Ecobee and Insteon Announce New HomeKit-Compatible Products

[MacRumors]

Following in the footsteps of iHome, Lutron and Elgato, Ecobee and Insteon, two of Apple's other HomeKit partners, are also announcing new HomeKit-compatible products today. Ecobee is announcing a new smart thermostat, while Insteon is introducing the Insteon Hub for adding HomeKit compatibility to Insteon's range of switches, outlets, thermostats, and lightbulbs.

Ecobee's existing thermostat is already sold in Apple's retail stores, and as of July, the company is launching a new version that's compatible with HomeKit. The new WiFi-connected ecobee3 will be one of the first HomeKit-supported thermostat available to consumers, letting temperature be controlled through Siri commands on the iPhone and iPad.

"As the first HomeKit-enabled smart thermostat, we couldn't be happier to bring this revolutionary technology to customers," said Stuart Lombard, president and CEO of ecobee. "The new ecobee3 uses wireless remote sensors to deliver the right temperature to the rooms that matter most, and now customers can conveniently control their temperature using Siri on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, or the ecobee app."

The ecobee3 uses several remote sensors to measure temperature and occupancy in multiple rooms of the house to adjust cooling and heating when a person is home and when away. Like other HomeKit-compatible devices, the ecobee3 can be grouped with other connected-home devices to enable commands like "Siri, I'm going to bed" which will turn down the temperature and turn off the lights.

Insteon's HomeKit-enabled Insteon Hub, first announced at CES, pairs with the new Insteon+ app and connects to Insteon's range of smart home products, from LED bulbs and cameras to wall outlets, keypads, switches, sensors, and more. Insteon has a wide assortment of connected-home products that pair with its Hub, bringing HomeKit compatibility to a wide selection of accessories. Like the company's existing hub, the new hub pairs with almost all of Insteon's products and a few additional products, like the Nest thermostat.

The Insteon+ app is also able to interface with other HomeKit-enabled products, so the Insteon system can potentially be used to control an entire connected home. The app allows users to set up "rooms" and "zones," schedule scenes, and adjust multiple devices at once.

"We're excited to be shipping our HomeKit-enabled Insteon Hub and releasing the Insteon+ mobile app, enabling the mass consumer market to live in a world where all of their connected devices work together in perfect harmony," said Joe Dada, CEO, Insteon. "HomeKit streamlines home automation for consumers, brings together multiple manufacturers and offers advanced features like remote control and voice control through integrations with Siri."

The HomeKit-compatible ecobee3, which includes a thermostat and one sensor, will be available for purchase in Apple retail stores in July for $249. The Insteon Hub will be available for purchase through Amazon.com and Smarthome.com in early July for $149.99.

Article Link: Ecobee and Insteon Announce New HomeKit-Compatible Products

 

[Aeolius]

If this means you could use an Apple Watch and Siri voice recognition to control Insteon devices, that will be a step in the right direction!

 

[GIZBUG]

I own an ecobee 3 and love it. Got it in December 2014, so I am kind of disappointed a new version is out so soon.

 

[Corrode]

Currently own an Ecobee3 and it's great but it sucks that new hardware is required for Homekit, even though I bought my product well after Homekit was announced.

 

[nt5672]

Does the Ecobee3 phone home? I have a Nest and it has sucked every since I got it. Not because it phones home, but when looking for a replacement, I am interested in keeping control within my home network.

 

[UnfetteredMind]

Personally waiting to see what Universal Devices does with the ISY994 as far as HomeKit. I may even wait for some second gen products since I have no immediate plans to get an Apple Watch which would really make all this more compelling.

 

[Le Big Mac]

I own an ecobee 3 and love it. Got it in December 2014, so I am kind of disappointed a new version is out so soon.

+1 to this. I don't know the hardware side of things, but is there some reason the current model can't be updated to use HomeKit? Although if it's just Siri control, I can probably live without it . . .

 

[Le Big Mac]

Does the Ecobee3 phone home? I have a Nest and it has sucked every since I got it. Not because it phones home, but when looking for a replacement, I am interested in keeping control within my home network.

