Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iOS 26 Includes Adaptive Temperature Option for Automatic Thermostat Adjustment

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
69,596
40,768


iOS 26 includes a new Home app feature called Adaptive Temperature, which is designed to adjust the thermostat automatically when you leave the house or arrive back home.

homekit-showdown-redux.jpg

Adaptive Temperature can be turned on by opening up the Home app, selecting a thermostat, opening up the settings, and then tapping on Adaptive Temperature. With permission, Adaptive Temperature can switch between temperature modes (Cool/Heat/Auto/Off) as needed, predict user arrival based on daily schedule to adjust temperature, and change the temperature based on room occupancy if occupancy sensors are available.

According to Apple, Adaptive Temperature relies on Activity History to determine whether someone is home. The thermostat will adjust temperature based on a "home" state, which is when someone is in the house, and an "away" state, which is when no one is home. There's also an "extended away" state that further tweaks the temperature if no one is home for longer than 24 hours, or if every member of the home is a certain distance away.

The Activity History feature in the Home app does not specifically log when someone leaves or arrives home, but it does keep track of when the home's activity state changes. Turning off location sharing with the Home app will prevent Activity History from using a device's location to trigger Adaptive Temperature.

It's not yet clear if Adaptive Temperature is working, or if thermostat makers need to release software updates to enable the feature. On Reddit, several users have been unable to find the Adaptive Temperature setting for their HomeKit or Matter-compatible thermostats.

Article Link: iOS 26 Includes Adaptive Temperature Option for Automatic Thermostat Adjustment
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/09/17/ios-26-adaptive-temperature/
Last edited:
ecobee is notorious for not allowing full control over their devices via the Home app. All new ecobee thermostats and sensor come with Thread radios yet they refuse to implement Matter over Thread.

Hopefully they supports Adaptive Temperature, otherwise Apple really needs to build in automatic support for all HomeKit devices.
 
  • Like
Reactions: whsbuss, macduke and parameter
I'm sure it's a good feature for some people, but it's useless to me. I use the Aqara W100 remote sensor & M100 Hub to control the climate in our music room. The Matter Nest thermostat is in the hall, and is not reflective of the temperature in the music room. The Aqara system is more responsive, and if you use Celsius, you can set things in half degree increments. Using an automation, I can keep the music room in a 4 degree range, which solved the problem of the piano going out of tune every 2-3 months. (BTW, the Matter Nest thermostat is not compatible with the Nest remote sensor. Fail!)
 
GIZBUG said:
Where do you find this setting
Click to expand...
You're asking about the Homekit integration with a Nest, right?
Same here if you are, but I don't think it is going to come. At least not with Nest products, at least not mine (Not Homekit based).

But I don't think Google/Nest even makes any Homekit compatible products, do they?

You could set something like this up using Home Assistant yourself, or use the Nest builtin somewhat "adaptive temperature" which for me just runs over the temperature you set by a degree usually. That's about how "smart" it is, again for me at least.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BadMelonFarmer
parameter said:
You're asking about the Homekit integration with a Nest, right?
Same here if you are, but I don't think it is going to come. At least not with Nest products, at least not mine (Not Homekit based).

But I don't think Google/Nest even makes any Homekit compatible products, do they?

You could set something like this up using Home Assistant yourself, or use the Nest builtin somewhat "adaptive temperature" which for me just runs over the temperature you set by a degree usually. That's about how "smart" it is, again for me at least.
Click to expand...
Only the 4th Gen Nest learning thermostat is matter enabled, which is the key to HomeKit integretion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: parameter and jocamero
parameter said:
You're asking about the Homekit integration with a Nest, right?
Same here if you are, but I don't think it is going to come. At least not with Nest products, at least not mine (Not Homekit based).

But I don't think Google/Nest even makes any Homekit compatible products, do they?

You could set something like this up using Home Assistant yourself, or use the Nest builtin somewhat "adaptive temperature" which for me just runs over the temperature you set by a degree usually. That's about how "smart" it is, again for me at least.
Click to expand...

Nest has had Matter integration for a while now, which means it has HomeKit integration. I routinely manage my two Nest thermostats using the Home app across my Apple devices.

