Mixtile Hub Smart Home Bridge Won't Support HomeKit After All

[orbital~debris]

That doesn't seem right. Philips Hue uses ZigBee and it is a HomeKit compatible bridge.

Unless in misunderstood what Macwick said.

Visited the article comments to say the very same.
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Homekit is a total failure.

It's most certainly not a total failure. It could only be classed that way if it didn't work.

It does work. HomeKit and Siri activates and deactivates my home lights & changes lighting scenes on a daily basis (I'm looking at adding a thermostat next).

Additionally, Apple's certification process / security chip requirements for HomeKit devices give me reassurance that the system is less susceptible to being hacked than competing products.

 

[MrX8503]

I got an Ecobee3 and Hue lights, both of which support HomeKit. That's all the smart devices I need for now. I'm not going to buy a smart device unless it supports HomeKit.

 

[ke-iron]

Apple is currently losing the battle for the home. Alexa is quickly overtaking everything.

How can the company that kickstarted the AI personal assistant revolution five and a half years ago be so far behind? They've even had HomeKit for two years. Then a company like Amazon whose most successful product is an eBook reader and has turned out massive flops like the Fire Phone comes in and owns them.

If Apple doesn't have some seriously major upgrades for Siri at WWDC along with some dedicated hardware this autumn, I'm going to be seriously worried for Apple's future. You can only play the smartphone card for so long before the next big thing knocks you flat. I think they're working on something, and I'd prefer to use Apple over competitors because of their stance on privacy and security, but for a company with their resources this is taking far too long. As much as I like my Apple Watch, they've been piddling with these side projects too much and losing sight of where technology is headed.

Here is the problem with Amazon Alexa, it's only really dominating the US and is widely unavailable to the rest of the world. This is why I believe Apple is taking their time with their version of Siri home, because when it launches it will dominate. Apple isn't the small US company we used to know years ago, Apple do world wide launches now. If Apple were to launch Siri home this year with a world wide launch they would've instantly caught up with Amazon Alexa user base.

 

[Geurt]

Interesting viewpoint to chew on ... time to deliver.

Here is the problem with Amazon Alexa, it's only really dominating the US and is widely unavailable to the rest of the world. This is why I believe Apple is taking their time with their version of Siri home, because when it launches it will dominate. Apple isn't the small US company we used to know years ago, Apple do world wide launches now. If Apple were to launch Siri home this year with a world wide launch they would've instantly caught up with Amazon Alexa user base.

 

[gaximus]

You can connect almost any device to HomeKit with a $35 Raspberry Pi and HomeBridge npm. Very little knowledge needed. I've connected my sprinklers, Nest, 2 Nest cameras, and my garage door openers to one raspberry pi. You can even hook up IFTTT to it.

 

[8692574]

Enjoy your malware and insecure IoT smartphone devices, then!

Thanks, enjoy living in the past....
It wouldn't hurt to keep up to date, trying different things, change mind once in a while.... but then again, everything not branded Apple sucks,I keep forgetting.

 

[Osxguy]

Once again, Apple's arbitrary rules screw over the customer. I abandoned the Homekit garbage long ago and went to Alexa/Smarthings and never looked back.

Me too i havent been able to get it setup and no power on earth could make it work
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You can connect almost any device to HomeKit with a $35 Raspberry Pi and HomeBridge npm. Very little knowledge needed. I've connected my sprinklers, Nest, 2 Nest cameras, and my garage door openers to one raspberry pi. You can even hook up IFTTT to it.

But you shouldn't need to setup a pi to make it work!!!!! What happened to the out of box experience...

 

[8692574]

But you shouldn't need to setup a pi to make it work!!!!! What happened to the out of box experience...

Well you only need to use different apps, but the out of the box experience is still there...big whoop, when is the last time you had to change thermostat and light at the same time?

People seems to make a big issue about using 2 apps.

And even then it is not even needed, my Netatmo works fine with the app, and my hue works perfectly with Ok Google..no app needed there

 

[ebaauw]

In a recent email to MacRumors forum member Macwick, shared with us, Focalcrest vaguely said it believes Apple "doesn't permit bridge products to compatible with different brand devices," which isn't entirely true. The Philips Hue bridge does support both HomeKit and ZigBee, but that's just for one product

I don't see why the first statement isn't entirely true. In fact, the seconds statement supports the first: the Philips Hue bridge works with lights from other vendors (brands), but these aren't exposed to HomeKit. On the Hue developer forum, Philips hinted that this is due to Apple's restrictions. The Hue bridge also supports (Philips branded!) switches and sensors, but these aren't exposed to HomeKit either.

 

[Macwick]

You can connect almost any device to HomeKit with a $35 Raspberry Pi and HomeBridge npm. Very little knowledge needed. I've connected my sprinklers, Nest, 2 Nest cameras, and my garage door openers to one raspberry pi. You can even hook up IFTTT to it.

Wait - you have Nest cams working in HomeKit via HomeBridge? Which HomeBridge extension are you using?

 

[macduke]

Here is the problem with Amazon Alexa, it's only really dominating the US and is widely unavailable to the rest of the world. This is why I believe Apple is taking their time with their version of Siri home, because when it launches it will dominate. Apple isn't the small US company we used to know years ago, Apple do world wide launches now. If Apple were to launch Siri home this year with a world wide launch they would've instantly caught up with Amazon Alexa user base.

Perhaps. To further your case, Siri has the best language support of all the AI assistants out there right now, which means she could go big all at once with an upgrade and some new hardware. I hope it happens! It's still overdue.

