With iPadOS 16, the tablet can still be used as a HomeKit control center, the group confirms. However, this brings limitations.
Users of Apple’s smart home -Standard HomeKit has so far been able to use three device variants as a so-called control center, also known as a home hub: HomePod including HomePod mini, Apple TV (4K or HD) or an iPad equipped with a power supply. Tablet use was originally supposed to be dropped with iPadOS 16, which will be released in the fall. Now the group has apparently changed its mind again: the iPad will remain Home Hub-capable, Apple confirmed to a US medium.
Not for the latest technology
However, that’s just one side of the coin. The other: The iPad is not able to control all new devices. Home Hub operation is to have a local device that brings the HomeKit devices to the internet to monitor them remotely as well. If you don’t have a HomePod or an Apple TV in the future, you won’t be able to use “new architectures” because the iPad doesn’t support them.
The Apple spokeswoman said what exactly that means the IT blog The Verge expressed, but not with. It is conceivable that it is the new smart home standard Matter, which allows the use of more devices and which Apple wants to introduce in the future. How much smart home hardware supports it and whether old devices can also use it via update is still completely unclear.
Statement after a lot of hü or hott
The Apple statement ended Speculations that arose after the launch of iPadOS 16. Apple had announced the end of the iPad as a home hub in the small print and apparently confirmed it. But then the group apparently felt compelled to clarify the information.
Apple spokeswoman Catherine Franklin emphasized that iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 would continue to support the iPad as a HomeKit control center “without loss of functionality”. The new architecture, which Apple calls “more efficient and reliable” and which is to come with the new Home app in the fall, is not included. If you want to continue using your iPad as a home hub, you can’t update to the new architecture, but you don’t have to “to continue enjoying all the existing functions”. Has this now cleared up all the ambiguities?
