Apple iOS 10 HomeKit App: the Dawn of the Smart Home - Dispatch Weekly

The Apple iOS 10 includes a new Home app, HomeKit, which helps control the home with a click of a button- taking on Google and Amazon in the rush to become the best for smart living.

Over 70 manufacturers now carry ‘Works With Apple HomeKit’ mark, letting consumers know that the product meets Apple’s privacy and security levels.

Customers can expect everything in their home to be automated by asking Siri from a single app, including, controlling doors, blinds and lights.

The iOS 10 HomeKit App

The Apple iOS now offers the Apple Home app that controls connected devices designed to incorporate them in one place, working together.

There are three main categories: Rooms, Automations and Scenes and you can access the devices from any Room (bedroom, living room), Scenes (Good Night, Movie Night) and Automations (uses location data on iPhone that helps you put setting on automatic, for e.g. setting the lighting at a specific time).

3D Touch support is also integrated with the HomeKit app where you can choose a device icon to adjust brightness. Siri can also control the HomeKit devices.

Biggest Release Ever from Apple

Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering said:

“’iOS 10 is our biggest release ever, with delightful new ways to express yourself in Messages, a native app for Home automation, and beautifully redesigned apps for Music, Maps, and News that are more intuitive and more powerful, making everything you love about your iPhone and iPad even better.”

The Home app brings together favorite accessories and scenes for easy access. Adding Siri also adds innovative technological solutions to the home. 

HomeKit: A Huge Moment for Home Automation

During an Apple event, apple CEO Tom Cook said:

“This is the first time that home automation has been integrated into a major platform.”

The home app, “makes it unbelievably easy to set up and manage devices throughout the home, whether you’re at home or away.”

“Virtually every major manufacturer of home automation devices now supports HomeKit. In fact there’s over a hundred products coming to market this year and there will be more in the pipeline.”

It has taken a while but the HomeKit offers a practical solution to getting your home connected to your Apple iOS, making it easier than ever to operate and control.

What are your thoughts on HomeKit? Is it a useful tool to integrate your home operations or will it make us more lazy and dependent on technology?