Five tech companies are now selling smart-home products that work with Apple’s HomeKit SDK. The products which can light your living room, cool your kitchen, and more will be hitting the market throughout this summer.
Lutron, Ecobee, Elgato, Insteon, and iHome are among the first to support HomeKit. Gadgets range in price from as low as $50 to as much as $250, depending on the level of connection you are looking for.
Elgato has a set of room sensors that monitor such things as, whether doors are locked, energy consumption, room temperature and humidity, and outdoor temperatures and air pressure. Sensors cost $80 for Eve Room, $50 for Eve Weather and Eve Energy, and $40 for Eve Door & Window. Elgato’s Eve sensors are on sale today at Amazon and Walmart.
Thermostat maker ecobee has added the HomeKit SDK to its whole-house temperature monitor system for $250 with additional sensors available for $80 per pair. Devices will go on sale this July.
Lutron’s wireless lighting hub, Caséta Smart Bridge, is now available with HomeKit support. With the starter kit, users can control the lighting in specific rooms remotely. The starter kit costs $230 with additional dimmer/remote packs costing $60. The Caséta Smart Bridge is on sale now.
The Insteon Hub now works with Apple. The $150 box works with a wide variety of the company’s connected devices, like bulbs, lamps, thermostats, door locks, and more. The Insteon+ app has also been updated to support third-party connected gadgets, so you will be able to mix-and-match your in-home brands. The Hub is available now on Amazon.
My favorite new HomeKit gadget comes from iHome. It is a wall plug that turns any electronic unit into a connected device. Without having to invest in a bunch of new bulbs, TVs, or stereos, you can control your home from your smartphone. Unfortunately, pricing for the plug hasn’t been announced. It will go on sale in July with preorders available at the company’s website starting June 15.
All of these products are designed to work with Apple’s ecosystem. But Apple isn’t the only player in this space. Non-iPhone users may be spoiled for choice in the future, with Google introducing its own Internet-of-Things operating system, Samsung positioning Tizen as the everything OS, and Huawei launching Lite OS.
via Techcrunch