After the release of iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura, and the HomePod 16 software this fall, Mac Rumors reported that the iPad can no longer be used as a home hub.
Steve Moser, a contributor at Mac Rumors, discovered in iOS 16 code the iPad will no longer be supported as a home hub. It was said that after updating to iOS 16, this information will be seen in the Home app.
"A home hub is required to take advantage of features like receiving accessory notifications and allowing other people to control your home," read a text in the Home app. "You will not be able to view shared homes until those homes are also upgraded to the latest HomeKit. iPad will no longer be supported as a home hub."
You Can Still Use Home Hub
You will need to use a HomePod, HomePod mini, or Apple TV as your home hub when you upgrade to iOS 16 if the change takes effect as the code says.
However, it is worth noting that since this is the first iPadOS 16 beta, it is still possible to set an iPad as a home hub because Apple's iOS 16 preview web page's claim that the iPad would not be able to be used as a home hub was not confirmed until now.
There Are Also Good News About iOS 16
According to The Verge, a brand-new Home app with features like a new categories section and a redesigned home tab will be included in the update. Additionally, a subsequent iOS 16 update will include support for Matter, a new smart home connectivity standard that is expected to release this fall and has wide industry support.
As previously reported, iOS users will soon be able to report junk SMS messages to Apple and the user's carrier in addition to junk iMessages. Users who mark SMS messages as junk using iOS 16's "Report Junk" function submit the text's number and contents to Apple as well as their phone or device's carrier.
This iOS 16 feature is beneficial because users typically need to forward the full unsolicited text message to a four-digit number that they need to search up in order to report unwanted messages to a phone carrier. Hence, they will be able to save ample time because of this feature. However, it should be noted that doing so does not automatically block the number; users must still take manual steps.
Apple did not name the carriers to which it would roll out the expanded "Report Junk" feature.
In a separate report, users of iPhones running iOS 16 won't need to confirm that they're human any longer.
Completely Automated Public Turing tests (CAPTCHAs), which require that you tap on specified images or read squiggly language, are purportedly all solved by iOS 16 in supported apps and websites.
This is possible thanks to private access tokens (PAT), which allow you to verify that an HTTP authentication request is coming from a human and not a robot.
