- Apple unveils a new Home app for its HomeKit smart home platform.
- App will be released alongside iOS 16 later this year.
- New Categories area for temperature, lighting, speakers and TVs, water (sprinklers and faucets) and security added to make it easier to identify, manage, and operate items.
Apple also mentioned Matter, a new smart home App communication standard that allows devices to communicate with one another across platforms. The matter will be released later this year, most likely around the same time as iOS 16. The Home app will support the standard in the upcoming OS, according to Apple.
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Apple provided HomeKit as the “foundation of this new standard” according to Corey Wang, and Matter supports some of HomeKit’s essential concepts, such as the greatest levels of security and privacy.
She also hinted at how Matter will assist HomeKit customers in integrating new device categories into their smart homes, allowing them to select from a wider range of compatible smart home accessories and operate them using the Home app and Siri. HomeKit currently lacks a lot of smart home categories, like robot vacuums and pet feeding.
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iOS 16 will be available as a developer preview beginning today, followed by a public beta next month and a complete release this autumn. The iPhone 8 and later, as well as the iPad (5th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), and all iPad Pro devices, will be supported.