 

[CarlJ]

... I have seen some histrionic internet nonsense in my day, but "Apple is pushing the human race backward"? Either that is total sarcasm, or such a bizarrely skewed perspective that it's not worth trying to fix.

No, that's totally warranted, after all Tim Cook did kick their grandmother and shoot their dog.

 

[snowiii]

disappointing, it was device i was actually interested in. It would have provided the bridge from my old z wave devices while moving towards home kit devices

 

[chucker23n1]

In the past few months, we kept to contact Apple for approval the HomeKit related designs. But this stage really takes a bit long and till now we still don't get a positive reply from Apple.

"In the past few months, we kept trying to convince Apple to approve us. But this stage is really tedious, what with their constant badgering about security. I mean, who cares about that, right?"
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Could it be possible that the Mixtile Hub was poorly designed in some way and didn't meet Apple's strict guidelines? I don't think we have all the details.

My reading is Mixtile was trying to get a waiver to forego any kind of certification, and Apple wasn't playing ball. This is disappointing for people who would forego a little safety in favor of being able to connect as many devices as possible, but not surprising, as this has clearly been Apple's stance with HomeKit from the beginning.

 

[ChrisA]

NONE of this home automation stuff is going be mainstream until there is ONE STANDARD.

The fact that one brand can't talk to the other brand will keep this stuff in the Geek World Only

Let's say I'm building an apartment house and needs to buy 1,000 light switches. I'm not going to put in some Geek-Only light switch to talks only with Apple's current software but might not talk the Apple's software n 5 or 10 years.

We need certainty that every device and talk with any other device and that this will continue t work for the life time of a building (which might be 50+ years.

No one wants to install a building's worth of thermostats for $250 each and then have to replace them every few years when the next home automation system is popular.

 

[gaximus]

Me too i havent been able to get it setup and no power on earth could make it work
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But you shouldn't need to setup a pi to make it work!!!!! What happened to the out of box experience...

You are correct. But it's better than no experience. I got tired of waiting for companies to make things available for HoneKit.

 

[mikecorp]

home kit and all Smart things IOT is buggy, luggy and "sucky sucky 5 dollar"
Apple is slow to innovate as people tend to want things right now. Home kit is unfinished platform that will die.

 

[gaximus]

Wait - you have Nest cams working in HomeKit via HomeBridge? Which HomeBridge extension are you using?

I believe it's this one https://github.com/KraigM/homebridge-nest I didn't even need the cameras but once I at up the nest thermostat the cameras just showed up.

 

[Moi Ici]

This is why I moved away from iOS, it is too closed!

and why I'm sticking with them. Safety!! First and foremost.

 

[CarlJ]

It's just weird that they're still bothering to release this, as HomeKit was what made it different from a bunch of existing hubs, and thus the primary reason to consider this one in particular. It's a bit like a car company saying, "uh, yeah, funny thing, it turns out that because of reasons, our next car won't have an engine or room for passengers, but we're definitely releasing it anyway."

 

[applefan69]

Pretty sure Apples rationale would be that the hub introduces too many uncontrollable elements (non brand units) of security to the mix. If they allow this the whole promise of security is out the window.

"Just dont use these hubs if your worried about security, apple is treating us all like idiots!" you say? This is exactly the case apple tries to make their products idiot proof. When they promise it is secure, they mean even those who havn't a clue are protected too.

I have no idea what Alexas security is like, so not trying to sound so much like an Apple defender, I hope Alexa is taking that stuff seriously too. All I think is there is probably a valid reason for their denial of this product.

 

[CarlJ]

Pretty sure Apples rationale would be that the hub introduces too many uncontrollable elements (non brand units) of security to the mix. If they allow this the whole promise of security is out the window.

This is quite likely. The question is, why did the company behind this promote it heavily as including HomeKit when they hadn't secured any sort of agreement with Apple? It's like if I advertised a new car as "if you buy this car, the government will provide you with unlimited free gas for it." And then it turns out, "Oh, you know what? The government didn't approve the idea. But would you like to buy our car anyway? It's just like everyone else's."

 

[Tech198]

iOT devices remind me of windows drivers/hardware combinations....,,.

"There an awful lot of them. that don't always work well together."

Homekit elimination probably won't be too bad but at least it'll be good for Amazon crowd.

 

[spazzcat]

NONE of this home automation stuff is going be mainstream until there is ONE STANDARD.

The fact that one brand can't talk to the other brand will keep this stuff in the Geek World Only

Let's say I'm building an apartment house and needs to buy 1,000 light switches. I'm not going to put in some Geek-Only light switch to talks only with Apple's current software but might not talk the Apple's software n 5 or 10 years.

We need certainty that every device and talk with any other device and that this will continue t work for the life time of a building (which might be 50+ years.

No one wants to install a building's worth of thermostats for $250 each and then have to replace them every few years when the next home automation system is popular.

There will never be one standard, that is the point of HomeKit and all the hubs out there, they make the different standards talk to each other work together. The Echo is quickly become the main hub because it works with so much stuff and works very well with voice control. The thing holding HomeKit back is its best feature, security. You can't get a HomeKit cert without having high security in your hardware. The problem with this and other hubs of this type, like Wink, is they can connect to hardware that isn't secure and it makes them almost impossible to get HomeKit certified.

 

[MacBergin]

no HomeKit = I'll pass. I use Alexa for most things right now, but I am slowly turning to Homekit and hoping Apple can improve on Alexa.