Apple Discloses New Home Automation IOS 14 Access Smart Home Features

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After Apple’s, 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference focused a lot of attention this week on new iPhone features – from customizable widgets to picture-in-picture video to turning your iPhone into a digital car key. But this fall, iOS 14 will also launch several new smart home updates.

As Apple discussed Monday at its first online event, iOS 14 will work for hand in hand with Apple’s HomeKit platform and with HomePod smart speaker and Apple TV support, offering new ways to incorporate security features in your home.

First, a fast introduction to HomeKit: Apple’s smart home platform makes communication between various devices simpler – even if created by different manufacturers – and enables you to handle anything by swiping through an iPhone or iPad screen, tapping on your Apple Watch, clicking Apple TV or talking to Siri. Most of the power is connected to an app, better known as Home.

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Apple Discloses New Home Automation IOS 14 Access Smart Home Features

From lighting and locks to heating and cooling to cameras and speakers, Apple is looking to take a bigger bite out of smart home automation and control market, valued at $76.6 billion in 2018 in the U.S. and expected to rise to $151.4 billion by 2024, according to research firm MarketsandMarkets. 

As for what’s new, “Suggested Automations” was one of the highlighted features at WWDC. When you add a new HomeKit-enabled smart home device, your iOS 14-powered iPhone will propose a few suggestions for optimizing its capabilities.

For example, if you add a smart light, such as a Philips Hue bulb, the Home app may ask if you’d like to try out scheduling the lights to turn on and off at specific times of the day. Or if you have a smart garage system, like Chamberlain’s MyQ, you can have it open the door as you pull into the driveway.

Apple Discloses New Home Automation IOS 14 Access Smart Home Features

Apple also demonstrated additional support for home security cameras, as part of its “Secure Video” feature. If you have a HomeKit-compatible video doorbell, such as a Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell, you will be able to see who’s at the front door on your television screen, via Apple TV. And with the facial recognition feature built into Apple Photos, the camera may recognize who’s visiting and your HomePod can announce their name.

Speaking of cameras, a new HomeKit feature lets you assign activity zones so you can designate the most important areas in a camera’s field of view, in order to trigger an action, like turning a light on and sending a notification to your iPhone or Apple Watch. For instance, you can set up your front door camera to only send an alert if someone is walking up your driveway, as opposed to people walking down a sidewalk or an animal wandering around.

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While other smart home platforms from Google and Amazon have similar camera features, Apple says all of the processing done – such as analyzing who’s at your front door – is handled locally on the devices itself (and with end-to-end encryption between devices) instead of via the cloud, for added privacy and security. That said, Apple confirmed it has formed a new alliance with competitors in an effort to build a universal smart home standard.

Other smart home highlights coming soon:

  • A new visual status at the top of the Home app will give a summary of accessories that may require your attention, such as a firmware update, or it may display important status changes.
  • Apple will also add a new “adaptive lighting” feature for smart bulbs, such as letting colors automatically change throughout the day to maximize comfort, including the removal of blue light while winding down at night.
  • The Home area on your iPhone’s Control Center will also dynamically suggest the most relevant scenes and HomeKit-supported accessories you’ll likely want to control — based on the time of day and how often you’d normally use them. For instance, as you get ready for bed at 11 p.m., you may see controls for turning off the outside lights, locking the front and back doors, ensuring the garage door is closed, and enabling the home alarm.
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