Phone MAC Randomization Breaking Presence-Based Automations
You built a presence-based automation two years ago: when your phone connects to home Wi-Fi, the lights turn on and the thermostat…
Editorial archive
Every guide we have published
109 troubleshooting guides across 6 categories. All written from real reproductions of the failure, all updated quarterly.
HomePod Stereo Pair Unbalanced: One Speaker Louder or Silent
You paired two HomePods into a stereo pair in the Home app. When you play music, one plays clearly and the other…
SmartThings Edge Driver Stuck Loading: Local Runtime Diagnostics
SmartThings Edge drivers are the local-first architecture Samsung introduced in 2022 that let Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Matter devices run their logic on…
Smart Display Widget Cards Go Blank After an Ecosystem Migration
You moved your smart home from SmartThings to Home Assistant. Or from Google Home to Apple Home. Or you just refreshed your…
Migrating Thread Devices Between Border Routers Without Recommissioning
You replaced your old HomePod mini (which was your Thread border router) with a newer Apple TV 4K. Or you added a…
Alexa Hunches Keep Disabling Themselves: Handling Preference Reset Loops
You enable Alexa Hunches. You confirm the setting. A week later, the setting is off again, and Alexa is not asking whether…
Smart Devices Disconnecting Exactly Every 24 Hours: DHCP Lease Expiration
Your smart plugs go offline, your camera drops its stream, and your voice assistant reports lost devices — all at almost exactly…
Google Home Routine Cannot Find Custom Actions That Worked Last Week
Your Google Home routine used to say "Hey Google, movie time" and dim the lights, turn on the TV via a custom…
Nabu Casa Cloud Outage: What Actually Breaks Locally on Home Assistant
Home Assistant with Nabu Casa is the closest thing to a hybrid smart home: mostly local, cloud only for the parts that…
Nest Hub Max Face Match Keeps Un-Enrolling Family Members: Recovery
Face Match on the Nest Hub Max is one of the more useful features on any smart display: walk into the kitchen,…
Matter Multi-Admin Failing: When Adding a Second Controller Kicks the First
The Matter promise is that any device commissioned on one fabric can also join Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, and SmartThings without…
Home Assistant Says ‘Not Triggered’ But Logs Show It Ran: State Versus Event Mode
Your Home Assistant automation UI shows a red "Not triggered" label. You open the logbook and the same automation shows an entry…