Apple has had a few duds over the years, but HomeKit is particularly frustrating: After a few years, it’s still a mess disguised as an intuitive smarthome platform.
HomeKit was introduced in iOS 8 back in 2014 as a way to control smarthome devices from your iPhone from apps or Siri.
One of the big benefits is the setup process, where you can just scan the HomeKit code printed on the device and your iPhone will immediately recognize it and set it up.HomeKit has evolved since then, including the addition of the Home app, which gives you a central place on your iPhone to control everything in your house.
Unfortunately, that’s where most of HomeKit’s pleasantries end. It was a promising framework that had many users believe Apple would take over the smarthome sector. However, it’s been anything but. While the smarthome industry has been booming over the last couple of years, with the release of new smarthome hubs and voice assistants, HomeKit has remained rather stagnant…and frustrating.
HomeKit’s Selection of Devices Is Lacking
While the list of HomeKit-enabled devices is continuously growing, it’s still pretty lacking (thanks to strict hardware requirements by Apple). There are a ton of popular smarthome products that still don’t support HomeKit, including the Nest Thermostat and Belkin WeMo line, which are some of the most recognizable smarthome products on the market.
HomeKit-compatible products aren’t exactly scarce, but the fact that you need to severely limit your options in order to get something that supports HomeKit is pretty off-putting when you’re trying to build up your smarthome.
Conversely, smarthome hubs like Wink and SmartThings support a huge number of devices, as do voice assistants like the Amazon Echo and Google Home. These make much better “glue” for your smarthome than HomeKit ever has.
Apple’s Home App Is Extremely Buggy and Frustrating
The lack of devices isn’t even my biggest gripe. My biggest issue with HomeKit is that it just doesn’t work well to begin with. It’s so bad that even the best exterminator wouldn’t be able to get rid of all the bugs, and the setup process can be frustrating and cumbersome even though it’s supposed to be simple and easy.
For starters, the Home app (which took ages to even come out on the iPhone and iPad) isn’t all that great. It’s simple and easy to use once you get everything up and running, as well as when everything is working properly, but those last two parts is where things can get a bit frustrating.
For example, when I add my Hue lights to the Home app, it doesn’t import any information whatsoever from the Hue app, so I have to rename…
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