If you are venturing the wonderful world of HomeKit, you may have noticed that some of your devices cannot be controlled or viewed while out and about. This is where HomeKit hubs come into play. A HomeKit hub acts as a relay to your accessories through iCloud, allowing you to turn on and off your lights, even when you are off your home Wi-Fi network. Here's everything you need to know about how it all works. So what does a HomeKit hub do for HomeKit, anyway? By default, HomeKit is limited to your personal Wi-Fi network: All handshaking and Siri commanding happens within those boundaries. But a HomeKit hub — in combination with your Apple ID — gives your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, a way to securely talk to your HomeKit devices even when you're outside the house. Get an iPhone SE with Mint Mobile service for $30/mo Which devices act as a HomeKit hub?

There are several Apple devices that can act as a hub for your HomeKit setup. Apple TV (3rd generation or later), HomePod, and iPads running iOS 9 or above. The 3rd generation Apple TV is somewhat limited when it comes to HomeKit as it cannot share access to your accessories outside of the home to other users and it does not support camera video streams. How does a HomeKit hub connect to my accessories? It's an under-the-hood mixture of iCloud Keychain and HomeKit frameworks. Say you're on LTE: You press the Home button to pull up Siri and give the command "Turn on the lights." Without a HomeKit hub, that command goes nowhere — Siri replies with "I can't do that." With a HomeKit hub on your home Wi-Fi network, however, that command travels over your cellular network back to your hub, where it handshakes with your Apple ID. "This is the owner of this HomeKit network," the HomeKit hub says to your accessories. "Here's a command from them." The accessories execute the command, and the lights in your home pop on.