Apple purges 'Doorbell' category from HomeKit accessories page
Apple has quietly removed the entire "Doorbell" category from its roster of current and future HomeKit accessories, suggesting that once-promised upgrades by August and Ring are at least in purgatory.
The change appears to have happened sometime this week. Only one item was listed under the category, the August Doorbell Cam.
When Apple introduced the Home app for iOS 10 during WWDC 2016, video doorbell support was prominently demonstrated, hinting that a flood of compatible products might be around the corner. The company indicated that people would be able to watch live feeds, use an intercom, and even unlock their door, all from a Home app notification.
August and Ring soon promised to upgrade their doorbells, but years later neither has delivered software upgrades. The latter even reaffirmed its commitment to upgrading the Ring Pro and Floodlight after its takeover by Amazon, even though Amazon's Alexa is a rival smarthome platform.
It's not clear what hurdles have prevented HomeKit support. One possibility is the heavy encryption Apple demands, since while the platform now supports both software and hardware for that task, it could be that August and Ring have had trouble minimizing lag.
Doorbells are typically expected to deliver audio, video, and other data with as little lag as possible. A long gap could at best make for an awkward social situation, and at worst mean that a criminal gets away without his face on camera.
AppleInsider has contacted Apple regarding the matter.
The change appears to have happened sometime this week. Only one item was listed under the category, the August Doorbell Cam.
When Apple introduced the Home app for iOS 10 during WWDC 2016, video doorbell support was prominently demonstrated, hinting that a flood of compatible products might be around the corner. The company indicated that people would be able to watch live feeds, use an intercom, and even unlock their door, all from a Home app notification.
August and Ring soon promised to upgrade their doorbells, but years later neither has delivered software upgrades. The latter even reaffirmed its commitment to upgrading the Ring Pro and Floodlight after its takeover by Amazon, even though Amazon's Alexa is a rival smarthome platform.
It's not clear what hurdles have prevented HomeKit support. One possibility is the heavy encryption Apple demands, since while the platform now supports both software and hardware for that task, it could be that August and Ring have had trouble minimizing lag.
Doorbells are typically expected to deliver audio, video, and other data with as little lag as possible. A long gap could at best make for an awkward social situation, and at worst mean that a criminal gets away without his face on camera.
AppleInsider has contacted Apple regarding the matter.
Comments
It maddens me when my Twitter timeline is filled with people asking Nest when their HomeKit support is coming. Breaking news: it never will! You know what? Go reward a company like ecobee, Honeywell, Logitech, etc. for putting in the work and bringing HomeKit support.
Sometimes HomeKit won't be able to see my devices status and just give me a blank reading. This happens with my ecobee and hue lights. I can just imagine that there are some issues with streaming video in HomeKit with security in place that was created outside of the devices native app.
Its also frustrating to see an abundance of Amazon Alexa devices for sale that supposedly work as well as Homekit. I'm not comfortable giving Amazon freedom to enter my house though.
Maybe Apple is going to sell their own devices for video. They still use the iSight name with iPhones.
It is a shame that Ring was bought by Amazon since I do not trust their use of data. Unfortunately, I bought the device about 2 months before and cannot do anything about it now.
Because it lacks encryption, on the fly software based encryption is not easy. The reason for encryption is so you do not have to worry about a man in the middle attack and gains access to things you may not want them to have access to. Hardware based encryption is much faster but requires lots of power from a batter operated device. Now if you have an old style 24 VAC door belly system then you could run it off the 24 VAC but not everyone had those anymore. I removed mine and went to wireless battery operated a long time ago.
if you want to see who is ringing your doorbell when your not home it has to connect to your wireless network in your house. This is one of the features that Ring and others heavily advertise. We all know Amazon bought ring so they can offer the service to drop packages inside your door if you give them security access to your house like the door lock and camera so they can send you a picture of your package being delivered.
Like, just for doorbells?
Sorry for all the posts but I really love to geek out on this HomeKit stuff
Meanwhile, Google still continues to fail at supporting HomeKit for its Nest products.
The entire reason I went with Ring Pro was because of Homekit. Since it hasn't happened I haven't expanded my Ring purchases, though I would like to add two of their outdoor cams. Won't do so until it works with the ecosystem I have chosen. I also wonder if a lawsuit is in Ring's future, since I specifically went with Ring Pro based on their assurances it would work with Home Kit.