iOS 18 lets Apple Home users choose their Home Hub

The new "Preferred Home Hub" option in iOS 18 beta brings significant benefits to users with multiple Apple Home hubs. This feature allows users to choose their preferred Home hub, enabling them to have more control over their smart home automations.

Previously, Apple Home would automatically select the hub it deemed best for the job, often causing frustration among users. With the new update, users can manually choose their preferred hub, such as a hardwired Apple TV, which is widely acknowledged to provide faster and more reliable performance compared to a Wi-Fi-based HomePod3.

By selecting their preferred Home hub, users can potentially improve the speed and reliability of their smart home automations. This is particularly useful for those with large Apple Home setups, as the inability to select the main hub has been a source of frustration in the past.

In summary, the "Preferred Home Hub" option gives users more control over their smart home, potentially improving the performance and reliability of their Apple Home automations.

Apple Home users experienced several issues with the automatic hub selection system prior to the iOS 18 update. One of the main concerns was the inability to select a preferred Home hub, which led to the system choosing a hub that might not have been the most suitable for the user's needs. This sometimes resulted in slower automation and less reliable performance, especially when the system defaulted to an older model or one that relied on Wi-Fi.

Additionally, users with multiple Home hubs faced frustration as they couldn't control which hub the system was utilizing. The only way to force Apple Home to use a specific hub was to unplug all other hubs, which was not a practical solution. Moreover, once the unplugged hubs were reconnected, the system often reverted to its original configuration.

These issues led to slowdowns in automations, reduced reliability, and difficulties in accessing HomeKit cameras for some users. The iOS 18 update aims to address these problems by allowing users to select their preferred Home hub, providing more control over their smart home setup and potentially improving the overall performance of the system.