Somfy Tahoma Gateway to Gain HomeKit Support From December 1, 2020

[MacRumors]

European smart home company Somfy will make its Tahoma gateway hub HomeKit compatible from the beginning of next month, according to the iFun.de tech website.

The gateway is used to control the France-based company's shutters and blinds, including external blinds, vertical awnings, patio awnings and pergolas, so if the company sticks to its scheduled rollout, owners of these Somfy products will be able to control them via Apple's Home app from December 1.

According to the German tech website, Somfy is delivering the promised HomeKit support around a year late. Compatibility was reportedly planned for a 2019 rollout, but the update had to be postponed several times. Somfy security cameras, on the other hand, have been HomeKit compatible for some time.

As noted by HomeKitNews, the Tahoma gateway is also capable of controlling other areas of the home, including smart lights, gates and garage doors, which is why it's already compatible with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and IFTTT, in addition to integrations with Sonos, Philips Hue, and Velux.

Article Link: Somfy Tahoma Gateway to Gain HomeKit Support From December 1, 2020

 

[Karl90]

I’m curious what exactly this does. Does it receive signals from ANY wireless items such as my garage door or blinds. Or do I need special compatible ones to connect to this box? I should be more clear. My blinds are wireless on the 433mhz range. Just connected to a standard remote. Does this box take that remotes place I guess I’m asking

 

[wilhelmd]

For the impatient: I can happily report that this exact Somfy Tahoma gateway already works very well with HomeKit using homebridge-tahoma.

 

[JamesLeSmash]

So there are lots of moving part to this. But to summarise: if your wireless devices are 'RTS' or 'IO' compatible then you can add them to the Tahoma hub. You need to do some research before buying.

For example, I have some velux motorised blinds which are IO compatible. To be clear, these are not part of the Integra Range (Velux's true Smart Blinds) but they are controlled by a wireless remote, which is IO compatible. I have these blinds added to my Tahoma hub, which makes them controllable.

I also have some internal patio blinds which are Somfy, using RTS. Now these blinds are controlled by the Somfy RTS remote, which also can be added to the Tahoma hub.

However, RTS and IO are not equal.

IO is two-way so allows the motor to feed back to the blind whether a command was successful. So for example, "Hey Siri, set the IO Blind to 70%" works.

RTS is one way (point and shoot) so the motor does not feed back. The hub/remote only have three options for RTS: Open, Closed and 'My' (which is a preset height). You can ask Siri to Open or Close the blind. You cannot set a %.
Somfy is bringing out it's own version of IO (called io-homecontrol) which is new hardware motors which will make them function like IO.

Note: I am running HomeBridge on a RaspberryPi with the Somfy Tahoma plugin. This makes the blinds visible to HomeKit. IO works as above. RTS can only be opened or closed (even though the UI allows for the % slider, it doesn't not work). The Tahoma plugin also allows the Tahoma Scenes to be created as HomeKit Switches, which allows you to control multiple blinds or groups, but only with Open, Closed and 'My' control.

What is not clear is:
- how the native Tahoma HomeKit update will handle the RTS blind limitations (mentioned above)
- whether the native Tahoma HomeKit update will allow the 'My' reset height issue.

I’m curious what exactly this does. Does it receive signals from ANY wireless items such as my garage door or blinds. Or do I need special compatible ones to connect to this box? I should be more clear. My blinds are wireless on the 433mhz range. Just connected to a standard remote. Does this box take that remotes place I guess I’m asking

 

[Karl90]

So there are lots of moving part to this. But to summarise: if your wireless devices are 'RTS' or 'IO' compatible then you can add them to the Tahoma hub. You need to do some research before buying.

For example, I have some velux motorised blinds which are IO compatible. To be clear, these are not part of the Integra Range (Velux's true Smart Blinds) but they are controlled by a wireless remote, which is IO compatible. I have these blinds added to my Tahoma hub, which makes them controllable.

I also have some internal patio blinds which are Somfy, using RTS. Now these blinds are controlled by the Somfy RTS remote, which also can be added to the Tahoma hub.

However, RTS and IO are not equal.

IO is two-way so allows the motor to feed back to the blind whether a command was successful. So for example, "Hey Siri, set the IO Blind to 70%" works.

RTS is one way (point and shoot) so the motor does not feed back. The hub/remote only have three options for RTS: Open, Closed and 'My' (which is a preset height). You can ask Siri to Open or Close the blind. You cannot set a %.
Somfy is bringing out it's own version of IO (called io-homecontrol) which is new hardware motors which will make them function like IO.

