iPads Won’t Be Able To Act As HomeKit Hubs When iPadOS 16 Ships This Fall

Owners of iPads won’t be able to have their tablets act as HomeKit Home hubs when iPadOS 16 ships later this year, according to a new report.

Apple announced iPadOS 16 during its WWDC22 opening keynote on Monday but made no mention the new limitation.

Currently, owners of HomePods, Apple TVs, and iPads can have their devices act as a hub for HomeKit and the Home app. Hubs are required for things like location-aware automation, accessing your HomeKit accessories when out of the house, and more.

Notably, it appears that iPadOS 16 beta 1 does still allow users to set an iPad as a hub, but the text in the redesigned Home app suggests that iPads won’t be supported anymore. Instead, you’ll need a HomePod or Apple TV — 4th-gen or newer will be needed, however.

Apple’s iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 updates are now in the hands of developers with a public beta expected to begin at some point next month.

Those waiting for the finished software will need to wait until this fall, with Apple likely to make the update available to everyone around the same time it announces the iPhone 14 lineup — in or around September.

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