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HomeKit section

Me too, I think it would be a great addition to the other forums and especially to the growing interest in home automation.
 
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Agreed. Home Automation is an up-and-coming topic and there is a lot of interest in HomeKit. I would strongly advised NOT following the TV "categories" approach and getting this created ahead of the game. :)
 
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Add me to the people who want a HomeKit forum. I recently bought an Ecobee thermostat and am looking to add HUE lights to my kitchen cabinets during my remodel. I already have X10s on my living room lights and projector and will need advice moving to a system that integrates better with HomeKit. There are also other automation projects I would like to tackle, like a way to operate a cat door with my iPhone or put it on an automated locking schedule. Have also dabbled with the website IFTTT.com where I can create recipes to automate some tasks. For example, I created a recipe where IF my iPhone gps detects that I left Minnesota THEN my ecobee goes into vacation mode, and vice versa. I love stuff like this and would like a place to discuss it with other people, especially to find automation parts to create devices that can be operated via the iPhone or TV.
 
dejo said:
There is absolutely no reason you can't start a thread about your HomeKit topic. That is certainly welcome. The concern is whether or not there is a need for a forum or sub-forum on the subject, to which the mods have decided: for now, it's a bit too early.
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The problem is, where should we be posting about HomeKit? As I said in my post above, I wanted to ask a question about HomeKit, looked through the forum list to find a relevant forum and couldn't find one, so I gave up and didn't post at all.
 
Another vote for a HomeKit forum. I'm very interested in home automation and can't find a good forum "home". Macrumors is where I go for all things Apple. Macrumors should start one now or be surpassed by someone else. Other forums are starting up.
 
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One example is that there's a tvOS Programming forum with 15 threads in it. A quick search for threads with homekit in the title alone renders 68. This is a pretty relevant and growing feature, would love to see it adopted here.
 
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FWIW, I'd like to see a dedicated HomeKit section too. Right now there's no obviously "right" place to discuss HomeKit on what's supposed to be a dedicated Apple website - but there is a dedicated subform for Politics, Religion and Social Issues! Go figure.

And there's a lot to learn/discuss about HomeKit, since it's all so new. The best option right now seems to be other websites.

Kind-of disappointing.
 
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Arran said:
FWIW, I'd like to see a dedicated HomeKit section too. Right now there's no obviously "right" place to discuss HomeKit on what's supposed to be a dedicated Apple website - but there is a dedicated subform for Politics, Religion and Social Issues! Go figure.

And there's a lot to learn/discuss about HomeKit, since it's all so new. The best option right now seems to be other websites.

Kind-of disappointing.
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Certainly it is. Unless there are ad clicks there seem to be not much interest by the site owners. Maybe if we ask the industry analyst Ming Kuo to tweet something or give one his predictions something may be done.
I specialty the Apple hump case may be HomeKit compatible.
 
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McGiord said:
Certainly it is. Unless there are ad clicks there seem to be not much interest by the site owners. Maybe if we ask the industry analyst Ming Kuo to tweet something or give one his predictions something may be done.
I specialty the Apple hump case may be HomeKit compatible.
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MacRumors is interested, there have been 8 news articles since HomeKit officially launched and a further 34 threads started by forum members.

First Alert Debuts HomeKit-Enabled Onelink Smoke Alarm
iHome's iSP5 SmartPlug Is Far From Perfect, But It's a Cheap Way to Give HomeKit a Try
Elgato's 'Eve' Smart Home Accessories Are Useful, But Hampered by Buggy HomeKit Platform
How to Use Your iPhone With HomeKit-Enabled Devices
Philips Hue Gaining Apple HomeKit Support This Fall
Apple TV Confirmed as Central Hub for Remotely Controlling HomeKit-Enabled Accessories
Ecobee and Insteon Announce New HomeKit-Compatible Products
First HomeKit-Compatible Products Launching Today, Led by Lutron, iHome, Elgato, Insteon and Ecobee

It's still early days and a home for HomeKit is being discussed again, though our members have started more new threads about the Apple Smart Battery Case in the last month than they have for HomeKit so perhaps another forum should be created for that new product first. ;)
 
The problem is no one those where to put their HomeKit related threads, surely you must see a dedicated HomeKit section will lead to more threads being created
 
Another vote for a HomeKit forum.

I just came to the forums to ask a HomeKit question and didn't find anywhere to put it...
 
OllyW said:
MacRumors is interested, there have been 8 news articles since HomeKit officially launched and a further 34 threads started by forum members.

