Philips Hue, a personal wireless lighting system that we reviewed thoroughly, will get updated with support for Apple’s home automation platform called HomeKit, the company confirmed Monday in a post on Facebook.
Upcoming Hue lights released this September and onwards will have built-in HomeKit support. Existing Hue lights will be upgraded with HomeKit compatibility through a free software update that will unlock new features for your existing Hue hardware, said the firm.
“Whilst the details are being finalized we can confirm that existing Philips Hue lights will work with Apple HomeKit, and any necessary upgrade to the system will be fully supported,” wrote Philips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHvgtAcZl6g
The smart home controls via HomeKit include locking a smart door, turning off lights, closing a garage and more, all using Siri’s voice control technology.
HomeKit offers a plethora of other cool features, such as the ability to control your home appliances remotely through the Apple TV (or a dedicated device) acting as a HomeKit hub, scenes that let you chain multiple devices and actions together, data encryption, strong security and more.
Ahead of WWDC last week, the first wave of HomeKit-certified appliances for the connected home began trickling out from the likes of iHome, ecobee, Insteon, Elgato and many others.
HomeKit requires an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad with iOS 8.1 or later.
Jeff recently spent some quality hands-on time with HomeKit: the Caséta Wireless Smart Lighting Dimmer Kit from Lutron so check out his impressions here.
Source: Philips