While we didn’t see a “HomeOS” at WWDC, there were still several exciting announcements related to HomeKit that I believe signal a positive future for Apple’s home ambitions.
HomeKit Weekly is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and everything to do with Apple’s smart home framework.
Unlimited camera in HomeKit Secure Video
Perhaps the most exciting announcement was that, with the $9.99/month iCloud plan, you’ll now have space for unlimited cameras in HomeKit Secure Video. One of my frustrations with HomeKit previously was the five-camera limit. While it might sound crazy to have more than five cameras, it’s pretty easy to blow past the limit if you have a couple of outdoor cameras and a few indoor ones. In my home, I have four eufy cameras outdoors, a Eve camera in my garage, and then I am at the limit. With the new upgrades, I can keep expanding indoor and out.
Now that we see more options for HomeKit Secure Video doorbells, it’s going to be a much-needed upgraded.
Home Keys
One frustration I’ll occasionally have with my August Lock is that the auto-unlock feature won’t work. I then have to open the app and manually unlock it.
With the new Home Keys feature, you’d be able to tap your phone on your door lock, and it’ll unlock. It’s not clear if existing equipment can be upgraded to support this in software, but it’s likely that an NFC hardware upgrade will be needed.
Siri is everywhere
During the keynote, the announcement was made that Apple is opening up Siri to third-party accessories for the first time. These requests will be relayed to a HomePod mini for processing. During the Keynote, it was clear that an ecobee thermostat was being used. The product currently works with Alexa, and the company has confirmed that Siri will be added via a software update later this year.
For the first time, HomeKit devices and potentially speakers will be able to field Siri queries in conjunction with the HomePod mini later this year.
A new Home app on watchOS
The Apple Watch should be a great device for interacting with your smart home, but it’s generally been a poor experience.
With watchOS 8, there is a brand-new Home app. The redesigned Home app in watchOS 8 offers a more streamlined way to interact with HomeKit accessories and scenes and the ability to control accessories by individual room. If you have a HomeKit-enabled doorbell, you can view who is at the door.
Matter support
Matter (formerly known as CHIP) is the latest attempt at creating a unified smart home standard and is backed by Apple, Amazon, and Google. iOS 15 will be initial support for Matter. Similar in importance to Thread, Matter should be something that consumers never really know about other than things work better, and it leads to even more device categories.
Summary
Overall, we got a lot of nice enhancements for HomeKit this year. Door Lock will be handy once hardware supports it, unlimited camera support will give customers room to grow their camera lineups, and a redesigned watchOS Home app should make it even easier to interact with your smart home even if you don’t have your iPhone with you.
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