First Alert Debuts HomeKit-Enabled Onelink Smoke Alarm
iHome's iSP5 SmartPlug Is Far From Perfect, But It's a Cheap Way to Give HomeKit a Try
Elgato's 'Eve' Smart Home Accessories Are Useful, But Hampered by Buggy HomeKit Platform
How to Use Your iPhone With HomeKit-Enabled Devices
Philips Hue Gaining Apple HomeKit Support This Fall
Apple TV Confirmed as Central Hub for Remotely Controlling HomeKit-Enabled Accessories
Ecobee and Insteon Announce New HomeKit-Compatible Products
First HomeKit-Compatible Products Launching Today, Led by Lutron, iHome, Elgato, Insteon and Ecobee

It's still early days and a home for HomeKit is being discussed again, though our members have started more new threads about the Apple Smart Battery Case in the last month than they have for HomeKit so perhaps another forum should be created for that new product first. ;)
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That's an interesting cart you have pulling the horse, there! :)
 
OllyW said:
MacRumors is interested, there have been 8 news articles since HomeKit officially launched and a further 34 threads started by forum members.

First Alert Debuts HomeKit-Enabled Onelink Smoke Alarm
iHome's iSP5 SmartPlug Is Far From Perfect, But It's a Cheap Way to Give HomeKit a Try
Elgato's 'Eve' Smart Home Accessories Are Useful, But Hampered by Buggy HomeKit Platform
How to Use Your iPhone With HomeKit-Enabled Devices
Philips Hue Gaining Apple HomeKit Support This Fall
Apple TV Confirmed as Central Hub for Remotely Controlling HomeKit-Enabled Accessories
Ecobee and Insteon Announce New HomeKit-Compatible Products
First HomeKit-Compatible Products Launching Today, Led by Lutron, iHome, Elgato, Insteon and Ecobee

It's still early days and a home for HomeKit is being discussed again, though our members have started more new threads about the Apple Smart Battery Case in the last month than they have for HomeKit so perhaps another forum should be created for that new product first. ;)
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Tilpots said:
That's an interesting cart you have pulling the horse, there! :)
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I suppose this argument could be made for any peripheral that Apple releases but Homekit is an emerging technology, designed to be used with many different hardware devices.
 
ericgtr12 said:
I suppose this argument could be made for any peripheral that Apple releases but Homekit is an emerging technology, designed to be used with many different hardware devices.
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Normally we would not be able to justify starting a new forum for a subject with such low activity but we are discussing it because we haven't got a proper home for HomeKit in the existing forum structure.
 
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OllyW said:
Normally we would not be able to justify starting a new forum for a subject with such low activity but we are discussing it because we haven't got a proper home for HomeKit in the existing forum structure.
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Thank you for your consideration.
 
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OllyW said:
Normally we would not be able to justify starting a new forum for a subject with such low activity but we are discussing it because we haven't got a proper home for HomeKit in the existing forum structure.
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I suggest something more general, such as "Home Automation" or "Internet of Things".

There's a recent thread in "Community" asking about home automation systems in general. There are at least two more recent ones regarding smart thermostats (Nest v. Ecobee). None of those are specifically about HomeKit, but would probably be shoehorned in to a forum named "HomeKit".

Depending on the forum's name, consider a thread prefix that identifies whether it's HomeKit or not.
 
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So
chown33 said:
I suggest something more general, such as "Home Automation" or "Internet of Things".

There's a recent thread in "Community" asking about home automation systems in general. There are at least two more recent ones regarding smart thermostats (Nest v. Ecobee). None of those are specifically about HomeKit, but would probably be shoehorned in to a forum named "HomeKit".

Depending on the forum's name, consider a thread prefix that identifies whether it's HomeKit or not.
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Im sure this is how we started with the apple tv section being called home entertainment or something
 
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Another option might be to make a new "Framework" forum which includes subsections for: HomeKit, ApplePay, HealthKit, and whatever other frameworks Apple unveils that are of interest to the average consumer (as opposed to developer).

That's sort-of how Apple has it structured over on their developer forums: https://forums.developer.apple.com/community/app-frameworks . Of course they also have subforms over there for developer stuff that isn't relevant the average consumer. (e.g., "Cocoa Touch")
 
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m11rphy said:
Im sure this is how we started with the apple tv section being called home entertainment or something
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I really like the fact that "home entertainment" is a generic "starter" name. Broader appeal.

So maybe the sub-forum names I copied from the Dev. site above could be reworded more generically here. Something like:
  • Home Automation,
  • eWallet and Payments,
  • Health and Fitness.
And then just see how people respond and use them? Refine/subdivide later if necessary.
 
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