Welcome to HomeKitCompatible.com where we bring you the latest news and reviews of HomeKit compatible devices and software designed for the Apple HomeKit™ smart home network. HomeKit is a technology created by Apple Inc. for securely connecting and controlling home automation products. It allows HomeKit-enabled apps and other controllers to automatically discover HomeKit compatible smart devices and configure them. Users can then control the action of these devices using the Siri personal assistant.
HomeKit compatible device settings can be synchronised via iCloud so that a homeowner can control them across any iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch they have. They can also be shared with other Apple device users. HomeKit is a comprehensive technology that supports remote access to devices, multiple user devices, and multiple users. It also has built-in security and privacy protocols, and Apple has big plans for home automation on its product roadmap.
One of the initial goals of Apple, when it introduced HomeKit on iPhones and iPads with iOS 8, was to rationalise the smart home accessory space. Prior to its introduction (and, unfortunately, still the case today) the smart homeowner was faced with a mess of incompatible and insecure protocols and accessories that required you to download and use a separate controller app for each device manufacturer. This made it impossible for the smart devices in your home from different manufacturers to act in a coordinated manner.
How does HomeKit work?
With HomeKit, it became possible for HomeKit compatible smart devices to work together easily and securely. It achieves this seamless integration between devices by requiring them to support Apple’s HomeKit Accessory Protocol, a set of programmatic ‘rules’ governing the exchange of data between devices. By developing a common protocol for home automation, HomeKit enables a market where the application used to control smart devices doesn’t need to be created by the manufacturer who made each device.
Home Automation with HomeKit
With HomeKit, the smart-home owner arranges their home automation accessories in a hierarchy similar to the layout of their house.
In fact, the top level of the hierarchy in HomeKit is the “Home”, and it’s possible to have more than one home registered. This makes it easy to have HomeKit-enabled environments at, for example, your main residence, the office, or a second home. Each home is given a unique name so that you (and Siri) can identify it. You can designate a “primary home” if you have more than one registered.
Homes are made up of “Rooms”. Rooms also need to have unique names, but only within each home. For example, you can have “Ben’s Bedroom” and “Garage”. This is, again, so you can refer to them specifically in a HomeKit app, and Siri also understands which room you are referring to.
Rooms can be grouped into “Zones”. This makes sense, if you think about it, because we naturally refer to all the rooms at the top of the house as “upstairs”, while those at the bottom of the house are “downstairs”. Any number of rooms can be grouped into zones, and the same room can exist in multiple zones. For example, in our diagram, “Ben’s room” is both “upstairs” and is one of the “bedrooms”. Zones also need a unique name within each Home.
Finally, we get to the individual HomeKit-enabled devices in your home, which Apple refers to as “Accessories”. Accessories require a unique name. Accessories may or may not be assigned to a room. If they are, then you can ask Siri to “Turn on the lights in Ben’s room”. Alternatively, you simply refer to an Accessory by its unique name. (“Hey Siri, close the garage door”).
Settings, Actions and Triggers in HomeKit-compatible devices
Devices that are “Made for Apple HomeKit” will automatically communicate it’s various abilities to your controller app. A Smart Lightbulb, for example, will have a “power” setting (on or off), a “brightness” setting, and perhaps “colour” and “hue” settings. A door lock may simply offer a “state” setting (locked or unlocked).
HomeKit Scenes
Having home automation products from multiple manufacturers incorporated into one coherent network is the true power of HomeKit. It makes possible coordinated actions across a range of connected smart devices in response to a single command. Apple refers to this multi-device coordination as “scenes”.
One example of a scene demonstrated by Apple is “Good night”. Here, in response to a single command, a home’s lights will be turned off, the window shades closed, the door locked and the thermostat turned down.
Apple’s voice-activated virtual assistant, Siri, is also HomeKit aware. This means that Siri can be used to control individual home automation products within your home network, as well as scenes. A command such as “Hey Siri, Good morning” can trigger a reverse of the Good Night scene, above, getting your smart home ready for the day.
Because Siri is always on and listening in many iPhone models, it seems the future predicted in Star Trek have finally arrived. The ambience in your home can now be altered simply using voice commands!
Apple TV: The hub for HomeKit compatible home automation
Apple TV (3rd generation or later, with tvOS 9.0 or later) can also act as a hub for your HomeKit compatible device network. Since Apple TV is always on and always connected to your home network, it is the ideal device to serve as the secure point for remote access and automation.
Setting up your Apple TV as a HomeKit hub is very straightforward. You start by enabling two-factor authentication, a security procedure designed to authenticate the iOS device controlling home automation products via Apple TV. Next, ensure that both your iPhone or iPad and Apple TV, are both logged in to the same Apple iCloud account. And, that’s it. After you sign in to iCloud, your Apple TV automatically sets itself up as a home hub.
With Apple TV on your network, it now becomes possible to trigger scenes remotely from outside the home, using the end-to-end encryption available between iOS devices and Apple TV. A homeowner with an iPhone, for example, can use Apple’s Home app to communicate with the smart devices in their home via Apple TV. This is a major convenience if you need to check the status of your home’s devices or alter their settings while you are away. You can, if needed, use your smart doorbell camera to answer the door and redirect a delivery.
HomeKit Geofences and Triggers
Controlling HomeKit compatible devices is not restricted to tapping buttons on your iOS device, or chatting with Siri. It is also possible to trigger preset scenes using the time of day, the status of an individual smart device, or your geographic location.
Built in Smart Device support
Since its first release with iOS 8, Apple HomeKit has supported the following category of smart devices and accessories:
Garage Doors – Window Shades – Siri can open and close window shades to provide relief from direct sunlight or privacy after sunset.
Security – Smart locks were the only HomeKit-compatible Security devices supported in the initial release. Additional device types are supported in iOS 10.
Lights – HomeKit can control the brightness and hue of compatible smart-lightbulb.
Outlets – With
Doorbells – Apple has demonstrated how HomeKit can now control the smart doorbells in you home, enabling you to see who is at the door and allow them in remotely if required.
A larger range of HomeKit-compatible devices
Starting with the Apple iOS 10 operating system, Siri is able to control a larger array of smart devices than before. These now include:
Air Conditioners – This fast emerging device can now be controlled by HomeKit, a perfect that becomes exciting with scenes that include smart thermostats.
Outlets – With
Doorbells – Apple has demonstrated how HomeKit can now control the smart doorbells in you home, enabling you to see who is at the door and allow them in remotely if required
In addition to natively HomeKit-compatible devices and accessories, non-compatible devices can be connected to a HomeKit network using a gateway device, or “hub”. These hubs translate HomeKit actions into the equivalent commands used by other manufacturers. It means that Apple product owners have a much larger choice of smart devices available to them that can be controlled by Siri.
In keeping with Apple’s desire to unite the seamlessness of HomeKit across all smart devices and accessories, Apple released the Home app.
Controlling Home Automation Products with the Home app
Home App
HomeKit Support for Apple Watch
watchOS 3
HomeKit for the Macintosh?
HomeKit compatibility did not ship with macOS Sierra, despite the addition of Siri to the operating system. We are sure this omission is temporary and expect HomeKit support (and the Home app) to be rolled into a future update for the Mac. It certainly would be convenient to control your home or office environment whilst working on your Macintosh computer.
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