Apple and others announced plans to create a new connectivity standard for smart home devices, which they’re calling Connected Home over IP. Now Apple is putting its money where its mouth is by open sourcing portions of its HomeKit Accessory Development Kit (ADK).
The Connected Home over IP working group hopes to improve interoperability between smart home devices through a new, unified connectivity protocol. It includes Apple, Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance, and also has buy-in from companies like Ikea, Samsung, Schneider Electric, Silicon Labs and others.
Shortly after announcing its involvement, Apple told developers that it had open-sourced portions of the HomeKit ADK to accelerate development of this new standard. Developers can now use the HomeKit ADK “to prototype non-commercial smart home accessories.”
Apple also said that it will contribute its HomeKit Accessory Protocol (HAP) to the working group, adding:
Existing HomeKit accessories will continue to work after the new protocol becomes available since Apple plans to continue to support HAP for communication with smart home accessories in its ecosystem.
Are you developing using HomeKit? Using HomeKit stuff in your house? What do you think of Apple’s embrace of open standards for smart devices? Let us know in the comments.