crofford

designr said:

crofford said:

jeffzacharias said:

crofford said:

I wish Apple would take home automation seriously. It’s such a half-assed job so far. 

Me and my 70+ HomeKit devices that work perfectly strongly disagree with this statement.

Somehow I don’t think you’re being completely honest there. Or you’re not using it as a real home automation system. As a significant investor for 30 years and somewhat experienced technical person, there’s absolutely no reason for me to be negative on the technology other than it’s actual performance. 

Could you elaborate a bit?

I'm genuinely curious. Again mostly because my (admittedly simpler setup) has worked fine (and improved with the latest software upgrades).

Some people are making broad and absolute statements (e.g., "It’s absolutely pitiful technology.", "It’s such a half-assed job so far.", "HomeKit is expensive and half baked with primitive programming compared to the competition." ) but providing little detail to tell us why they think this.

Apple's Thread Border Router code in their HomePods and AppleTV is extremely buggy.  There are two significant areas that are buggy - syncing between home hubs and "sleepiness."  All ATV's and HP's are home hubs and there's no way to manage which ones are used or what the priority should be.  You can remove ATV's from being used but you can't remove HP's.  I have eight ATV's and sixteen HomePods.  The home hub "server" moves around all of those devices.  Not sure why it randomly moves but that's the current design.  Thread devices talk to each other and eventually connect to an ATV or HP via the network border router capability.  Many times the connection at that point is unresponsive because that part of the code in ATV's and HP's appears to go into some kind of wait state.  At that point many or all devices go into a "Updating" state.  Also "Automations" are stored in the home hub so when you have a timed or triggered event happen that should turn on a light or whatever, but because syncing is slow or breaks, automations will run perfectly for days and then completely break and not run at all.  But if you wait a few days, they'll magically start running again.
Bottom line is that if you want to play with HomeKit as a hobby, it's just fine.  If you need something to be reliable and not fail...for example, watering your landscape when you live in Arizona, it's not ready for prime time.
*Edit* I am running the most recent 16.5 software which seemed to solve some of the problems, especially delayed actions. I ran pretty good for about ten days, then out of the blue, all automations stopped working.  I did nothing, and three days later they started working again.

I wish Apple would take home automation seriously. It’s such a half-assed job so far. 

Update doesn't appear to be available for Intel-based....or at least my Mac Pro

The reason for low sales is that it’s well known that it’s a piece of crap device. I can attest to the accuracy of that as well since I have one.  Initial setup and configuration is a nightmare…and I’m a tech guy.  The install instructions never worked and always required a call to the support line that had different instructions…that they would never post!!! Also the design and architecture of the chamberlain/liftmaster setup in general is terrible. 

I bought three to use when I went on an extended trip. I ruined the first one just attaching the plastic to the hose bib. Sent them all back. I’m slightly interested to see how this new fitting works but I’m skeptical. I’d pay double or more for a dependable device that’s not made of plastic.