It’s been just over a year since Apple announced HomeKit, its plan to allow you to control your smart home with an iOS device. Compatible products have only just started trickling onto shelves, and there’s been some confusion about how exactly the company is going to turn this idea into a coherent experience. That’s still not entirely clear, but Apple has at least given us a little more information with the addition of support for new category types including security systems, smart locks and carbon monoxide detectors. It also announced that you’ll be able to control devices remotely using iCloud.
So what can you actually do with HomeKit right now? Not a whole lot. Elgato, Ecobee, Lutron, iHome and Insteon have all announced their products are coming in the next few months, and HomeKit will also play nice with other standards like ZigBee and Z-Wave, the two biggest biggest names in home autonomy right now. That’s why we saw Philips, makers of the Hue lightbulb range, announce compatibility with HomeKit will arrive this fall — Hue utilizes the ZigBee standard. As for how Apple’s going to tie all this together? The rumor is there’ll be an app called “Home” for iOS 9 — likely to be announced this fall — that’ll control everything. I guess we’ll wait a little longer, then.
Filed under: Mobile, Apple
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