Regarding the automation, based on your phone, it's called Home/Away Assist. That has to be managed in the Google Home app.
 
tennisproha said:
ecobee is notorious for not allowing full control over their devices via the Home app. All new ecobee thermostats and sensor come with Thread radios yet they refuse to implement Matter over Thread.

Hopefully they supports Adaptive Temperature, otherwise Apple really needs to build in automatic support for all HomeKit devices.
Click to expand...

Ecobee already does this on its own. It should be the first thing you turn off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: slicecom, Ghengis LeMond and locovaca
I'm interested in the Nest Learning Thermostat, but I don't think it can "speak" to my two Mitsubishi split-level heat pumps (we call them "minisplits"), which are connected to air handlers mounted on the walls. Each air handler has its own remote. That means the interior temperature for each room that has an air handler is set by a physical remote...and I'm not sure the Nest device can speak to the air handlers directly. The heat pumps and their remotes are fairly old now: the newer equipment was originally installed in 2015. The older equipment was around 2010. I'm not sure if the air handlers can be updated to become Matter-enabled.
 
So if I go to southern California in the winter, will it now also turn off the heating in an attempt to adjust the temperature at home to where my phone is at?

This finally completes the legacy feature where the good morning routine runs in the late afternoon just because my phone is in a different time zone and it is morning there and not at home.

/s
 
tennisproha said:
ecobee is notorious for not allowing full control over their devices via the Home app. All new ecobee thermostats and sensor come with Thread radios yet they refuse to implement Matter over Thread.

Hopefully they supports Adaptive Temperature, otherwise Apple really needs to build in automatic support for all HomeKit devices.
Click to expand...
Yes. I don’t get what’s Ecobees problem is with HK.

Their doorbell would sell well if they allowed HKSV without a subscription. Just charge an unlock fee is you really want an extra $25-$50 to allow us to use it with HKSV.

They really need new leadership
 
  • Like
Reactions: tennisproha and whsbuss
What about adaptive humidity? Homes in humid climates shouldn’t have their AC just turned off when people are away with no consideration given to the humidity… you’re likely to come back to mold growth.
 
tennisproha said:
ecobee is notorious for not allowing full control over their devices via the Home app. All new ecobee thermostats and sensor come with Thread radios yet they refuse to implement Matter over Thread.

Hopefully they supports Adaptive Temperature, otherwise Apple really needs to build in automatic support for all HomeKit devices.
Click to expand...
Yeah, on the one hand I wish they would integrate more and that their sensors would show up in HomeKit. On the other hand, you can already configure EcoBee to do this based on the temperature sensors around the house since they have motion sensors.

The problem with adaptive systems like this is that if I leave my mother-in-law to watch our kids for the weekend while the wife and I have a getaway, this system would freeze them out or burn them up depending on time of year where we live which can be anywhere from -20F to 110F. I wish I could use more of my sensors around the house to more accurately detect presence for the purpose of Ecobee's motion system. Or does the Home app use other motion sensors as part of the adaptive system?

The issue is I currently only have one other HomeKit motion sensor, I used to have two others that were Ring and used HomeBridge, but I eventually removed them because I kept having false alarms sending police to our home when we were away and I replaced those with glass break sensors.

The problem with smart homes in 2025 is that they're not actually that smart, and you have to be very smart just to get them operating halfway decent and troubleshoot various issues all the time. I've been hoping to completely tear down and rebuild my entire system from scratch near the end of this decade, but IDK if the tech is going to be caught up enough to make it worthwhile.
 
  • Like
Reactions: QuarterSwede
I can control the Ecobee thermostat within HomeKit. So it should be possible to have situational awareness added to it.
 
None of this will work for me anyway, because my Home thinks its location is in the wrong physical spot, so no location-based automations or presence related functionality work correctly (and yes, I've tried all the usual tricks to fix this and nothing has worked, not even completely wiping the Home and all settings using the special provisioning profile from Apple's developer site).

So before working on this "clever" functionality, maybe Apple could give us the option to directly set a Home's address/location in the Home app? Is it too much to ask for?
 
I’m interested in the use of presence detection, but most presence sensors I’ve experienced rely on movement and aren’t going to be reliable when you’re doing stuff like sleeping or watching TV.
 
Good to see this change. Will be useful. Think a software update will be necessary for it to start functioning.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mganu
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back