Not sure what you mean by phone home (or what concern you're getting at). It's internet connected, but it continues to operate without an internet connection just fine. You'd lose weather data and usage tracking (although I think it buffers that info for a period and then uploads, in case you lose connection for a period of time).

 

[JackANSI]

I own an ecobee 3 and love it. Got it in December 2014, so I am kind of disappointed a new version is out so soon.

Same here, bought 2 in March... I still have hope as they didn't change the name. The ecobee 3 also has a little tray/port for adding upgrades.

 

[kingtj]

Wow! Count me in too. I purchased 2 of the older EcoBee smart SI thermostats last May, when we moved in to our new house. (We have a 2 story house with separate heat-pumps for each floor, so it requires 2 thermostats.)

At the time, I liked them but had my doubt whether or not they could really save me enough energy on heating/cooling bills to justify their up-front expense. Since then, EcoBee released these models with remote temperature sensors -- which turns out to be a feature I REALLY need, especially for our upstairs thermostat. (The place it mounts on the wall is out in a hallway, but all of the vents are in the actual bedrooms or bathroom up there. So when everyone goes to bed at night and shuts the doors to their rooms, the thermostat believes it's much warmer than it really is and keeps the A/C running, making it way too cool in the rooms.)

I almost broke down and bought one with a couple of remote sensors, but now they're updating AGAIN for HomeKit. So guess it's a good thing I waited. But seriously ... at this rate, these will NEVER make any economic sense because you can't seem to upgrade what you have or get trade-in credit from EcoBee for an older model!

Same here, bought 2 in March... I still have hope as they didn't change the name. The ecobee 3 also has a little tray/port for adding upgrades.

 

[69650]

Being able to control the electric doors on my garage using an Apple Watch would be really cool.

 

[Dukeie]

Glad I haven't bought the EcoBee3 yet! I will wait

 

[nt5672]

Not sure what you mean by phone home (or what concern you're getting at). It's internet connected, but it continues to operate without an internet connection just fine. You'd lose weather data and usage tracking (although I think it buffers that info for a period and then uploads, in case you lose connection for a period of time).

By phone home I mean, does it require a third party server to access the thermostat in order for iPhone remote control? So for example, with Nest, you can change the set temperature from your iPhone, but to do so, you have to log into a server (happens automatically if you want), change the temperature on the iPhone, which then changes the temperature at the server, which then connects to your thermostat and changes its temperature. Therefore, the server has complete control over my thermostat including minute by minute data gathering capability which includes knowing when I am at home and when I am away.

Since this information is gathered and sold by Google, it is an invasion of my privacy and is not worth the value of being able to change the temperature when I am not home.

What I want is the ability to connect the iPhone directly to my thermostat without Google, or anyone else in the middle.

 

[nt5672]

Being able to control the electric doors on my garage using an Apple Watch would be really cool.

Even better is me being able to control the electric doors on your garage!

 

[69Mustang]

{snip}
Since this information is gathered and sold by Google, it is an invasion of my privacy and is not worth the value of being able to change the temperature when I am not home.

What I want is the ability to connect the iPhone directly to my thermostat without Google, or anyone else in the middle.

Since when does Google sell your information? Not sure where you got that from, but you should really give it back. It's FUD.

Wanting the phone to connect to your thermostat directly is a legitimate want. Your knowledge of what Google does needs help.

 

[WelshDog]

I've got a house full of Insteon with Indigo running on a Mac Mini to control it all. Will be curious to see see what new pathways this Home Kit/Insteon hookup offers.

 

[SteveW928]

At the time, I liked them but had my doubt whether or not they could really save me enough energy on heating/cooling bills to justify their up-front expense. ... So when everyone goes to bed at night and shuts the doors to their rooms, the thermostat believes it's much warmer than it really is and keeps the A/C running, making it way too cool in the rooms.

Yea, that's the problem with much of this home-automation stuff. A lot of what we'd *love* to do with our homes simply can't be done because of the limits of rather archaic HVAC designs. It's a lot more complicated than just slapping in a 'smart' thermostat, etc. You'd need extra air returns, multiple thermostats, and the ability to control the distribution of the heat/cool to each vent, or zones of the house, etc.

