Syncing device and room names from HomeKit

Apple Home Connect
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I have multiple Aqara sensors, thermostats, switches and an M2 hub, all connected and working great in Home/Homekit.

The one thing I’ve never had much success with is syncing names from HomeKit, it always seem to mess everything up. If anyone has any tips/best practice etc to avoid issues when syncing I’d appreciate it

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@mrplowuk It sounds like you’re having some trouble with name synchronization from HomeKit. Here are some tips and things to keep in mind:

1. Special characters
When synchronizing from Aqara Home to Apple, if there are special characters in the name, they need to be converted into spaces for synchronization. This applies to both device names and room names. So make sure to check and clean up any special characters in the names in Aqara Home before attempting to sync .

2. Synchronization display of results and possible issues

  • Network problems: When there is a network abnormality, you’ll get a prompt “Name synchronization failed, network abnormality”. Ensure that both your Aqara devices and your HomeKit hub (like iPhone, iPad, or HomePod) are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Also, check your Wi-Fi router settings to make sure AP Isolation is not enabled and mDNS functionality is not disabled. You can try using a different phone to create a Wi-Fi hotspot and connect the device to this hotspot for testing .
  • Permissions: If “family permissions” are not enabled, you’ll be prompted to first open the family data settings to allow access.
  • Syncing progress: A “Loading” message shows “Name synchronization in progress, please wait”.
  • Full success: When all names are successfully synchronized, you’ll get a prompt “Name synchronization successful”.
  • Full failure: When all name synchronization fails, a prompt will appear stating “Name synchronization failed, please ensure that the device is online in the ‘Home’ app of the Apple system”.
  • Partial failure: When partial synchronization fails, it will prompt “Partial name synchronization failed. Please ensure that the network connection is normal and the device is online in the ‘Home’ app of the Apple system” .

3. Hub related issues (if applicable)
If you’re encountering issues like failed to sync corresponding device cards (which might be related to your name sync problems), this can occur when some devices are not found or deleted incorrectly. For example, if a device is deleted from the Aqara Home app but not removed correctly in the Home app, it can lead to inconsistencies.

To address this, first ensure that devices are deleted correctly from both the Aqara Home app and the Home app. After removing the device from the Aqara Home app, double - check to see if it is also removed from the Home app.

If the issue persists, you may try the following steps:

  • Remove the problematic device from both the Aqara Home app and the Home app.
  • Reset the Aqara hub (in your case the M2 hub) by unplugging it and plugging it back in.
  • Re - add the device to the Aqara Home app and then attempt to sync with HomeKit .

4. Name synchronization feature location
You can use the name synchronization function to synchronize the device names in both apps. The function entry is “My” > “HomeKit Information” > “Name Synchronization” .

5. Synchronous logic
The syncing process retrieves all devices and service names under the current home from the cloud (excluding devices not supported by HomeKit), pulls all devices and service names from HomeKit (displaying only those manufactured by Xiaomi/Aqara), matches the device names from both sides using the device DID, and then uses the DID to locate the corresponding device’s service and matches based on the service type. When there are multiple services of the same Service Type, it synchronizes them according to the order of the services. For example, for a three rocker switch, the order of services on the Apple side would be button 1/2/3 .

If you try these steps and still have issues, it would be great if you could share more details about what specifically goes wrong during the sync process. That way, we can further troubleshoot together!

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What I get is duplicates created (when tried in the past), I have many more devices now and don’t want that to happen again. I’ll work through the info provided and see where it goes

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