Open Radar

 
People use triggers to control their HomeKit accessories and they play an important part in home automation.
Once set up, people heavily rely on triggers and assume that they work – no matter what.
If triggers fail, people lose trust and stop using them – which would be a bad thing.

Currently there are cases where triggers don't work because there is no connection between the iOS device and the HomeKit accessories.

For example
- iOS device is out of battery
- iOS device is in Airplane mode
- iOS device is not connected to the local network and remote access doesn't work because
     - Remote Access is disabled, or
     - Apple TV is powered off, or
     - Remote Access over iCloud is not supported by the accessory

If the triggers are configured on an iPhone, chances are high that the device is not always connected to the local network.
Remote Access must either be very reliable, or triggers should be synced with other devices – e.g. an iPad which always resides at home.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create an HomeKit event trigger which turns the lights on when the door is opened
2. Power off the iOS devices, or enter Airplane Mode, or disconnect the device from the local network
3. Open the door
4. Lights are not turned on

Expected Results:
HomeKit should ensure that triggers are executed, by either syncing triggers to other iOS devices, or Apple TV (or Apple Watch?).
It's annoying for normal people to find out that triggers don't work in some cases – they stop using them if they are unreliable.

Actual Results:
If there is no connection between the iOS device and the HomeKit accessory, triggers silently fail.

Version:
iOS 9