Apple Bringing In Smart Home Concepts through Its Homekit Technology

From fl ights to robotics and from ultimate mechanics to artificial intelligencethere are many instances to show that how better the technology has developedover the last few decades. And of course you need not to put too much ofefforts to search any of these sectors to gauge the development till date. Theycould be found anywhere. We are in the era where technology instigatessomething new and astounding every now and then.

The thing which becomes an aspect of curiosity is that what morewould be astonishing outcomes from technology when you see theone like Home Kit!

We have been operating our home appliances as per our requirement and that’svery common for almost all of us now isn’t it? We have known of refrigerators,televisions and ACs along with their functions, but what if entire home startsfunctioning by getting your orders just the way you like? Did that soundinteresting? But this is true! Very soon you would see the homes functioning atyour indication and this is all possible because of Internet.

A Short Intro To IoT-

The term Internet of Things or an IoT is mainly the network of objects which areconfi gured with electronics, software, sensors along with the connectivity toexchange data and information with other confi gured objects. Further, these

objects when being under the available network could be operated throughremote by the user. While the concept has already been presented to the world,various illustrious brands have started working upon this sector. Additionally,the usability of this technology makes it enable to be used for various sectorswhich include heart instruments, electric clams in water, biochip transponders,fi re fi ghters and many more.

Implementation Of Home Kit In IoT-

This is in general a structure that has been specifically designed to interact andcontrol the accessories and devices which are connected with each otherthrough internet in a user’s home. Further, the Homekit devices could also beconfi gured with applications along with various actions for to be controlled byuser.

One of the forms of Homekit is its compatibility with Internet of Things. Thesedevices provide the opportunity that one could easily configure them withApple’s Homekit application. With a bit of hardware transformations, IoTdevices could be updated with Homekit technology. However, one needs to be alicensed user to make such a transformation.

Besides, Homekit also offers the users for layout development to one or moreof their homes. A home for instance may be equipped with various accessoriesconnected with each other through internet. This network, apart from the owner,could also be accessed by any of the users through their iOS devices. Theaccessibility of a room could also be shared with the guests who have limitedaccess.

Eventually, the rooms, accessories, services and other Homekit stuffs could beaccessed by using a home manager. Conversely, one should install a “remindingagent” so that he could be notified during the completion of initial fetching ofthe objects.

Compatibility Of The Applications With Devices-

Released last year at WWDC; Homekit is the application which has been

designed under iOS application development as a platform to home automation.The application also holds the option to be integrated with any of the hardwaredevices, even those with IoTs but at the same time, you just can’t control aHomekit integrated device with any normal remote function. These deviceswould catch the signals only by the remote having an iOS application. Meaning,the Homekit application indeed could be installed in any device but its SDK kitis not an open source. Consequently, this could be controlled only with remotesupporting iOS.

A Look To The Homekit Products-

Albeit, the Homekit platform was announced more than a year ago, not toomuch of Homekit products have been supplied to the users so far.

However, there are some of the brands which have collaborated with Apple tostage their Homekit aided products for the users which include-

Ecobee 3- It uses sensors along with a thermostat, to keep a check on thetemperature of the home.

Elgato- The brand has designed various eve sensors which would informyou about the movements going inside the home.

iHome- Conventional devices could be connected to the smart plug whichwould be controlled through the phone.

Insteon- The hub of the company is designed to control all of its productswhich range from lights to locks even while being outside of the home.

Lutron- Any device could be plugged into indoor or outdoor switch of thecompany to convert it to a smart device. Further such devices could becontrolled with thermostat.

Apart from these, various other brands have also shown interests to developtheir Homekit products such as August, Cree, Friday Smart Lock, GE, Haier,Incipio, Kwikswet, Philips Hue, SkyBell, Withings and many more.

Role of Siri in Homekit-

Now that Homekit devices have been introduced, they could also be interactedwith Siri whether it’s a door or a room light. Furthermore, the accessibility couldalso be made on iPhone and Apple Watch. Each Homekit accessory has to beset up individually with their particular apps which would be then linked to Siri.Other than that, it also understands a device, room or zone through theircustom names. For once, a Homekit enabled device has been named; it wouldbe curbed using Siri. Thus, it’s there to take care of home at the note of yourvoice!

Apple’s Homekit Vs Google’s Brillo

While Apple announced its home automation technology at WWDC last year, onthe other hand Google too has come up front with its application Brillo whichcould be used as a communication source between the devices of home.Although, both the applications have been designed to make the devicesoperational from both inside as well as outside of home, but, various aspectskeep these two applications apart from each other.

Meanwhile where the compatible products of Google’s Brillo are still to beknown, Apple has already taken a move by launching some of the Homekitproducts in association with other brands. As far as support of the applicationis concerned, Google’s Brillo could easily operate on Android along with iOSproducts, whereas Apple has not provided the authority for Homekit to beaccessed by other platforms. Apple has plans to design Apple TV which wouldserve as a hub to Homekit to control its products, but there has been noannouncement by Google to control its devices.

The concepts of automated homes have been launched over few years back and

the techno giant, Apple out of its mobile application development is now all setto instigate something functional, astonishing and at the same time convenientfor the users for future homes.