HomeKit Anyone else thinking of giving up with HomeKit?

[Itinj24]

Is Homekit perfect, no. Is it reliable…I’d say 99% uptime in my use case, which is more than acceptable.
I have over 130 Homekit devices and also run Hoobs for occupancy control and a few other plugins.
My entire home is automated…lights, door locks, garage door, security etc.
I have tested dozens of routers, homekit sensors etc, and quickly determined the biggest issue isn’t homekit, it’s the hardware that can be the bottleneck and cause Homekit problems.
With the upcoming release of Thread devices, HomeKit will only get better.
More importantly, the pending release of Matter and Matter hardware, it will provide a plethora of options.
Google and Amazon devices require cloud access for functionality…which directly equates to security and privacy issues. If Google and Amazon already don’t have enough information, why use their hardware which gives them even more access to your life?
Homekit is and will always be the most secure option.

I thought I had a lot at ~90 devices… May I ask what networking gear you use to run such a robust HomeKit setup at such a high rate of reliability. I currently use eero Pro 6 with four routers and gigabit VZ internet. It’s been awful in my case. Had better performance with the original eero Pro. Thanks.

 

[Zonck]

Fired this into the ether then forgot to keep on top of it!

So from countless calls with apple support it seems there is nothing wrong with my hardware. It transpires that as well as 15.2 being a buggy mess I was having issues with my iCloud account which has now gone to the engineers.

I’m going to stick with HomeKit for a bit until these are fixed and reevaluate it then but Apple really need to up their game.

Why did they kill of the airports and time capsules? Why not keep the OG HomePod until the HomePod 2 (thread, screen, price point changes) that we all know is coming at some point was ready? Why not use their might to release a load of first party accessories?


HomeKit need a lot of love for it to be long term viable for me.

 

[BobRey77]

I

I’m eying up Google. Sure I’ll need a Google account but the thermostat, doorbell, smoke alarm, indoor camera, outdoor camera are all first party so I need one account, one app.

To do the same with HomeKit would likely need another app for each product.

For most products you will need the native app for installation but you won't need it after that. Not really much of an issue from my experience with Lutron, NanoLeaf and Wemo.

 

[Ed M.]

I know it’s an old thread, but I might add that the biggest advantage HomeKit has that the others lack is any type of security. Google and Amazon are always listening and amassing unimaginable amounts of your data. No thanks.

Apple prioritizes security, the others prioritize data collection. Companies support those platforms because they don’t have the strict requirements Apple insists upon.

 

[bassjunky]

I

I’m eying up Google. Sure I’ll need a Google account but the thermostat, doorbell, smoke alarm, indoor camera, outdoor camera are all first party so I need one account, one app.

To do the same with HomeKit would likely need another app for each product.

Not if Apple would do it right. I don't know what the issue is, either Apple or the 3rd party, but few seem to embrace HomeKit, with or without their own app.

 

[SalisburySam]

Not if Apple would do it right. I don't know what the issue is, either Apple or the 3rd party, but few seem to embrace HomeKit, with or without their own app.

No specific knowledge, but I wonder if Apple charges a (high?) fee for HomeKit licensing. That, plus the effort to build in compatibility, may put off manufacturers. And that, coupled with the fact (for me) that HomeKit doesn’t work all that well in the base case, suggests a low market opportunity vs. costs.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I'll wait until 16.2 and Thread is out, but I'm not feeling the love. Cortana, on the last day she worked before Microsoft disabled her on my Cortana speaker, was infinitely more useful than Siri is.

 

[haralds]

Very happy with my setup with a lot of devices. I run Home Assistant on my Synology NAS to connect fans, Ecowitt weather station, and pool controllers, plus any future unsupported devices . The fan responds more quickly via the HomeKit interface than its dedicated app!
It's been very reliable.
Google and Alexa are spyware.

 

[bassjunky]

Very happy with my setup with a lot of devices. I run Home Assistant on my Synology NAS to connect fans, Ecowitt weather station, and pool controllers, plus any future unsupported devices . The fan responds more quickly via the HomeKit interface than its dedicated app!
It's been very reliable.
Google and Alexa are spyware.

I'll have to check out Home Assistant. I finally got HomeBridge to run pretty well, it's the plugins you have to configure correctly for everything to work, which can be tedious. I only have a handful of devices to work with, but it's interesting. Though ultimately I wish more devices supported HK.