Apple Home, February 2026: the old Home architecture reaches its end

We flagged this date in November, when Apple moved it back to give people longer. It has now passed. Support for the previous version of Apple Home ended on 10 February 2026, and Apple had been clear about the consequences well before the day. Its January reminder email told people that access to your home within the Home app might be blocked, that accessories and automations might not work as expected, and that important security fixes and performance improvements would stop arriving.

The following day it stopped being a warning. Homes still on the old version opened the Home app to a message telling them they were running an older version of Apple Home that is no longer supported, and to update now to keep using the app with their Apple devices and other accessories. The upgrade itself runs from inside the app: the More button, then Home Settings, then Software Update, then Update Now. It updates every home you own at once, and confirms with a line saying the home and all accessories are up to date. Two things have to be in place first or it will not complete: two-factor authentication on the Apple Account, and iCloud Passwords and Keychain turned on, for you and for everyone you have invited.

None of that erases anything. Apple has not said accessories are deleted or homes erased, and a blocked home is fixed by running the update rather than by rebuilding it. Homes that upgrade also pick up the features the current Home architecture has carried for a while, so anyone who had been putting it off gets guest access, robot vacuum support and Activity History on the way through.