Home app has received a major design upgrade on iOS 16 and more importantly, support for Matter smart home connectivity standard to give users a wider range of smart accessories that seamlessly work together across platforms.
Home app compatible across Apple devices allow users to manage their smart home directly from their iPhones; to turn off bedroom lights, check who is at the door, control temperature, and much more simply by tapping on the devices icons. Now, the tech giant has introduced new features to enhance the smart home experience.
In August 2021, the Connectivity Standard Allianced announced the launch of a new smart home standard “Matter” in 2022. Supported by Apple, Google, and other leading tech companies, the aim of Matter was to unify the systems of smart home technologies and devices of different companies into a single cross-functional standard.
This Fall, iOS 16 will bring redesigned Home app and a wider range of products to choose from with Matter support
This Fall, the new smart home connectivity standard “Matter” will be supported on iOS 16 to efficiently and securely create a connected ecosystem of smart home accessories at home with a wide variety of choices and not worrying about what works with what.
As per the announcement at WWDC 2022 event, Apple contributed its HomeKit framework as the foundation to build the new standard on the same core principles and maintain the highest level of security.
Matter will enable smart home accessories to work together across platforms and several industry-leading brands already support Matter and more than 130 are in the pipeline.
Matter standard provides underlying foundation to connect smart home accessories and it allows us to innovate on top of it. Privacy, ensuring that data about how you use your accessories is processed and stored by default in a way that even Apple cant see.
With Matter, we can continue to create amazing experiences in the Home app while also making sure all your different accessories are consistently simple to set up and easy to use.
The redesigned Home app on iOS 16 will deliver a new experience to organize, navigate and view to easily control a smart home. Here is everything new on the updated Home app:
- Main tab includes integrated rooms and favorites to see the entire home in a single view.
- New categories are added to the app like climate, lights, security, and others with an overview of what’s happening in each category at the top of the UI.
- By tapping on a specific category, users will see all relevant accessories organized by room and more detailed status information. For example, a multi-camera view will display up to four cameras at once, front and center.
- New tiles for accessories are more visually recognizable through shape and color.
- Users will be able to add smart home accessories widget on the Lock Screen to see how their home is doing at a glance.
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