HomeKit HomeKit Part of WWDC Extremely Underwhelming

[Itinj24]

Or maybe I can be convinced otherwise. This is the one part that I look forward to the most and woke up early to catch it but it was a complete waste of my time.

Things I was hoping for:

1. Pull down to refresh (annoyed at having to force close the app to update the status of accessories which is quite often)
2. 24/7 recording (a long shot but I can hope)
3. Higher resolution support for cameras
4. Giving granular/parental controls to members of the home (for kids mainly so they can’t access the controls in each other’s rooms along with specific camera access 😉)
5. User ability to select the Home Hub without the dreadful auto switching (admittedly, since switching my network to a Ubiquiti UniFi system, my home hub has been sticking like never before and it’s always a hardwired AppleTV even in the rare event it does switch… but I know a lot of you are out there still living in pain and I can sympathize. The eero was awful with this).
6. The ability to use HomePods as rear surrounds also.
7. More robust automation options like the Eve, Controller and Home+ apps have
8. More appliances than just robo vacs as per the new Matter update.


I hope they at least get rid of some of the bugs iOS 17 introduced to my setup (Philips Hue lights have been terrible for starters).

Discuss….

 

[hlovatt]

Agreed. I was hoping for more devices that could act as a hub and much better Siri support.

 

[srl7741]

I've always been disappointed in Apple's Home commitment. It's just not there because Apple has no hardware to go with it (iPhone-iOS, AppleTV- etc). It seems they have to drag the Home App along as things progress and other companies build more smart devices (hardware) for iOS etc.

I don't see that changing unless Apple starts making a line of hardware for the smart home.

 

[haralds]

Homekit is only useful with proper device choice and adding Home Assistant. Mine runs on a dedicated little Pi 4.
It takes tinkering.
I have up on cameras and am using Eufy with their little base station.

 

[Itinj24]

Homekit is only useful with proper device choice and adding Home Assistant. Mine runs on a dedicated little Pi 4.
It takes tinkering.
I have up on cameras and am using Eufy with their little base station.

That’s a me problem for sure though. I do 200 hours of overtime at work per 1/4 and have a family. I barely have time to manage HomeKit by itself. I like the simplicity of the Home app.

 

[Itinj24]

I've always been disappointed in Apple's Home commitment. It's just not there because Apple has no hardware to go with it (iPhone-iOS, AppleTV- etc). It seems they have to drag the Home App along as things progress and other companies build more smart devices (hardware) for iOS etc.

I don't see that changing unless Apple starts making a line of hardware for the smart home.

I would pay extra for 24/7 recording or anything else for that matter. Was doing it with Nest in the past.

Hopefully now that they announced that third party apps will be able to use HomePods and AppleTVs, I can make the switch to using something like Eve, Controller or Home+ on a full time basis.

 

[Itinj24]

Agreed. I was hoping for more devices that could act as a hub and much better Siri support.

Like Macs?

 

[Pug72]

Number 5 has been granted. You can now choose a preferred hub.
Bit of a fuss to get the option to show if you have HomePods, with the fix for now to remove all HomePods and re-add. With 5 HomePods I think I'll wait, my preferred hub is already being used anyway right now.

 

[shawnforever]

Yeah it doesn't seem like a very big update at all. Hopefully we'll get more things on our wishlists soon.

 

[dotme]

Number 5 has been granted. You can now choose a preferred hub.
Bit of a fuss to get the option to show if you have HomePods, with the fix for now to remove all HomePods and re-add. With 5 HomePods I think I'll wait, my preferred hub is already being used anyway right now.

This is huge news indeed. I have 19 potential hubs on my network - Way too many to put them all on a UPS. But if we can nominate a favorite and have that one on a UPS, I'd really like that.