How to use an iPad as a Home Hub
It’s very simple to use an iPad as a home hub for your smart home devices. If you don’t have an Apple HomePod or Apple TV in your home (which are home hubs by default) then a spare iPad is the next best option.
Why use an iPad as a Home Hub?
Using an iPad as a Home Hub allows you to run automations when you’re not home. It also allows you use Siri to control your accessories outside of your home network. This is really great as sometimes you want automations to be run at certain times of day when you may not be home. You may also want to ask Siri to turn on your thermostat when you leave work, ask her to turn the lights on before you arrive home, or a host of other requests. The possibilities are endless!
Before we Get started
If you haven’t already setup your smart home or accessories, make sure to check out this guide on how to setup a new home in HomeKit.
You can use any flavor of iPad you want as a home hub. I recommend an iPad mini since it’s small and cost effective. However, you can use any iPad that turns on and can run a current version of iOS (see the next section for more details)! It is also easy to get your hands on a cheap iPad secondhand through Facebook Marketplace or Offer Up!
One thing to note is that your devices does have to be an iPad, old iPhones or iPod Touches will not work.
It is important the iPad you choose is always connected to your home wifi. If your iPad is not always at home and connected to your wifi network, then you won’t be able to use the Home Hub feature. Personally I like to hard wire all of my devices. This dongle lets you charge your iPad and hardwire to your network at the same time. If you need the lightning style adapter, and not USB-C, this dongle should do the trick! It also supports charging with Power over Ethernet (PoE) so you just need one cable (if your router/switch supports PoE).
iOS Version
A quick note about using older iPads as a Home Hub. I would recommend an iPad that can, at the bare minimum, run iOS 13. This will enable you to run home automations remotely quite easily. Any iOS version older than 13 won’t be able to. Of course, keeping your iPad up to date with the current iOS version is always preferable as Apple is always adding new features to HomeKit!
Using your iPad as a Home Hub
It’s pretty simple to get going. We are going to start in the settings application on your iPad.
- Open the Settings app on your iPad and click on your name in the top left corner.
- Make sure the email address associated with your iCloud account is the same as the one you used to setup your home accessories.
- If it is, click “iCloud” on this page.
- Scroll down until you find “Home” and make sure it is turned on.
- Now, on the left side of the screen, scroll down until you find the “Home” icon and select it.
- In this section there should be a switch marked “Use this iPad as a Home Hub.” Make sure it is selected.
That is all there is to it! Now let’s check our work in the next section.
Check your Work
To make sure you have everything configured correctly, open the home app and follow the steps below to see if your iPad is functioning as a Home Hub.
- Click the Home icon in the top right of the screen.
- Make sure the correct home is selected and then click “Home Settings”
- Scroll down and you will see a list of accessory categories. Click on “Home Hubs & Bridges.”
- You should now see a list of your home hub(s) at the top, and a list of your bridge(s) at the bottoms. If you see “This iPad” with a status of “connected” you are all good to go!
