Saturday, April 2, 2016

WeMo and HomeKit - Update

Over a year ago, I wrote about how I hoped that Belkin would integrate HomeKit into their WeMo line. I already had several WeMo devices in my house. In January 2015, Belkin said that HomeKit would be coming "in the very near future." Over a year later, Belkin has said that HomeKit compatibility is on hold. I would be mad about this is they didn't have a legitimate reason. They want to be able to have HomeKit compatibility with existing WeMo devices. Even with a software update, WeMo devices wouldn't be compatible. I'm glad to hear this because as a long time owner of these devices, I don't want to have to buy new WeMos and have to install them all. This will also give Apple time to fix HomeKit some more, as some have said that it can be buggy. Even though this is disappointing, it's good to hear that Belkin is at least on our side (unlike Fitbit).
"We've been trying to integrate with HomeKit for sometime, as you know, but as of yet have not found a way to make existing WeMo products work with HomeKit that fall within the Apple guidelines. HomeKit integration requires a specific hardware component - it cannot happen with just a software or firmware update - which means that we would have to make a separate line of HomeKit enabled WeMo products in addition to the ones already out on the market. This also means that all of the WeMo products you already own still wouldn't work with HomeKit and you would have to buy new ones in order to get compatibility. We have put HomeKit compatibility on hold until we can find a way to make it work for both new and existing users. We are sorry for the disappointing news."

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