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Apple's existing standard (HomeKit) is relatively 'open' - the specification is published, and several open source implementations exist. I've used the Python o

Apple's existing standard (HomeKit) is relatively 'open' - the specification is published, and several open source implementations exist. I've used the Python one to implement automation on the smart-home devices I've built myself. However, you do need to be certified to distribute a product otherwise you get a warning in the app when you add the device. This seems like a fair compromise to me.

aequitas 7y ago
Seems fair indeed. I did a quick search and HomeKit seems to work without an internet connection (on lan at least, not remote), what's your experience with that?
- jdsnape 7y ago
  Yeah, it works completely locally on the lan - there's a MDNS discovery and then pairing process between devices and the phone. You can access stuff remotely if you have an Apple device which is paired to the homekit stuff and connected to the internet (e.g. an Apple TV, we use an iPad which is always at home). I've deliberately designed my system to work offline as while our connection's pretty reliable I don't see why I should need an internet connection to turn on a light! :)
  - aequitas 7y ago
    > I don't see why I should need an internet connection to turn on a light! I hope manufacturers see it the same way. I don't mind devices having to be certified, I mostly want to buy hardware of the shelve anyways for safety and convenience reasons and build the controlling/automation part myself. So my biggest worries are not having a local API, data exposure and having to invest in a ecosystem and having the manufacturer brick it remotely, wasting my money.
    - mackey 7y ago
      At least for HomeKit, manufacturers have no choice but to support local network access to get certified. This has cause issues, especially with Cameras since HomeKit requires that camera streams not go through the cloud first.
baybal2 7y ago
FYI: Homekit requires you to by a DRM chip from Apple to basically do a hanshake with Iphone and nothing else. Not a good idea with OEMs, and that's why I believe they gave up the white flag now: no adoption. They are either jump on the smart home bandwagon now, or never.
- eunoia 7y ago
  It was a hardware auth chip, not DRM and it hasn’t been required for 2 years now. Software auth went live in iOS 11.3. Apple doesn’t encourage the chip anymore and AFAIK no one uses it (except legacy devices obviously). Software auth rules the day.
  - baybal2 7y ago
    Well too late now, the boat has sailed. Most OEMs chose APP + own protocol approach
    - mackey 7y ago
      I think most major HA hardware providers support Homekit at this point, with the exception of ones that don't because of competitive reasons (Nest, maybe Ring, etc) or because of strict certification requirements (like camera streams being local, $$$).
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
andoma 7y ago
A self-plug for my own HAP C library: https://github.com/andoma/libhap https://github.com/andoma/libhap I've been using it on a Raspberry Pi to control various things and recently decided to shape it up and release it to the public.
alwillis 7y ago
HomeKit is now open source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21831259 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21831259
- aequitas 7y ago
  > The HomeKit Open Source ADK is an open-source version of the HomeKit Accessory Development Kit. It can be used by any developer to prototype non-commercial smart home accessories. For commercial accessories, accessory developers must continue to use the commercial version of the HomeKit ADK available through the MFi Program. So only the "device" part, sadly not the "controller" part. So you'll still need a iOS device to setup stuff in your house, I tried it yesterday with only my iMac to no avail. But still it's a step in the right direction.

aequitas 7y ago

Seems fair indeed. I did a quick search and HomeKit seems to work without an internet connection (on lan at least, not remote), what's your experience with that?

jdsnape 7y ago
Yeah, it works completely locally on the lan - there's a MDNS discovery and then pairing process between devices and the phone. You can access stuff remotely if you have an Apple device which is paired to the homekit stuff and connected to the internet (e.g. an Apple TV, we use an iPad which is always at home). I've deliberately designed my system to work offline as while our connection's pretty reliable I don't see why I should need an internet connection to turn on a light! :)
- aequitas 7y ago
  > I don't see why I should need an internet connection to turn on a light! I hope manufacturers see it the same way. I don't mind devices having to be certified, I mostly want to buy hardware of the shelve anyways for safety and convenience reasons and build the controlling/automation part myself. So my biggest worries are not having a local API, data exposure and having to invest in a ecosystem and having the manufacturer brick it remotely, wasting my money.
  - mackey 7y ago
    At least for HomeKit, manufacturers have no choice but to support local network access to get certified. This has cause issues, especially with Cameras since HomeKit requires that camera streams not go through the cloud first.

baybal2 7y ago

FYI: Homekit requires you to by a DRM chip from Apple to basically do a hanshake with Iphone and nothing else. Not a good idea with OEMs, and that's why I believe they gave up the white flag now: no adoption. They are either jump on the smart home bandwagon now, or never.

eunoia 7y ago
It was a hardware auth chip, not DRM and it hasn’t been required for 2 years now. Software auth went live in iOS 11.3. Apple doesn’t encourage the chip anymore and AFAIK no one uses it (except legacy devices obviously). Software auth rules the day.
- baybal2 7y ago
  Well too late now, the boat has sailed. Most OEMs chose APP + own protocol approach
  - mackey 7y ago
    I think most major HA hardware providers support Homekit at this point, with the exception of ones that don't because of competitive reasons (Nest, maybe Ring, etc) or because of strict certification requirements (like camera streams being local, $$$).

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

andoma 7y ago

A self-plug for my own HAP C library: https://github.com/andoma/libhap https://github.com/andoma/libhap I've been using it on a Raspberry Pi to control various things and recently decided to shape it up and release it to the public.

alwillis 7y ago

HomeKit is now open source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21831259 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21831259

aequitas 7y ago
> The HomeKit Open Source ADK is an open-source version of the HomeKit Accessory Development Kit. It can be used by any developer to prototype non-commercial smart home accessories. For commercial accessories, accessory developers must continue to use the commercial version of the HomeKit ADK available through the MFi Program. So only the "device" part, sadly not the "controller" part. So you'll still need a iOS device to setup stuff in your house, I tried it yesterday with only my iMac to no avail. But still it's a step in the right direction.