One striking piece of news that has gone
underrepresented is that Apple will allow
third-party developers and manufacturers to
create Siri-enabled devices, meaning Siri will
be available outside of iOS for the irst time.
Of course, users will still need a HomePod
to control the device, but it follows on from
Amazon who ofers its Alexa smart assistant
to third parties. The irst company to support
this feature is Ecobee, which said it’ll roll out a
irmware update to support Siri on its Ecobee
SmartThermostat - plenty more companies will
likely follow suit.
Apple is also overhauling the Home app
for Apple Watch, with an Intercom button
right at the top to quickly communicate
with anyone in the home. Using machine
learning, the company will then populate
a series of scenes and devices it thinks you
may need, with a new room view so you
can control individual devices. On Apple
TV, HomeKit cameras can now be viewed
all at once in a grid view, and it’s possible
to toggle accessories on and off, so, for
example, if someone is headed towards your
porch, you could turn on the lights for them.
What’s perhaps most interesting about iOS
15, however, is that Apple’s Project Connected
Home over IP has been renamed Matter,
and will be supported as standard on iOS
- Any device that’s certiied to work with
Matter will be available right within the Home
app and controlled via Siri, and in time, this
should result in a great number of companies
supporting smart devices for HomeKit, and
thus allowing users to beneit from non-
HomeKit devices, too.