HomeKit API still missing all new devices

Question

Created Jan ’19

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Starting early 2018, everything that has been announced as added to HomeKit such as HomePod, AppleTVs, Airplay 2 devices, and now TVs have not in fact been added to the actual HomeKit APIs. HMAccessoryCategoryTypes.h hasn't changed a bit. Iterating over all accessories of all types does not include any such accessories. So all of those things are not actually part of HomeKit, they seem to be just in the Home app only and not available via the HomeKit API at all.

Needless to say, this is to put it gently inconsistent and users of apps that rely on HomeKit do not understand why HomeKit apps cannot access what otherwise seems obviously to be a HomeKit accessory in the Home app, not knowing that all such accessories have not actually been made part of HomeKit.

Is anyone aware of some kind of statement or can someone please make a statement regarding what the expectation is here? Given the HomeKit silence at WWDC '18, I feel like it could be better to implement HAP in our app rather than use the HomeKit API at this point if we can't get a clear statement that the HomeKit API will be kept up to date as it is now at least a year visibly out of date with devices that users are incorrectly made to believe are part of HomeKit.

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Answer 1

cypher OP

Dec ’19

Now it has been almost a full 2 years that the HomeKit API is totally out of date. The Home app keeps getting more and more devices that appear as HomeKit accessories, but are hidden from HomeKit apps. No guidance has been provided on this issue that has effectively created a second class citizen out of any HomeKit-related app. Not to mention that just turning on the HomeKit capability seems to turn the 1 day app review process into 7. Some kind of guidance/hope for the future is needed here, and not just waiting until next June at WWDC.

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Answer 2

juan.moya OP

Nov ’20

I was wondering why I didn't see TVs exposed on the HomeKit API and I can't believe you were already asking this question more than a year ago and nothing has changed :(

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Answer 3

maxcurious OP

Jun ’21

no news about this at wwdc21 either?

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Answer 4

cypher OP

Jun ’21

It is safe to say the HomeKit API seems just as out of date after WWDC21 as it has been for 3+ years now. It is still missing TVs, HomePods, AppleTVs, Airplay2 devices, etc. There was really nothing announced that was actually HomeKit framework related. Home Keys looks like the team that does Wallet. HomeKit Secure Video expansion was just a matter of where and how much video is stored. Nothing related to HomeKit.

The way I read the tea leaves since Apple didn't add anything to HomeKit again this year is this (this is not a real quote just how I interpret the broader direction):

We have spent all of our resources for some years working on CHIP/Matter. We presume that by putting parts of HomeKit into this open source effort, more types and more brands of devices will then become part of it that were previously hesitant to do so. Therefore, we have spent years redirecting our efforts towards that at the expense of essentially everything else.

This seems like a road that will take 3+ years (plus the 3+ years already spent) to come to fruition. Meanwhile, the HomeKit API will still be missing everything that has been announced for the last several years. It's also counter-intuitive as most of the missing devices are Apple devices so they never needed third-party or open source anything to fix that.

Regardless, I think that's what we're getting. At this point, anyone serious about the HomeKit area starting fresh is likely better off using an HAP implementation of their own and basically ignoring the HomeKit API.

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