Home app will say "Cannot connect to Home hub" on one screen, but on another screen it will show connected to one of many Home hubs I have (2 Apple TVs, and 3 HomePods). So a little perplexed.

Screenshot 2024-03-07 at 12.34.41 PM.jpg (476.57 KiB) Viewed 377 times

IMG_6529.jpeg (71.31 KiB) Viewed 377 times

IMG_6530.jpeg (88.15 KiB) Viewed 377 times

Ok.

Just to be clear - the new HKLS bridge paired and added okay?

If so - that probably suggests that the issue is somewhere deeper in the Home infrastructure.

The Hub messaging seems unusual as well.

I would check Mac Firewall/antivirus and disable if haven’t already - despite the discovery working - doesn’t mean communication will work.

Hubs - would restart them all if doable and/or update to latest


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The new HKLS bridge paired and added successfully. You can see it in the network scan screeenshot.

Mac firewall is disabled, and there is no anti-virus software.

I updated all HomePods and Apple TVs to 17.4, as well as Mac to 14.4, which causes them all to reboot, and I’m still in the same situation.

So I’m happy to keep going to figure out the root cause, if only to help others in the future.

It likely comes does to something wrong with Home setup. Although other Home devices responding is a bit odd.

I’m not sure that there will be any similarity with other events of this really broad error.

Could try to create a new Home altogether (I have a few for testing) and add new bridge to it and see if works. May, but shouldn’t, need a hub changed to this new home. Should work without hub though.

if that works - then something wrong with Home setup with the apple side of things…


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I published a new HKLS bridge to a new Home with a single Indigo device, and that device works.

I am now in the process of re-doing everything (in and out of Indigo).

Sometimes the black box of Apple "Magic" can be really annoying.

I appreciate all the help.

Just thought this update might help someone else.

After painstakingly doing everything basically from scratch, I woke up this morning and every HKLS/Indigo device was No Response again.

At that moment, I had an Apple TV and 2 HomePods acting as Hubs as seen in the Home app. The HomePods for some reason both said not responding, and the Apple TV said it was connected.

I removed the Apple TV from the Home App, which forced it to start using one of the HomePods. Then all my devices came back.

I’m guessing I haven’t seen the end of this issue, but something isn’t right in AppleLand.

The only thing I can say is that I do have a separate VLAN where my Apple TV lives, but I had been running this setup for as long as the HKLS plugin has been out and the other plugin before that with no issues. I can’t correlate a Unifi update to when the problem started.

What a bugger. Glad you are getting closer to getting it fixed.

Yeah - these Apple issues are hard to track down and fix without tearing everything down. Plenty of google results there.

There is a iOS app Home Controller or so I believe, that has a backup section. Ideally to backup and then potentially restore Home setup down the line. I have yet to use the restore function so slightly wary might not work…. but it is there….

Glenn


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