Turns out we won’t be able to order robot vacuum cleaners around with Siri commands and the Home application quite as soon as hoped. Apple moved the release date for this feature to early 2025.
When it launches, though, it’ll be a powerful tool for controlling these automated home-cleaning devices.
Home app will soon be able to control robot vacuum cleaners… finally!
Apple’s Home app and the HomeKit platform let users control their lights, thermostats and other compatible accessories. The smart home system can be controlled by an iPhone, Mac, HomePod, etc.
A major category of home appliances that the Home app doesn’t support is robot vacuum cleaners, but Apple promised at WWDC24 in June that support is coming before the end of 2024.
However, the company has now moved the date back. The “coming soon” section referencing robot vacuums on the Home app page on Apple’s website now says “Feature will be available in early 2025.” That means it won’t be in iOS 18.2 when it launches later this month, but some future update.
What to look forward to
Apple’s description of iOS 18 gets a bit ahead of the curve when discussing this feature by speaking in the present tense about something not yet available. Still, it shows what iPhone, iPad and Mac users can look forward to:
“The Home app now supports the core functionality of robot vacuum cleaners, such as power control, cleaning mode, vacuum, mop, and charge status. They can also participate in automations and scenes, and respond to Siri requests. So you can add them to your cleaning routines — or tell Siri to do some spot cleaning in the living room.”
Apple made no mention of special HomeKit compatible robot vacuums being needed. This likely indicates that the feature will work with devices that support the cross-platform home-automation standard Matter, not HomeKit.
Via: MacRumors
