Apple will allow its upcoming Siri-controlled HomeKit platform to work with certain existing, non-HomeKit home automation products, including ones using competing protocols such as ZigBee or Z-Wave, but there are many limitations. According to sources briefed on the new specs, the latest Made for iPhone (MFi) licensing program specifications detail the types of home automation products other than HomeKit that Apple will permit to interact with its platform.
During the 2014 WWDC, Apple briefly mentioned the possibility of connecting rival home automation products to HomeKit using a hardware “bridge,” but only in recent weeks has clarified the types of accessories that will and will not be allowed.
HomeKit will primarily focus on newly-released Wi-Fi and Bluetooth accessories that have been certified by Apple and built with the HomeKit protocol to directly connect to iOS devices.
By comparison, a bridge accessory is built to connect iOS devices to certain non-HomeKit accessories. It will communicate with iOS devices using the HomeKit protocol, while communicating with non-HomeKit accessories using other wireless/transport protocols such as ZigBee, Z-Wave or other proprietary technologies. The bridge will allow the non-HomeKit accessories to be controlled using HomeKit (Siri) commands on iOS devices.
Homekit accessories with Siri voice commands demoed by Incipio at the CES 2015
There are restrictions on which accessories can be bridged to HomeKit. For starters, Apple will not allow home automation accessories connecting over Wi-Fi, such as a Nest Thermostat, to be bridged. Those will have to go the HomeKit protocol route and become licensed MFi products.
Apple will allow some Bluetooth LE accessories to be bridged, but only those that don’t offer users control of the home. For example, a non-MFi Bluetooth lightbulb product must not be bridged. Instead, like Wi-Fi products, it would have to go through the HomeKit protocol and get MFi certification. Apple’s restrictions on bridged accessories appear to be at least partially security-related. The company also notes, for instance, that any accessory regardless of how it connects cannot be bridged if it allows physical access to a home, such as a door lock.
That doesn’t leave a lot of products that will work with a HomeKit bridge, but Apple will permit bridging of Bluetooth products that don’t provide control of the home and only provide data to HomeKit, such as a reading from a sensor. In addition, accessories that use alternative transports like ZigBee or proprietary RF sensors can be bridged, so long as they use an MFi-certified HomeKit bridge. All others wanting to support the platform will have to go through Apple’s MFi program, which will require manufacturers follow Apple’s usual long list of guidelines for connecting to the platform, use only Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and include a MFi authentication chip.
Apple’s specs will also allow bridges to connect to other bridges, and each can connect up to 100 accessories, according to Apple’s specs. Allowing an accessory to connect a HomeKit bridge will require a MFi product approval, which means accessories that work with bridges will have to be approved first by Apple.
Controlling accessories remotely with Siri (when outside your home network) will notably require an Apple TV to be on your home network. We’ve confirmed that Apple will also allow bridged accessories to be controlled remotely.
It looks like products using HomeKit are about to hit the market: Apple started accepting product plans for HomeKit accessories in November and many were on show during CES earlier this month.
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Okay… that was really confusing… I think I just need to wait and see some sample products that pull this all together before I buy anything haha.
Allow me to explain it from the beginning.
“Well, let’s see. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di’s clothes. I couldn’t believe it…”
And how did that contribute anything to the conversation?
It seems like Apple is going their usual route of following two lines: 1) don’t held liable for products that we can’t control because they are not using our system, 2) make sure the ones that do use our system achieve a level of detail and security that will people want to use these products. I guess a third line of thinking would be: 3) Holy cow this is going to make us a buttload of MONEY!
Apple doesn’t really make much money from licensing these third party devices. Unless you mean they’ll make money selling these devices at Apple Stores, in that case you may be right :)
Yeah, that was what I meant!
They make more than you think…
I doubt they give those authentication chips away.
Homekit is looking like it’s going to end up being a very segmented platform and the prospects don’t look very good in the short term. IMO, this is at least 3 years out from being useful and at year two we should see signs if it’s going to take off or tank.
IMO, they don’t have all their ducks in a row yet, so a lot of companies are going to be hesitant to jump in, even if they play lip service to the technology in public.
yeah i really hope Apple figures out what they’re doing with this because it could make or break it if something simpler to figure out, and more affordable comes out before they get it together.
I would agree. You are pretty close. Look at CarPlay. I feel like that could be really cool, but Apple is leaving up to car/aftermarket makers to handle the implementation. On the one hand, Apple is trying to not “go it alone,” but on the other hand, all these connected things makers are really dragging their feet because they don’t share Apple’s optimism about the future of this IoT market.
Want to hear my idea for an Apple made CarPlay deck? Okay, cool: A double DIN receiver with a SSD and wifi for hosting movies and videos on everyone’s iThings. 7 in. Retina HD (duh). Ideally, inputs to control all the things that Parrots new audio deck is supposed to. Engine Diagnostics. Everything. Essentially an Apple Car (™) ;-), but made by Whomever (™). How I wish iOS could be ported or hacked like a hackintosh!
I would be happy if they spent 2015 polishing, stabilizing, and shaving down iOS 9 and Snowsemite. There are so many nascent platforms that need engineering, partnership, and marketing weight thrown behind them: HomeKit, HealthKit, WatchKit, CarPlay.
Please don’t let these wither, Apple!
Home automation is already very segmented. Honeywell is a good example. HomeKit is probably the least fractionalized of home automation ecosystems and will be the one from which regular people will be most willing to buy home automation products.
Security has to be the most important thing right now, regardless of the downsides. People don’t look for the cheapest deadbolt at Lowe’s or HomeDepot. And home automation contractors aren’t going to go for the cheapest products only to have customers’ homes robbed or their privacy violated. Apple’s hoops may make HomeKit products take longer to get to market and cost more, but if the platform is secure and trusted by regular buyers, it’ll win in the end. I’m sure as everyone in the HomeKit ecosystem gains experience that Apple will expand which devices can be bridged.
So sad we can’t make like hobby projects with a comparable BLE chip without signing up for the mfi program.
Since they been dragging their feet with ATV, maybe the next ATV will be a ” hub” for HomeKit to work outside the house. There was already hits that HomeKit will work on a 3rd Gen or newer ATV. We are going to have to stay tuned to see what happens.
It will require an Apple TV for remote access. Apple hasn’t publicly said as much, but it’s already enabled in latest Apple TV builds.
I do my home automation with Indigo and already can control it by voice using Siri (throughiMessage, a la “Hey Siri, tell Mac to turn on the outside lights”). While HomeKit may be easier to implement someday, Siri and HA work just fine today. And I don’t have this long list of restrictions on the kinds of devices I can connect to via the server. Just sayin’…
Based on this write-up it looks like HomeKit will be very restricted in terms of what home automation components it will support. If Apple TV is also required for many components this will further narrow the market segment. My bet is that a more open ecosystem (AllJoyn, Iotivity, and Thread are the three leading alliances) will see much broader adoption, and sufficient iOS support will be available (via apps) to make HomeKit attractive primarily to Apple-only adopters.
So let me get this straight before I spend money on things that wont work. I have a 3rd gen apple tv. If I buy a few z-wave sensors, would they communicate directly with homekit via apple tv, or would I need a seperate hub? Im sure this is explained in the article but this is outside my purview.
This article seems to confuse HomeKit as a competitor to WiFi or BT. WiFi and BT are the PHY/MAC layer (radio) operating below HomeKit (or another competing protocol like Weave or AllSeen). These devices basically HAVE to use one of the radio technologies to work.