Philips has confirmed on Facebook that it will be adding HomeKit support to its iPhone-controlled Hue lighting system – and that existing lights will be compatible.
The post gives no specific details, but in response to a customer question about whether existing Hue lights will work with HomeKit, Philips confirmed that they will.
Yes, the solution we are working on will work with all your existing and new Hue lights. To get details about how your existing Philips Hue products will work with HomeKit, please follow us on Twitter or Facebook
The most likely approach is that Philips will offer a hub to act as a bridge between HomeKit and existing Hue products. The company says that it will reveal full details in September.
An Apple support document recently confirmed expectations that the Apple TV will act as a HomeKit gateway for controlling devices from outside the home.
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Don’t you think that Philips Hue’s announcement will be dependent on the Apple TV? I suspect that they were planning on making an announcement today with WWDC when Apple was going to talk about the new Apple TV. But since that got cut, they just say that we will have to wait till September for more details (when Apple will most likely discuss the new Apple TV).
yeah that was my thought too. I followed Philips Hue’s facebook page for the past months and they always had the same statement, that they were thrilled to be included in the 2014 keynote and starting lineup of homekit. And now they state that they will release the requirements for homekit integration with hue in september. It sounds to me that they are in the core group of selected manufactures that develop homekit closely together with apple – it seems an appletv will be the required component to use hue with homekit and this new update for appletv (gen3 and the new hardware) will arrive in september
I believe though that they have said that homekit will work with the existing AppleTV 3. So, If Hue were ready today, then it would presumably work with the existing hardware. Except that it sounds like we will need to buy a new hub as the one they have won’t work.
I think you’re still going to need a Philips hub to link to existing kit. Apple TV is just for remote access from outside the home.
I’m setting my expectations to having to buy a new hub… best case scenario it’s a firmware update to existing hubs (I know Insteon had to release a new hub for all of their stuff to work with HomeKit though)
But current Apple TV is compatible with HomeKit. Thus, they can announce HomeKit with Philips today, even without new Apple TV…
YES!!!!!
I won’t be buying them now or in September unless they seriously reduce their prices. £150 for 3 bulbs and a hub! To justify that price, I am assuming they last a lifetime right?
more like 18 years.