New Apple HomeKit Announced
Apple made some huge announcements at this year’s WWDC conference, while many in attendance already had speculations about particular products or services that the company would showcase, there was one big presentation that shocked everyone. If you’re a long-time Apple user you probably remember when HomeKit was released in iOS8 back in 2014, however, since its initial release Apple hasn’t made any significant changes or upgrades to the app.
Well, Apple must’ve also recognized the “potential energy” that HomeKit has as the company just announced some major improvements to the framework. HomeKit allows you to control and manage various smart home devices and accessories all in one centralized hub on your phone or other Apple device.
For a long time, HomeKit lacked the essential flexibility and adaptability that users needed to create the automation scenarios of their desires. Automation scenarios are basically Apple’s version of being able to set schedules for your various smart home devices so that they turn on/off automatically. This is a useful feature if you want to maintain a consistent temperature inside of your home amongst other things.
Another major drawback to HomeKit when it was first released was that it wasn’t compatible with as many smart home accessories when compared to devices like Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant. The good news is that’s all about to change thanks to the recent news Apple announced about the software framework at their annual developer press conference.
Upgrades Coming to Apple’s HomeKit App
To start, Apple announced that HomeKit will be getting an upgrade which allows it to recommend smart home device automation scenarios based on your activity logs. The update to HomeKit will also enable you to link your surveillance video cameras to compatible Apple products when iPadOS and iOS 14 are released onto the market.
As always, you will still be able to control all of your smart accessories such as security cameras, smart lights, and thermostats through the Home app in the iOS control center. HomeKit is the framework whereas the Home app is used to control the various connections you make through the HomeKit framework.
Another really cool update to HomeKit is Secure Video which will enable you to use existing photos in your album on your device to identify when visitors come to your home via HomePod. The updated HomeKit will also give you the ability to assign “activity zones” to your compatible security cameras so that they will become activated when motion is detected.
Control All of Your Smart Home Accessories From your Apple Device
With all of these new improvements coming to HomeKit in the upcoming release of iOS and iPadOS 14, you can expect a much more seamless home automation when using Apple products. As smart home accessories become more popular with homeowners, you can expect to see a lot more updated coming to HomeKit in the future so stay tuned!