Note: I am running HomeBridge on a RaspberryPi with the Somfy Tahoma plugin. This makes the blinds visible to HomeKit. IO works as above. RTS can only be opened or closed (even though the UI allows for the % slider, it doesn't not work). The Tahoma plugin also allows the Tahoma Scenes to be created as HomeKit Switches, which allows you to control multiple blinds or groups, but only with Open, Closed and 'My' control.

What is not clear is:
- how the native Tahoma HomeKit update will handle the RTS blind limitations (mentioned above)
- whether the native Tahoma HomeKit update will allow the 'My' reset height issue.

Thanks for explaining that. It seems like it’s rather complicated to automate non traditional HomeKit items. I might have to do some research.

 

[JamesLeSmash]

Thanks for explaining that. It seems like it’s rather complicated to automate non traditional HomeKit items. I might have to do some research.

Agreed - it is needlessly complicated for Somfy devices. But io-homecontrol & now native Tahoma HomeKit support should help. It's worth looking at your garage door / blinds remotes as they usually have 'RTS' or 'IO' on them. For the garage door, I use the iSmartGate hub which works well, but it's just another hub to add to the many...

 

[sintra1]

I’m curious what exactly this does. Does it receive signals from ANY wireless items such as my garage door or blinds. Or do I need special compatible ones to connect to this box? I should be more clear. My blinds are wireless on the 433mhz range. Just connected to a standard remote. Does this box take that remotes place I guess I’m asking

They work with a range of Somfy tubular motors incorporating a transmitter and RTS bases pretty expensive to buy and install and to be honest been troublesome on UK manufactured window shutters which use motors other than Somfy in the main

 

[JPSaltzman]

Oh, to have such a spotless, clean, modern kitchen/living area with minimal electronics, no plugs, no wires, no dongles. Just peace and serenity and let the high-tech world just take care of your every need and care and worry.
/s (I just find these stock photos or ones supplied by the companies just so ridiculous.)

PS. Still waiting for that Flying Car and "The Jetsons" world that all the visionaries said we would have by the end of the 20th century. Hmm.

 

[yogi477]

So super basic question from me. We have one of these already that controls all of our blind and which works through Alexa. Can you also set it up for HomeKit as well, so we can control either through Alexa or HomeKit, or is it a choice between one or the other?

 

[adriweb]

RTS is one way (point and shoot) so the motor does not feed back.

Indeed - and Apple requires official/certified HomeKit integrations to be two-way, that's why RTS simply can't be supported by the TaHoma's HomeKit integration (Somfy has provided a bit more details on their european blog post some time ago about all that, including the compatible io-homecontrol devices).

 

[JamesLeSmash]

Indeed - and Apple requires official/certified HomeKit integrations to be two-way, that's why RTS simply can't be supported by the TaHoma's HomeKit integration (Somfy has provided a bit more details on their european blog post some time ago about all that, including the compatible io-homecontrol devices).

so did they say what they were going to do with RTS motors? Just omit them from Tahoma native HomeKit...? Any source documentation would be greatly appreciated

 

[Lemon Mac]

_/Rushes out to buy shutters, blinds, including external blinds, vertical awnings, patio awnings and pergolas.

 

[adriweb]

so did they say what they were going to do with RTS motors? Just omit them from Tahoma native HomeKit...? Any source documentation would be greatly appreciated

The official list is here, page 21 for HomeKit: https://service.somfy.com/downloads/fr_v5/liste-des-compatibilites-tahoma-novembre-2020.pdf
And yes, other things simply won't show up in HomeKit, they actually specifically mentioned RTS as incompatible in their news article.

 

[JamesLeSmash]

The official list is here, page 21 for HomeKit: https://service.somfy.com/downloads/fr_v5/liste-des-compatibilites-tahoma-novembre-2020.pdf
And yes, other things simply won't show up in HomeKit, they actually specifically mentioned RTS as incompatible in their news article.

Thank you - guess my raspberryPi Tahoma-plugin hackaround will remain in place until I upgrade the RTS motors in favour of io-homecontrol 🤷‍♂️

 

[dannys1]

I hope this includes the Connexoon RTS - I bought it as it was cheaper than the full Tahoma package and use it with the Tahoma plugin in Homebridge successfully.

 

[JamesLeSmash]

I hope this includes the Connexoon RTS - I bought it as it was cheaper than the full Tahoma package and use it with the Tahoma plugin in Homebridge successfully.

read the message threads above. RTS is excluded from Somfy HomeKit integration

 

[dannys1]

Thank you - guess my raspberryPi Tahoma-plugin hackaround will remain in place until I upgrade the RTS motors in favour of io-homecontrol 🤷‍♂️

I hope they're just plug and play with my current RTS motors - being able to actually control 0-100% open and every percent along the way with the controller actually know where it was would be a big upgrade though.

