Bosch Smart Home is now compatible with Apple HomeKit

Stuttgart – The time has come: this summer, two great names in the smart home sector join forces to create the perfect user experience. By integrating Bosch Smart Home into Apple HomeKit, Bosch Smart Home offers Apple users even more control options and convenient functions for their smart home. Starting today, the integration into Apple HomeKit will enable all Apple users, as of the 13th of August, to control their existing Bosch Smart Home components in the Apple Home app, to combine them with other HomeKit-enabled accessories, and thus to optimally augment their smart home.

A smart integration with many advantages

Today’s smart home users expect devices from different manufacturers to offer both future-oriented design and cross-technology interoperability. For example, wouldn’t it be fantastic if the garage door opened automatically in the morning as soon as the cellar door opened? The integration of Bosch Smart Home into Apple HomeKit makes it child’s play to configure this and many other scenes in the Apple Home app. The combination of the smart Bosch Smart Home Door/Window Contact and a matching HomeKit-compatible garage door opener enables this possibility. There are practically no limits to further applications with other products from the HomeKit ecosystem.

Furthermore, the integration supports the exciting and unprecedented option of “geofencing” for all Apple users of Bosch Smart Home. Here, the Home app can automatically trigger scenes and automations whenever a predefined geographical boundary is crossed, for example, when a person leaves the public space and steps onto their own property.

Thanks to the expanded automation options offered by geofencing, Bosch Smart Home can handle automatic processes with even greater autonomy. An exterior light that automatically turns on as soon as the car is parked in front of the house or intelligent interior lighting that automatically switches on in individual rooms depending on who else is at home: these and countless other options can easily become reality with scenes in the Home app.

Smart daily life for everyone – thanks to intuitive control options

In addition to control via iPhone or iPad, Bosch Smart Home components can now also be controlled with Apple Watch or a Mac. Siri likewise joins the wide range of voice-control options, such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, which are already available in the Bosch Smart Home system.

Users can simply ask Siri voice control, which is also available on HomePod and Apple TV, to control shutters or to switch on or off any device that is connected to a smart plug, such as a radio or a coffeemaker. When the workday is over and it’s time to relax on the sofa, but the iPhone and HomePod are not close at hand, the Bosch Smart Home system can still be conveniently controlled directly on the user’s wrist with Apple Watch. If you are working in your home office and want to check the temperature in your child’s room, the Home app for Mac let’s you do it – instantly and without leaving your desk.

Familiar data protection from Bosch

Of course, data protection and data security are also assured: this is always a top priority for Bosch Smart Home. If the user desires, the smart home can also operate without cloud access. In this instance, the data is stored only locally on the Smart Home Controller. Another advantage for users: no gateway is required for the control via Apple Home app, unless a remote access or an automation is desired. These latter two features require an additional HomePod, Apple TV, or iPad set up as a home hub. If users choose to control their Bosch Smart Home remotely with the Apple Home app, then end-to-end encryption between the iPhone and the Smart Home Controller is implemented via iCloud.

Important key data for the function update

The Bosch Smart Home App will continue to be an essential component of intelligent home control. Important services such as the alarm system, the summer break or the presence simulation cannot be integrated into or controlled by the Apple Home app, so the Bosch Smart Home App will remain the prerequisite for enjoying the full scope of the Bosch Smart Home solutions. At the same time, the use of the Bosch Smart Home App supports the accustomed quality and security of the respective services.

The following Bosch Smart Home devices will be controllable via Apple HomeKit:

• Smart Home Controller, Smart Plug, Radiator Thermostat, Door/Window Contact, Shutter Control, Light Control, Motion Detector, Twinguard, Smoke Detector

Additional Bosch Smart Home devices will follow in the course of the year – as always via automatic software updates.

Technical requirements for the use of remote access

One of the following devices serve as an Apple HomeKit gateway:

• Apple TV (4th generation or later) with tvOS 10 or later, iPad with iOS 10 or later, HomePod