Any UK'ers got Apple HomeKit & integrated with ST

General Discussion
1

Anyone in UK have any Apple HomeKit stuff? If so what exactly, where buy it from? Any good?

Is there a way, or will Samsung officially, integrate it with ST? I know there is probably ways with extra servers and stuff but rather have it integrate easily and seamlessly if that’s possible!

Ideally I’m thinking lights, I know Hue are HomeKit compatible, I have a Hue bulb working without the Hue bridge so don’t think it will work with HomeKit.

Or should I just stick with expanding ST?
Thanks

2

There is no smartthings integration with HomeKit at this time, and none as yet planned for the future. HomeKit requires that every device have a special hardware chip in it for security, so it isn’t something that can just be done through the cloud. And devices cannot be retrofit to be HomeKit compatible, which is why Phillip said to come out with a new hue bridge last fall. More details are given in the following thread (this is a clickable link)

There are some devices which will work with both HomeKit and SmartThings, but in the UK that is currently limited to the Phillips hue bridge (generation two).

In the last eight months I have moved most of my mission-critical home automation to HomeKit – compatible devices because I needed the reliability. But it is a very limited feature set compared to SmartThings. And a very limited set of devices so far.

I like HomeKit very much for the basics, particularly control of lighting, but there are very few device choices right now.

If you’re going to use the hue bridge anyway, and you already have an iOS phone and an iPad, you’re all set for HomeKit. And you can continue to use the same Hue bridge with SmartThings as well if you like.

3

Thanks for reply, I didn’t think they would with them competing really. [quote=“JDRoberts, post:2, topic:62011”]
In the last eight months I have moved most of my mission-critical home automation to HomeKit – compatible devices because I needed the reliability. But it is a very limited feature set compared to SmartThings. And a very limited set of devices so far.
[/quote]what exact devices are you talking about here please? Where did you buy from? Do you just keep them totally separate from ST then and just use them as a separate entity? With you saying mission critical are you saying that ST is less ridable than HomeKit?

I don’t have a Hue bridge over joined my Hue bulb direct to the ST hub. Hue are really expensive for GU10 for what I need. I have some lightify and they are cheaper and work fine direct with ST to

4

I have used a raspberry pi 3 with HomeBridge installed to integrate with ST. Works perfectly for what i need it to do. (Control Lighting via Siri)

You can follow instructions here: http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/apple/smartthings-raspberry-pi-homebridge-siri-homekit-controlled-smart-home.html

5

HomeKit is definitely more reliable than SmartThings at this time. Hopefully that will change in the future and SmartThings will become more reliable as they have made that a top company priority, and I do believe that.

I’m in the US, so I have a slightly wider set of options for HomeKit compatible devices. In particular I’m using Lutron light switches with the Lutron smartbridge pro as well as the hue bridge for lamps. I really like the Hue motion sensors. I also use some pocket sockets.

I still use echo as well (I often say that Siri is smarter, but echo hears better), and I use that in combination with harmony for television control by voice.

Last I heard, Lutron was not planning to make a HomeKit – compatible version for the EU, they felt the market just wasn’t big enough.