 

[Deemilo]

Hi new to macrumors great site, a question once HomeKit is updated into Somfy will I still require the hub got some many hubs be nice to lose some as HomeKit grows thanks

 

[JamesLeSmash]

Hi new to macrumors great site, a question once HomeKit is updated into Somfy will I still require the hub got some many hubs be nice to lose some as HomeKit grows thanks

I suspect you’ll still need the hub, even for IO, as the motors rely on a radio signal, which the Tahoma hub sends. Ie. Your HomeKit Hub (HomePod etc) can’t.

I don’t belive IO will use WIFI.
Feel your pain on the Hub-City though. There is a lot that could be improved in that space.

 

[IDANNY]

Has anyone got this working?

 

[JamesLeSmash]

Has anyone got this working?

Which bit specifically?

 

[bafrench]

So there are lots of moving part to this. But to summarise: if your wireless devices are 'RTS' or 'IO' compatible then you can add them to the Tahoma hub. You need to do some research before buying.

For example, I have some velux motorised blinds which are IO compatible. To be clear, these are not part of the Integra Range (Velux's true Smart Blinds) but they are controlled by a wireless remote, which is IO compatible. I have these blinds added to my Tahoma hub, which makes them controllable.

I also have some internal patio blinds which are Somfy, using RTS. Now these blinds are controlled by the Somfy RTS remote, which also can be added to the Tahoma hub.

However, RTS and IO are not equal.

IO is two-way so allows the motor to feed back to the blind whether a command was successful. So for example, "Hey Siri, set the IO Blind to 70%" works.

RTS is one way (point and shoot) so the motor does not feed back. The hub/remote only have three options for RTS: Open, Closed and 'My' (which is a preset height). You can ask Siri to Open or Close the blind. You cannot set a %.
Somfy is bringing out it's own version of IO (called io-homecontrol) which is new hardware motors which will make them function like IO.

Note: I am running HomeBridge on a RaspberryPi with the Somfy Tahoma plugin. This makes the blinds visible to HomeKit. IO works as above. RTS can only be opened or closed (even though the UI allows for the % slider, it doesn't not work). The Tahoma plugin also allows the Tahoma Scenes to be created as HomeKit Switches, which allows you to control multiple blinds or groups, but only with Open, Closed and 'My' control.

What is not clear is:
- how the native Tahoma HomeKit update will handle the RTS blind limitations (mentioned above)
- whether the native Tahoma HomeKit update will allow the 'My' reset height issue.

Is it possible to "see" the RTS devices in Homekit without RasberrtPi? I have connected my Tahoma Hub and added a bunch of RTS roller shades, but nothing shows in Homekit. Could that be because RTS devices don't work with Heomkit? Any ideas? Cheers, Barry

 

[JamesLeSmash]

Is it possible to "see" the RTS devices in Homekit without RasberrtPi? I have connected my Tahoma Hub and added a bunch of RTS roller shades, but nothing shows in Homekit. Could that be because RTS devices don't work with Heomkit? Any ideas? Cheers, Barry

Correct, RTS doesn't work with natively with HomeKit, even with Tahoma's HomeKit update. You have to expose your Somfy RTS devices to HomeKit via something like HomeBridge (doesn't have to be a raspberry pi, you could run it on a local machine) or Hoobs https://hoobs.org

 

[bafrench]

Thanks James … at the risk of asking for free tech support, how hard would it be to do using Hoobs? Does Hoobs sync with Somfy Tacoma device or do I need to add RTS roller blinds in some other way? Is this something a amateur like me could do without freaking out? Cheers, Barry

 

[JamesLeSmash]

Thanks James … at the risk of asking for free tech support, how hard would it be to do using Hoobs? Does Hoobs sync with Somfy Tacoma device or do I need to add RTS roller blinds in some other way? Is this something a amateur like me could do without freaking out? Cheers, Barry

I haven't used Hoobs myself, but I'm told it's very easy. You plug in the dongle to your router, looks like this guide is pretty straight forward: https://support.hoobs.org/docs/5e875bda0ab68b0344e872c8

Before spending any money I would recommend just installing HomeBridge on a laptop, installing the Tahoma Plugin & having a play with your devices to see the features & limitations of this approach. Hoobs is essentially a branded packaged version of HomeBridge.