I’ve got a fair number of smart home devices here …

• Wemo switches
• Hue
  • Lights
  • Switches
• Bond fan controller (more on that later)
• Nest
  • Thermostat
  • Cameras
  • Smoke / CO detectors

Some of the devices work with Apple HomeKit so that I can control the devices directly from my phone without loading a dedicated app. In order for you to be able to control HomeKit devices from outside your home, you need a gateway that stays in your house all the time. You can use an iPad, HomePod, or Apple TV. Since we have two Apple TV’s, both are configured to be used as gateways. One of the Apple TV’s is connected and the other is in standby.

For some reason, Hue does not allow you to configure its switches to control a single light … just a room. There are work arounds, but they are kind of a PITA.

Because I can detect actions on the Hue switches, and control Hue lights with HomeKit, I have the switches programed with HomeKit automation.

Specifically, I have the switch on my nightstand configured to control my nightstand light, and the same thing for Ginny’s nightstand.

A few days ago the switches stopped working. The lights could be controlled via HomeKit … and HomeKit recognized when the switches were used, but the lights wouldn’t react to the switch actions.

I tried restarting the Hue gateway, restarting the Hue lights, and removing & reconfiguring the switches in HomeKit … but nothing seemed to work.

Then I remembered that our Apple TV’s act as a gateway for HomeKit when we’re out of the house. I figured that maybe the Apple TV’s were acting as the gateway between our phones and the Hue gateway even when we were in the house.

Since we have two Apple TV’s, one was showing ‘connected’ the other ‘standby’. I turned off the one that was showing connected. Once the one in standby connected I tested the switches and, what do you know, the Hue switches started controlling the Hue lights again.