Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

redrog

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 26, 2008
340
58
Think about it.

*raises wrist*
Me: "Hey Siri, I'm going to bed"
*appliances turn off, doors lock, heating gets turned down,alarm gets turned on*
Siri: "Sleep well redrog"

:cool:
 

fischersd

macrumors 603
Oct 23, 2014
5,366
1,936
Port Moody, BC, Canada
Agreed! It's going to be pretty exciting! I wonder if they'll announce anything about a new ATV being a hub for home automation today?

Using the watch for wireless entry and key fob replacement for your car would also be ideal.
 

DynamicSausage

macrumors 6502
May 29, 2015
408
341
Leicestershire, UK
It's crazy to think how futuristic that sounds but all of the technology is already there and readily available to those with the money to implement it. A simple program to bring multiple commands in to one custom voice command and it's done.

what a time to be alive.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: rolexwatch

parseckadet

macrumors 65816
Dec 13, 2010
1,489
1,270
Denver, CO
Two things. First, I disagree with the scenario laid out in the OP. I shouldn't have to tell my watch that I'm going to bed for my house to react appropriately. Otherwise what happens when you have guests who don't have Apple Watches? Or what if I get up in the middle of the night and want a few lights on for just 5 minutes or so? Instead, the home should be able to detect on its own, though various sensors, that you've "gone to bed." That probably means something along the lines of detecting that everyone is in their various bed rooms with doors closed, after a certain time at night, and no movement in the rest of the house for X number of minutes. These scenarios are conveniences, like unlocking the door when your car arrives home and the garage door opens. Having to ask Siri to do each one, every single day, would quickly get annoying. Notice that a lot of this can be done with other systems.

Ideally you should only have to use the Apple Watch for scenarios that you can't already do without one. These mostly involve situations where you aren't home. For example, tell Siri to adjust the thermostat while on your way home. Or get a notification when your kids get home after school, and, like in the demo, open the door if they forgot a key.

Two, we'll see whether any of this pans out or not. Home Kit has been out for a year now and I'm still underwhelmed by it. Other companies like Smart Things (now owned by Samsung) are a lot further along. I'm really hoping Apple TV comes along later this year with a lot to offer in this area.
 
Last edited:

jocamero

macrumors regular
Jul 11, 2008
161
119
While ideal, I think we're still a year or two away from your scenario. iBeacons can tell when you're in certain rooms (Roomie Remote takes advantage of this). I would argue geofencing should tell the thermostat when you're approaching home and IFTTT + Nest does this. Nest is also 'smart' enough to figure out your temp preferences and home/away patterns. To be honest, it's really the only 'home automation' product I own that has actually worked consistently the past several years. Everything else has been riddled with bugs. (*cough* Lockitron *cough* Doorbot, etc.)

I think the commercial office space has done a good job at this. They have motion sensors on light switches with the ability to manually toggle the light on/off. It's simple and it works.

Two things. First, I disagree with the scenario laid out in the OP. I shouldn't have to tell my watch that I'm going to bed for my house to react appropriately.

Ideally you should only have to use the Apple Watch for scenarios that you can't already do without one. These mostly involve situations where you aren't home. For example, tell Siri to adjust the thermostat while on your way home.
 

parseckadet

macrumors 65816
Dec 13, 2010
1,489
1,270
Denver, CO
While ideal, I think we're still a year or two away from your scenario. iBeacons can tell when you're in certain rooms (Roomie Remote takes advantage of this). I would argue geofencing should tell the thermostat when you're approaching home and IFTTT + Nest does this. Nest is also 'smart' enough to figure out your temp preferences and home/away patterns. To be honest, it's really the only 'home automation' product I own that has actually worked consistently the past several years. Everything else has been riddled with bugs. (*cough* Lockitron *cough* Doorbot, etc.)

I think the commercial office space has done a good job at this. They have motion sensors on light switches with the ability to manually toggle the light on/off. It's simple and it works.

Ever look into Smart Things or Mi Casa Verde? They both claim to be able to do everything I described today (I've been holding out before trying one). Smart Things even has an open API anyone can build on top of using groovy.
 

madsci954

macrumors 68030
Oct 14, 2011
2,725
658
Ohio
Inching ever closer to a Star Trek future.
Hey Siri! Tea! Earl Grey! Hot!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: RTWG

mikezmac

macrumors 6502a
Jun 4, 2014
809
509
NH
Search IFTTT. Most of this is possible now. With IF you can build recipes, if the. Logic. There is already hooks into lights, locks, thermostat, locks and more.

You described now, not the future.
 

parseckadet

macrumors 65816
Dec 13, 2010
1,489
1,270
Denver, CO
Search IFTTT. Most of this is possible now. With IF you can build recipes, if the. Logic. There is already hooks into lights, locks, thermostat, locks and more.

You described now, not the future.
IFTTT falls short really quickly. You can't setup a single rule which says "If this, then these five thats." It can't do simple Boolean logic like "If this and this, then that." You can get into trouble really quickly with nested logic, but I think IFTTT keeps things too simple.
 

elbartino

macrumors member
Apr 21, 2015
53
0
All this is possible currently. Im a home automation programmer and have a few triggers running from my apple watch. But also geo tracking, firing events when I arrive home that change depending on current house occupancy and time of day that will trigger lights, welcome me through speakers as I enter etc. iBeacons additional people if they are all ID'd onto your network or you can integrate with existing house alarms to use PIR's as room trackers as well as Nest smoke alarms etc. This is all very current and possible.
 

JonHimself

macrumors 68000
Nov 3, 2004
1,553
5
Toronto, Ontario
I'm interested in seeing how HomeKit interprets commands. Will we be able to say, "Siri, it's movie time" have Siri know that I want it to dim the lights, close some shutters, and turn on the TV? If that's the case, will I have to explicitly identify what "movie time" means in the Home app? Otherwise I would assume we would have to be a bit more specific with Siri.. "Siri, dim the master bedroom lights", "Siri, set the scene to 'movie time' in the TV room", etc.
 

fischersd

macrumors 603
Oct 23, 2014
5,366
1,936
Port Moody, BC, Canada
IFTTT falls short really quickly. You can't setup a single rule which says "If this, then these five thats." It can't do simple Boolean logic like "If this and this, then that." You can get into trouble really quickly with nested logic, but I think IFTTT keeps things too simple.
Oh, so it's just another markup language? So, it can be your UI, but then you have a back-end procedural framework do all of the "heavy lifting". We did that back in the day with VoiceXML, creating voice portals. The back end was java frameworks.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.