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All I know is that I have Philips Hue lights, Belkin Wemo switches, and a Nest thermostat and none of them connect to HomeKit. For the Hue I have to buy a new b

by evan_ 10y ago

All I know is that I have Philips Hue lights, Belkin Wemo switches, and a Nest thermostat and none of them connect to HomeKit. For the Hue I have to buy a new bridge, Belkin says that they can't support it without completely new hardware[1], and Nest is completely mum on the issue but presumably there's no hope of support in the near future. These devices all have active developer communities and good API/interaction. I plugged my Amazon Echo in and it immediately detected all three and allowed me to control them seamlessly. I don't know what the specific issue is but it sure seems like Apple is the problem. [1]: http://www.belkin.com/us/support-article?articleNum=187953 http://www.belkin.com/us/support-article?articleNum=187953

aljones 10y ago
The issue is Apple's security standards.
- tomovo 10y ago
  The same standards that let a stranger stand in front of your door and say "hey Siri, open the front door" and walk right in?
  - kaishiro 10y ago
    Out of curiosity, how does the required chip/hardware help defend against this?
- JakeTheAndroid 10y ago
  Yes, it is a security standard issue, but it's enforced with hardware. So, while this is there for a reason (possibly even setting a standard for these IoT devices), it's not simply a lack of developers building secure software. It's with the hardware not being spec'd to meet these "arbitrary" security standards. I say arbitrary because clearly no one else in the game is using it. So, I think the OP is correct here, Apple has made a product that simply doesn't work with other products due to their own decisions. Edit: Typos
  - lovich 10y ago
    As a disclaimer I'm not really an apple fan and have found all of their products to be blah to me. Considering the rise in IoT based DDoS attacks and the ftc going after companies like D-Link for poor security practices, aren't security standards like Apple is requiring something we want to commend?
- mahyarm 10y ago
  Insteon is still an insecure and unencrypted protocol, just the new homekit hub is 'more secure' now, controlling insecure items. You can also install a general homekit proxy with a general nodejs server called homebridge. That homekit proxy can control anything with any kind of security. So at this point it's just another proprietary standard unfortunately :( Might as well call it another MFi program.
  - aljones 10y ago
    It is part of the MFi program. What would you like Apple to do?

by evan_ 10y ago

aljones 10y ago

The issue is Apple's security standards.

tomovo 10y ago
The same standards that let a stranger stand in front of your door and say "hey Siri, open the front door" and walk right in?
- kaishiro 10y ago
  Out of curiosity, how does the required chip/hardware help defend against this?
JakeTheAndroid 10y ago
Yes, it is a security standard issue, but it's enforced with hardware. So, while this is there for a reason (possibly even setting a standard for these IoT devices), it's not simply a lack of developers building secure software. It's with the hardware not being spec'd to meet these "arbitrary" security standards. I say arbitrary because clearly no one else in the game is using it. So, I think the OP is correct here, Apple has made a product that simply doesn't work with other products due to their own decisions. Edit: Typos
- lovich 10y ago
  As a disclaimer I'm not really an apple fan and have found all of their products to be blah to me. Considering the rise in IoT based DDoS attacks and the ftc going after companies like D-Link for poor security practices, aren't security standards like Apple is requiring something we want to commend?
mahyarm 10y ago
Insteon is still an insecure and unencrypted protocol, just the new homekit hub is 'more secure' now, controlling insecure items. You can also install a general homekit proxy with a general nodejs server called homebridge. That homekit proxy can control anything with any kind of security. So at this point it's just another proprietary standard unfortunately :( Might as well call it another MFi program.
- aljones 10y ago
  It is part of the MFi program. What would you like Apple to do?