HomeKit Cameras Going offline for hours at a time.

The thing is, when the go “offline” in HomeKit - they are still available in the Eufy app so it seems it’s a HomeKit problem but as always Apple pushes the blame onto someone else instead of taking ownership of the issue!

SOLVED FOR ME:

My Setup:

Fibre to home into a ZTE supplied router from my ISP.

ZTE wifi disabled.

ZTE ethernet connect to TP-LINK mesh network.

Mesh 2.4 and 5 GHZ run same SSID and Password

How I installed: (This game me the same problem)

Connected Homebase 2 to my ZTE router with ethernet, cause it is the closest.

Activated the 2.4ghz on the ZTE - this has the same SSID and Password as my Mesh.

Deactivated Mesh wife to ensure my phone and Homebase are on same network.

Added HomeBase and 2C pro cams succesfuly to HomeKit.

Can view cams in both Eufy app and HomeKit.

Switch off ZTE Wifi and activate mesh.

All connected well, but could only view cams in Eufy app and not HomeKit..showed off line.

Took me hours of trouble shooting and resetting, reloading.

Then finally, I connected my HomeBase 2 directly via ethernet cable to a mesh unit.

And finally cams showed back up in HomeKit.

Not sure why, but seem like the HomeBase wants to be connected via Ethernet to the Router sending the Wifi SSID. Even thought the SSID and Password was exactly the same. Them moment I had my Homebase connected to the ZTE router and phone to Mesh Wifi. HomeKit would not show the feed.

Hope that makes sense.

That’s the same issue I’m having and notice it when I logged in the Eufy app. HomeKit has its pros and cons. It’s too bad they will take forever to address an issue like this or won’t even bother. ☹️

I've restarted the Eufy Homebase, my router, modem and Apple TV multiple times. I just dont know if one of those is failing me or if it's the new architecture that Apple rolled out.

Recording directly to the Eufy app or the Eufy homebase isnt the problem. It's getting the Eufy cameras to consistently talk to homekit and upload HKSV. The ONLY reason I even use homekit is because of it's geofencing feature because Eufy's is so terrible/non-existant.

I too use HK for that reason since Eufys geo isn’t great. If you use a homebridge related product like Homebridge, Hoobs, Home Assistant you can get the eufy plugin that you can then use to arm your eufy system directly with your geo location, that way you still get the recordings and even alarms that come with arming the eufy system and if HomeKit side works great if not you still have a back up.

I have spent much time with eufy support but their help is minimal: restart or reset. That’s about it

Go with Aqara you won’t regret it. Their camera comes with built in zigbee hub. My eufy cams are going in the trash for the same reason. They’re offline more than online. They’re known liars as well and no functionality in the HomeKit environment. They said they were working on it over 2 years ago. Still the same.

Your cameras are on 2.4gHz band. Put your HomeKit hub (Apple TV or Home Pod) on same 2.4gHz band. If your modem or router is dual band, you'll need to separate bands into dedicated 2.4gHZ and 5gHz, and connect cameras AND home hub device to dedicated 2.4gHz band. This set up has a drawback: you won't be able to utilize the 5gHz for media streaming, but, it does prevent cameras from going offline. You'll still be able to view cameras from your computer or phone or any device that are on 5gHz band. I have Eufy 2C cams, by the way.

Just out of curiosity, I've looked into those 2C cameras... they, as all other Eufy cams, *are* using WiFi. While the base station is wired to router, the connection between base station and camera is WiFi. And that is 2.4GHz. So, your assertion is incorrect. On the other hand, camera does need base station to operate, but I am not sure if base station has any effect on HomeKit besides streaming. I've been running different setups (with Eufy 2K Solo) for a while, and found that, indeed, it did not matter how Apple TV or HomePod are connected. What did mater is that whenever I switch any device, that is used to view cams in Home app, to 2.4GHz, cameras would show up reliably. Once I switch viewing device back to to 5GHz, cameras may stay streaming, but very rarely.. most of the time, they would drop off and become unresponsive, either immediately, or after a while.

Hello GARNERBTACP,

Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

The steps found in this article should be helpful: eufy Cameras Go Offline

If the issue persists, it may be best to reach out to the manufacture directly by going to Contact US

They should be able to take a closer look and check on available options.

Cheers!

I've been noticing the same thing with my Eufy cameras as well. I went for a walk yesterday afternoon and my cameras switch to "Stream and Record" because I went outside the geofence for Homekit. While on my walk, I was getting notifications of activity in my house because my wife was still home. When I returned home, I found that not only were NONE of the motions and activities in the house being recorded, all of my cameras were "Offline".

I then spent the next several hours troubleshooting all of my cameras, homekit and the Eufy homebase and I cannot find an answer.

These screenshots show just how long my cameras have been offline for in the past few days. This is completely unacceptable Apple....

Have you restarted the base and your network?

I've just recently started having this issue. Almost positive it's tied to the horrid iCloud service which has been having constant outages every few days now.

The Eufy cams are not using WiFi. The WiFi band used cannot have any impact. The base station has a wired connection.

Looks like I posted in wrong tread. I also made a typo: I have Eufy 2K (Solo) cams, not 2C.