Of all of the crazy and sometimes impressively cool rumors I’ve heard lately, none has made me happier than one that was floating around this morning. The rumor says that Apple will put its own HomeKit app into iOS 10, which is expected to be announced next month at WWDC 2016.
HomeKit, as you’ll recall, is Apple’s framework for home automation. For iOS users, automation devices that pass HomeKit certification have some very nice advantages — easier setup, grouping by area or full home, creation of actions (for example, “I’m going to bed” turns off all lights and locks doors), and the ability to use Siri voice commands to perform all the actions. But there has been one fly in the home automation ointment: right now, every device includes its own app and although devices from one manufacturer should work on another’s app, it’s not always that simple.
An official Apple HomeKit app would be a big plus to adoption of HomeKit as a home automation standard, as it would give hardware manufacturers a common app to use for testing their devices. For users, it would mean getting rid of a handful of apps and just using the HomeKit app to control their world.
My take on the rumor: I would love to see this, and it’s something that Apple needs to do to move the HomeKit framework forward and compete against Samsung’s SmartHome initiative. If this isn’t announced at WWDC 2016, I will have the sads.
