Hacker News Reader

Comment by phxrsg | Hacker News Reader

Siri can do home automation with HomeKit and it actually works really well. The disadvantage here is that HomeKit has less supported accessories because, as I understand it, it's less open/requires certification of the accessory.

That said, for engineers in the crowd I know that I and others get around it by making a HomeKit RPi adapter for things that don't support it...

View on HN

I thought Apple required HomeKit devices to go through a certification process that includes an audit of device security controls (things like secret management, crypto, default passwords, etc) — and very few of these low-cost IoT devices worry about security.

Apple won’t certify them, but there’s not yet a mass market for secure IoT devices (which would necessarily cost more due to the extra engineering required). It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem.

I recently got a certified smart lock, and it's been superb. Any communications outside my network are handled through Apple/HomeKit and I trust them a lot more than some random Chinese IoT supplier.

> That said, for engineers in the crowd I know that I and others get around it by making a HomeKit RPi adapter for things that don't support it...

Yep, they're using HomeBridge. [0]

I'm planning on doing this for my garage door (with a little WiFi dev board) and for a video doorbell (with a RPi with camera). Others have used HomeBridge with a cheap $20 Chinese IP camera to do the same thing, although you have to install an alternate firmware if you don't want the camera to phone home to China... :O

[0]: https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge

Are you able to say what lock you got? Would be interested in getting a decent one.

I have a Kwikset Kevo that I enjoy. If I have guests they just install the Kevo app and I can send them temporary keys that expire. I don't use the integration, but apparently it's integrated with Alexa.

Thanks!

Sorry, slow to reply. It's a Schlage Sense. Major selling point for me was that it has a keypad, so I can give non-tech savvy folks an easy in (plus backup in case of flat phone). If you don't want that, there are nicer looking one.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com