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tvOS 17.4 Code References Mysterious homeOS

Our smart home is controlled by HomeKit and Alexa. I would be happy to abandon Amazon if Apple Siri works well.

And behind that we have Lutron, Kasa, Aqara, hue, and Meross devices.

None of this is a walk in the park. Matter may make integration easier but there are still a ways to go before normals take on smart home integration.
 
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Smartuser said:
I would steer clear of something that, if read just a little bit naively, results in a slur. "hOS" would have the same problem. I don't work in marketing, but maybe something referencing "lifestyle" or "things" or may be better.
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I didn't see that until you mentioned this. It's your fault! 😝

I, too, think another name is needed, especially considering that a lot of this is used in non-home setups, such as businesses.
 
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KENESS said:
HomeKit IS the platform, and is actually increasingly mature and robust. It is Apple's Home app which I think you are experiencing as being limited. There are actually quite a few capabilities that the Home app doesn't implement which are available in the HomeKit platform. Some Third Party apps utilize them.

My biggest issue is with Siri. I feel like there is literally zero intelligence (artificial or otherwise) when it comes to giving Home related commands to Siri. They'll make mistakes which are just plain dumb. (Ie, In a quiet room where Siri can hear just fine, "Turn OFF my Office lights." and the BEDROOM lights go off. I mean, come on...)

There are rumors that Apple is working on upgrading Siri to use ChatGPT style intelligence in parsing and understanding speech. I'm hopeful.
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I have never had the problem of controlling the wrong device, but I strive for precise commands and good diction. I now have two HomePods in adjoining rooms, and sometimes "dining room Siri" sets a timer instead of kitchen "Siri." But otherwise, if a command is executed, it's never on the wrong device or in the wrong room. That said, don't get me started about using AirPlay across several devices...
 
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icanhazmac said:
As another data point, I have had no issues with HomeKit. I have Lutron switches, Eufy Cams, Ecobee Thermos and Wemo plugs. Guess where the problems have been... yup the Wemos, everything else works like a charm.
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Where did yo buy your Ecobee thermos?
 
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MacAddict1978 said:
I am sure Apple could really iterate and make such a device stand out from Google and Amazon - but smart???
Siri is such a deal breaker. I asked her to set a timer yesterday and she started my Volvo. Outside of the deeply devout, no one wants any Smart Home powered by Siri - she can't even find shows well on the Apple TV or really do anything right.
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WoW Siri is indeed broken...
I have what I think is a case of Siri deafness. Sometimes when I try to change music, i have to ask Siri 3 or 4 times...
 
homeOS... hmmm... it probably isn't, but I sure would like to see an OS that turns older iPads into a dedicated Home control panel. Call it "homeOS" or "homePadOS".


TundraKing said:
Apple has the right idea but it needs to be far more reliable (yes folks most installations are far from 99% stable and get worse as you add more devices). I have 100+ devices in my Homekit install and it takes at least some daily intervention/monitoring to keep them all running smoothly. (Not to mention the frequent quarterly and even monthly OS updates which cause additional issues) ....And the cost per device needs to come way down.

It's progressing on these fronts (matter, thread, etc..) but its still several years away from getting to the tipping point of mass appeal. Matter adoption is spotty, thread devices are still too buggy but with time I think these issues will get resolved.
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Well, I must say that I find Thread really robust. I have +50 HomeKit devices, with 20+ Thread capable and 3 of them are in our garage located 15 meters from our building. The Thread network is still able to reach that distance despite the enormous amount of RF disturbances from wireless systems (phones, multiple wifi, bluetooth etc) from neighbours. It doesn't disconnect like Zigbee (HUE) and in the rare situation that there's an (power) outage, it recovers nicely by itself within a few ours in worst case. Can't get that with Zigbee (HUE) or plain wifi.

The only thing that caused my Thread network to go partly offline, was an Eve Energy device with Matter firmware enabled. It did not mix with HomeKit Thread for some reason.
 
jvchappy said:
I truly hope Apple is working on an all-encompassing smart home platform that is less limited than HomeKit. I love my smarthome tech, but it is cumbersome and hard to manage for someone who is not technical. The smart home is truly just a farce at this time.
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Apple introduced HomeKit in 2014. They've had 10 years to make something of it, and failed (essentially). Kill it or fix it.
 
