How HomeKit works
One app to rule them all (with some help from Siri)
There’s no shortage of smart devices now available that you can control with your iPhone or iPad – smart speakers, lights, security cameras, and even thermostats and controls for air conditioning systems. The problem is, all these devices require their own separate apps. If we’re ever to reach the promised nirvana of home automation, then we need a simpler way of controlling all our smart devices. Apple developed HomeKit to provide that solution, by designing a central control system that links all our smart devices together. The HomeKit software is built into Macs, the
iPhone and iPad, and also the Apple TV box, and is controlled through either the Home app or by using Siri. Apple also allows other manufacturers to build HomeKit into their own smart devices too, rather than having to rely on separate apps.
MAKING A SCENE
Having that central control point for lots of different devices was absolutely the right idea – and Apple got there before Amazon or Google. Another strength of HomeKit is that it also enables multiple devices to work together, using ‘scenes’ and ‘automations’. Scenes let you control a group of devices together, perhaps using Siri to say “turn off all the downstairs lights” at bedtime, or “turn off the security cameras” when you come home in the evening. Automations provide even more precise control, enabling devices to respond to specific conditions, such as turning on your security camera at a specific time of day, or turning on your lights if the camera detects movement.
So, from a technical point of view, HomeKit works very well. Unfortunately, Apple also made it quite difficult, and expensive, for other companies to build HomeKit into their products. This meant
that HomeKit has had to sit on the sidelines over the last few years while Amazon Alexa and Google Home got most of the attention.
ANDROID NOT ALLOWED
The other problem with HomeKit is that it’s Apple-only; if someone in your home has an Android smartphone or an Amazon Echo speaker, HomeKit is no use at all.
So, in 2019, Apple got together with Amazon, Google and a number of other companies to develop a new technology for smart home devices, called Matter. Using HomeKit as part of Matter means devices that support it will still be compatible with the Home app and Siri on Apple devices. However, the involvement of Amazon and Google means that a smart speaker or light bulb that works with Matter can be controlled using Siri voice commands on your Apple devices, but will also work with Amazon’s Alexa or the Google Assistant on non-Apple devices too.
That sounds like a win-win situation, giving Apple a boost in the smart home market, and also providing a wider choice of smart devices that we can buy for our homes, safe in the knowledge that they’ll all work together quickly and easily. However, Matter 1.0 was only released in October 2022, so there aren’t many devices currently available that support Matter. But, with Apple, Amazon and Google all backing this new standard, it shouldn’t be long before Matter emerges as the central technology at the heart of the modern smart home.