As we go hurtling towards the holiday season, it’s always exciting to look at what might come next. Dan Moren has written a very astute take at what Apple might do in 2022 for Macworld. His look at the moves the company could make in the smart home market is particularly interesting.
Apple’s had a challenging couple years in the home space. It’s discontinued its full-size HomePod in favor of the smaller HomePod mini, and while it’s ramped up support for the upcoming Matter initiative that aims to interconnect smart home devices across manufacturers, that really won’t kick off in earnest until next year. But word of a “homeOS” project reared its head once again this week, after a mention in an Apple job posting. The term had cropped up earlier this year, ahead of the Worldwide Developers Conference, but nothing more was heard of it until now. It could suggest a more in-depth investment in smart home tech for Apple, and, combined with a recent hire to oversee HomePod software might mean the company is reinvigorating development in that area.
Check It Out: Could Apple Make Major Smart Home Moves in 2022?
It will be interesting to see what they offer. So far all SmartHome devices have failed to show me the most important thing: A reason to use them.
Lights that I can turn off with my phone, Big deal. A lock I can unlock from the other side of town, why? A thermostat I can check and set with an App, I have one right now that I programmed two years ago, and it works perfectly without any intervention from me. Lots of ideas that strike me as unnecessary complexity and security vulnerabilities, for little actual benefit. It will be interesting to see if Apple can bring anything to this space. I have a remote for my fireplace, and one for my fan. They don’t need to be connected to my phone. For everything else, I have no problem flipping a wall switch. As far as locks, if I’m wondering if the back door is locked, I will check it manually. If I doubt my memory, I’m going to doubt the display on my phone too. I want to put my hand on the latch and know that it’s locked.
I completely agree. For me SmartHome means I shouldn’t have to interact. It just does what needs to be done. No switches or phone apps. But that’s probably a long way off.
That’s why I find so much of the Smart Home kit perplexing. We already have devices that do the same thing without being connected. Motion sensor lights have been around for decades. The same is true of automatic thermostats, central lock systems as well. Many devices are available with remotes. The benefit of tying everything to our phone, a single point of failure, escapes me.