Apple Nudges HomeKit Robot Vacuum Support Rollout to Next Year

[Powerbooky]

If anyone really wants this functionality they can just use HomeBridge or Home Assistant and have the vacuum show up as a couple of on/off switches.

Native support is always nice, though.

I'm guessing that only new products will be natively supported? iRobot probably won't do that for all of their products from the last 5 years or so. Their app alone is too much dependent on external servers and I guess that most likely they won't qualify for HomeKit certification.

At this moment I use HomeBridge to monitor the status of each Roomba. Our living room Roomba usually runs at night and the lights will turn on when the Roomba starts a cleaning job and turn it off again immediately after it's finished. I wished that it could monitor the actual location/room too, to let the automation know which lights to turn on instead of the whole floor. So I'm hoping that HomeKit will support room detection, because HomeBridge with all the available plugins doesn't or fails easily.

 

[JapanApple]

I'm guessing that only new products will be natively supported? iRobot probably won't do that for all of their products from the last 5 years or so. Their app alone if too much dependent on external servers.

At this moment I use HomeBridge to monitor the status of each Roomba. Our living room Roomba usually runs at night and the lights will turn on when the Roomba starts a cleaning job and turn it off again immediately after it's finished. I wished that it could monitor the actual location/room too, to let the automation know which lights to turn on instead of the whole floor. So I'm hoping that HomeKit will support room detection, because HomeBridge with all the available plugins doesn't or fails easily.

Well, Amazon wanted to Buy iRobot but it didn't go. I wonder what will be instore for these types of devices in the future.

 

[cgs1xx]

Hello!! Get ring cameras to work with homekit already! Everyone has one!
😀

 

[iPay]

I can already do this with Alexa, it's becoming more and more difficult to justify to anybody how Apple is better than the current competition on the market.

Well, they're better than everyone at taking an existing feature and making it a $499 product.

 

[oldwatery]

We are building a new house and will make it a bit smart. After much research I have decided to buy into the Matter universe. This way we have choices. But I am very surprised how the Apple eco system lags behind the others. How difficult can it be to have HomeKit show videos from cams etc in 4K instead of this arcane 1080 nonsense. What has happened to Apple in regard to being even level let alone cutting edge with systems like this? Maybe they should spend less time on silly phone upgrades and more on being a technology leader again.

 

[QCassidy352]

Will it support all robovacs? I just got a new lowish-end Roomba to replace a dead eufy.

 

[NightFox]

Will it support all robovacs? I just got a new lowish-end Roomba to replace a dead eufy.

No, it'll only natively support ones that are HomeKit or Matter compatible, and that'll be up to the manufacturers.

Of course there will be unofficial workarounds through the likes of Homebridge for some devices, but again that will depend on what the independent plug-in developers can get working.

 

[aleksander]

Again, so much assumed here without paying attention to the nuances of this functionality vs. "others". Apple literally is approaching this holistically using standards, most of these other methods are just quick and dirty shortcuts.

Most brands would bend over backwards and adjust if Apple just put the damn vacuum in Homekit.