Get ready for Home Kit

We explore Apple’s plans to put iOS at the centre of your domestic domain

Back in 2001, Steve Jobs talked about the digital hub strategy, placing the Mac at the heart of your home – at least as far as music and films went. But with HomeKit, Apple’s machinations go significantly further, aiming to turn your iPhone or iPad into an engine that drives potentially countless smart accessories about your home.

It’s science-fiction thinking arriving in our reality – tapping on a device to remote-control lights, locks, heating, garage doors, power strips, cameras and kettles. Granular context-oriented groupings in HomeKit will enable you to define rooms, zones and scenes, further simplifying the setup or adjustment of any given environment. Your home would transform with you only having to lift a single finger – and then tap.

Of course, the idea of home automation isn’t new and many products are already on the market. But the ecosystems are fragmented and few champion ease of use. By contrast, those already immersed in HomeKit strongly believe Apple offers something different.

“With HomeKit’s Siri integration and ease of configuration, it’s a breeze to set up and use”, says Carlos del Toro, Director of Product Management at Incipio, a company working on several HomeKit products. “The framework offers seamless interoperability with apps and devices across brands. You’ll simply scan for devices and connect. The HomeKit framework securely takes care of the rest”.

Carlos envisions a future where “HomeKit-compatible appliances and devices will be the norm at retailers”, offering complete control of your home with natural speech and proximity-based action sets. And although HomeKit was announced at WWDC 2014, last June, it’s finally looking likely we’ll soon be able to, as Carlos puts it, “use HomeKit to enhance our daily lives”.