If you haven’t yet updated to the new Apple Home, your smart home devices may not work in the Home app on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Watch as of Tuesday. On February 10, 2026, Apple will end support for the original HomeKit architecture.
The biggest impact of the change will be felt by anyone who still uses the iPad as their Apple Home Hub (which lets you control devices remotely and create automations).
In the new Apple Home, iPads are no longer supported as hubs. You’ll need a HomePod or Apple TV to fulfill this role. The new architecture also requires your phone and all devices connected to your home to be running iOS 16.2 or later (or macOS 13.1/watchOS 9.2 or later).
The new Apple Home architecture was fully launched with iOS 16.4 in 2023 and was a fundamental overhaul of the platform. It brought increased performance and reliability, according to Apple, along with support for Matter, the new smart home standard that Apple helped develop and to which HomeKit contributed as a foundation.
The upgrade has been optional since the launch of the new platform, but Apple announced last year that it would phase out the old HomeKit architecture by the end of 2025. This deadline was subsequently pushed back, but has now arrived.