How can I expand HomeKit geofence radius?

I'm pulling my hair out! With the advent of IOS 16, my HomeKit isn't working correctly. I followed some recent online advice to get the geofence working which involved deleting the "home". I don't know whether that's good advice or not but deleting and reentering a "new" home deletes EVERYTHING. That's sorta ok as I took screenshots of each page in HomeKit. It appears that geofencing is working but I'm trying to figure out how to expand the "fence". I note that the fence activates about 100 feet from my front door. Since my Ecobee is on the HomeKit, I'd kinda like it to change my HVAC a bit earlier. Anyone got any ideas. Thanks (??) Apple for making this "such a joy" (not) to use. I use my Apple TV as the "HomePod".

Posted on Oct 10, 2022 01:15 PM

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Posted on Nov 20, 2022 04:48 PM

Same! HomeKit is horribly bugged or iOS16 is, or my iPhone 14 is garbage and Apple won’t help.


I’ll be sitting on my couch now and the lights will shut off on me because I “left home” then a few minutes later they’ll turn back on.


if we could expand the geofence radius HomeKit uses to call our “home area” that could fix this

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Nov 20, 2022 04:48 PM in response to Win W

Same! HomeKit is horribly bugged or iOS16 is, or my iPhone 14 is garbage and Apple won’t help.


I’ll be sitting on my couch now and the lights will shut off on me because I “left home” then a few minutes later they’ll turn back on.


if we could expand the geofence radius HomeKit uses to call our “home area” that could fix this

Oct 12, 2022 08:44 AM in response to Win W

Win W,


Thanks for the clarification. Previously, you stated that you were using the Ecobee app with the HomeKit, correct?


If so, give the steps from the following resource a try that may be able to help: How can I configure my HomeKit geofence radius and triggers?


1) In the ecobee mobile app, select the Account icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.
2) Select "HomeKit" under the Integrations menu.
3) You should see the option for "Geofence"—select it
4) Select "Enable geofence."
5) Change the radius by pinching the radius-circle to increase or decrease the radius of the geofence.
6) You may select a Scene that will trigger (or choose to do nothing) when you enter the geofence boundary and another for when you leave the boundary. Once you've finished making your adjustments, select "Done" in the top right corner to save.
7) Success! You've now set up a geofence. Any time you enter or exit the set radius, your specified Scenes will trigger.


If still running into issues after the steps above, we'd recommend reaching out to Apple Support directly using the link provided in the previous reply.


Take care.

Oct 12, 2022 02:17 PM in response to Chris_V89

Thanks for your reply. The fact that I have the Ecobee attached is really incidental. Even if it wasn't attached, I want the lights to come on, etc. earlier than in my driveway! I used the Ecobee app only to connect the thermostat to HomeKit so that, I hope I'm right, HomeKit will allow me to control the thermostat. When I leave, HomeKit changes the temperature, not the Ecobee app. Same thing when I return. Maybe HomeKit "tells" the Ecobee app what to do, I don't know. I just want HomeKit to change my departure/arrival radius a bit larger. Thanks again.

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How can I expand HomeKit geofence radius?

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