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Smartuser said:
"hOS" would have the same problem.
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Ok, I’m officially old. This is where my mind went.


IMG_3678.jpeg
 
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hagar said:
If this news came 8-10 years ago, it would have been exciting. But now? They were first with Siri and HomeKit but stagnated and let others take the market. HomePod and ATV are still glorified hobbies.

I’m not even sure Apple has a vision in the home entertainment arena. What will they do? Copy Alexa and Google Nest?
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Yeah, I think this is the basic problem. Another of Apple's Big Ideas that has become a hobby with low priority.
 
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MacAddict1978 said:
I am sure Apple could really iterate and make such a device stand out from Google and Amazon - but smart???
Siri is such a deal breaker. I asked her to set a timer yesterday and she started my Volvo. Outside of the deeply devout, no one wants any Smart Home powered by Siri - she can't even find shows well on the Apple TV or really do anything right.
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In my experience Siri works but every once and a while it doesn't understand when I only say the scene name; then I have to say "set the scene...". And it only works best in the English language setting. Siri in other languages has more trouble in understanding. Strangely enough, in the English setting it still understands scene names in a different language (some scenes I made have a non-English name because our household is trilingual).
 
HomeKit’s biggest flaw is its added level of security it ads to products. I’m not even complaining about the added Apple tax that is forced because of this. What I am complaining about is how that security layer, often fails or glitches out making the devices non-responsive to HomeKit. Meanwhile, they all still work perfectly well with Google. Which thankfully you can control from your iPhone still.
 
KENESS said:
I'm actually not a fan of the new "chime" when Siri completes a task that is in another room, as opposed the the previous way of SPEAKING what it had just done. ("Okay, the Kitchen Lights are OFF.")

Because with the chime, you don't know WHAT has been done, and I don't trust Siri much. Who know's what might have been turned on or off...
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I’m not a fan of the chime either, and much preferred it when she told me what was done.
 
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d-klumpp said:
I have never had the problem of controlling the wrong device, but I strive for precise commands and good diction. I now have two HomePods in adjoining rooms, and sometimes "dining room Siri" sets a timer instead of kitchen "Siri." But otherwise, if a command is executed, it's never on the wrong device or in the wrong room. That said, don't get me started about using AirPlay across several devices...
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Oh if only you knew how OCD I was... hah (I've actually got a spreadsheet of dedicated IP addresses for devices.) I never have any of the No Response or connectivity issues people often complain about, because I am so particular about a clean network. And I do enunciate well and speak plain old mid-Atlantic American English. So who knows why I have bad luck sometimes.
 
There's an opening in the upper end of the housing market for really good home control panels and apps that are capable of controlling both wireless and wired solutions. Including control and selection of multiple Apple TV interfaces (and directing which TVs they appear on) from one app; moving music around to various speakers; unique permissions for each user w.r.t. viewing camera streams or controlling lights; managing wireless door locks and garage doors; etc. It will be interesting to see what if any of that market this rumor addresses if it comes to be real. What's out there is extremely homemade.
 
I think it's just marketing.

My guess is that they are preparing a new Apple TV and a new HomePod for the March event and they will have a proper "Home Kit" segment in that presentation. Last time they did this properly was with the introduction of the HomePod mini I think, so it's about time for an update, even if it is just cosmetic with a handful of new APIs maybe.
 
Expecting to hear more about it at WWDC probably along with a new HomePod
 
icanhazmac said:
Guess where the problems have been... yup the Wemos, everything else works like a charm.
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I had a load of wemo bulbs from back when they first came out and eventually bit the bullet and replaced them all with Philips Hue a couple of years ago when it became clear that not only was the HomeKit enabled Wemo bridge never coming out in the UK, but Belkin had essentially completely abandoned the uk with the whole wemo range. Belkin uk web site no longer seems to acknowledge that Wemo ever existed these days.

i ran the Wemo bulbs through homebridge running on my old Mac mini for a few years just to get some kind of homekit / siri support, but the Hue stuff is far more responsive and reliable than Wemo ever was.
 
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