I've often been wanting something like an exhaust fan system that could measure the outside air temp, and start to exhaust the hotter inside air (in the summer) once the outside cools down, instead of depending on A/C. Pretty simple stuff, but the home needs to be designed for it, or modified, which might cost quite a bit. So, I put a big fan in a window.

Regarding money saving.... I don't think you'll see much money savings unless you're comparing these things to the most simplistic thermostats out there. But, once you're talking about a basic programable one, I doubt going to one of these is going to gain much.

I considered a Nest when remodeling the home we bought a few months ago, but once I started learning about it, decided to go with a reliable basic programable one. The Nest just isn't ready for prime-time yet. Maybe the problem is that I think the company is in San Fran, where they don't actually need reliability (it's not relay based, so they tend to fail more easily.... and when it's 30-below-zero, do don't want your thermostat failing or locking up because some dorfs in SF decided to push a software update!).

I looked at 'smart' smoke/CO detectors and door-locks too... same thing IMO, just not ready for prime-time. Maybe in a few years.

 

[Le Big Mac]

By phone home I mean, does it require a third party server to access the thermostat in order for iPhone remote control? So for example, with Nest, you can change the set temperature from your iPhone, but to do so, you have to log into a server (happens automatically if you want), change the temperature on the iPhone, which then changes the temperature at the server, which then connects to your thermostat and changes its temperature. Therefore, the server has complete control over my thermostat including minute by minute data gathering capability which includes knowing when I am at home and when I am away.

Since this information is gathered and sold by Google, it is an invasion of my privacy and is not worth the value of being able to change the temperature when I am not home.

What I want is the ability to connect the iPhone directly to my thermostat without Google, or anyone else in the middle.

1) Yes, the Ecobee controls the 'stat through a server. That allows a user to change the temperature when I'm at work (for example) and not on the same LAN. I haven't explored it fully, but I don't believe there is a way to turn this feature off other than to disable it entirely.

2) Nest is owned by Google, but Google has pledged to honor the privacy policies Nest provided (I believe). But I understand the risk that could change and your concern.

3) Ecobee is not owned by Google, but rather is its own company. Unlike Google they do not have the same incentives to datamine to support another part of the business. Could they? Sure. Could they sell the data to someone else? Perhaps. You can review their privacy policy here: https://www.ecobee.com/legal/use/

 

[hxlover904]

I've been looking at the ecobee for our new house and almost bought it a couple of days back. Then yesterday I noticed a $20 price drop and wondered why it had dropped. Today, I know.

Even better is me being able to control the electric doors on your garage!

Speaking of things you can do with other people's stuff... http://www.amazon.com/review/R3IMEY...dThread=TxE0OSKME498S&store=hi#wasThisHelpful

 

[nt5672]

Since when does Google sell your information? Not sure where you got that from, but you should really give it back. It's FUD.

I quit caring when Google bought Nest, so you may be right. However, I know that Nest and Google both sell the information to utilities for forecasting load. Yeah, it supposed to be protected or aggregated, but then again we are supposed to have privacy laws and we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but both of those are violated more often than not by both governments and businesses lately. People don't seem to care. As long as they get their free search, their free phone, and their free photo sharing, privacy no longer matters. Nowhere does Google actually spell out how they protect your privacy. All they say is that they do, trust us. Our current government and the fact that I often have to change my credit cards because no one cares about security has made me tired of trusting.

Google works by selling knowledge about people. They can't provide all of the free services they provide without doing that. It is their revenue model. So yes, I am suspicious. And while they do say they don't sell my private information, they make no statement about selling the metadata associated with my information.

I have been too lax in protecting my own privacy and now its time to demand better. Sure, keep the server options for those people who think that remote control is more important than the privacy risk, but also I want a local control only option so I have control over the privacy of my information.

Added: The NSA takes what information it wants from Google, whether Google wants to give it or not. But if my information never makes it to Google, then guess what? My info stays private.