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Can someone explain HomeKit please?
- Thread starter yalag
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If there are no apps. then whats the point? Hardware companies can build their own controlling apps anyway. What exactly does homekit do?
I read that, it just doesn't make sense that there is no Apple homekit app. Because if there isn't, and you end up using 10000 apps to control 10000 things anyway, then whats the point?
You would set up zones in your house via settings i.e bedroom with these devices, living room with these devices, garage with these devices and so on. You most likely will be able to also set up timers, alarms, geofencing etc. for different zones.
If you want to manually do something it would be with Siri. Could be something simple like "Siri close my garage door" or something more complex like "Goodnight Siri" where it would than turn off your lights, lock your doors, close your garage, turn off your heater etc. Sounds pretty damn amazing and that's the point of home kit
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x2 on Siri being the HomeKit "app".
It's pretty impressive what some folks are doing with Amazon's Echo (which listens for commands to be spoken) and home automation. I think that's where Apple wants to take Siri, in terms of HomeKit functionality.
I thought that because HomeKit creates a standard, then all devices in the house that are HomeKit compliant can be controlled by a bridging type of third party app that a user can purchase and populate with the devices in their house? Still waiting for this space to mature a bit before I jump in though.
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What I don't understand is with IOS 9 it is not supposed to require an AppleTV (3rd gen or higher) to enable HomeKit to work remotely because the devices are able to now. How does this work with older HomeKit devices that may not have this new support in their devices?
According to Ecobee, their thermostat requires a software and hardware update to be compatible with iOS 9.
I saw it in their FAQ a few months ago. It seems it has been removed. To be clear, I'm specifically referring to iOS 9 not needing an Apple TV bridge to control HomeKit devices via a cellular network. Their FAQ still states an Apple TV is required.
Ok, yes that would make sense. That goes back to my previous post wondering how this all will work.
There is an Official Apple HomeKit App.
It's call HMCatalog and free to download on Apples developer website.
Thats really just meant for developers as an example app, not really consumer facing. Time will tell if Apple will do their own but I think there are nice free and paid apps that provide support for all the HomeKit profiles.
ConnectSense (Free): https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/connectsense/id924559441
Home ($15): https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/home-smart-home-automation/id995994352?mt=8