Apple opens Siri to a third -party smart home device

Get along well with third party.

During the WWDC key notebook, Apple announced that the digital assistant "Siri" would be linked to a third -party smart home device.This feature has been announced as part of a new feature related to smart home, such as new functions to watch TV with friends and how to use HomePod mini as part of the home theater speaker.The Apple Watch and the Home app will also be updated to achieve a more convenient smart home function.

The integration of third -party and Siri allows Alexa to operate devices other than Apple, such as smart thermostats.For example, you can talk with Alexa through Ecobee, as shown in the key note.

Apple has also confirmed the initiatives on the smart home standard "MATTER" for rival company smart home equipment.

However, there was no announcement of the smart home OS "HOMEOS", which was rumored to appear on the WWDC.Instead, Apple introduced a small but convenient update for home.

For those who want to watch TV with friends and family, Apple announced "Shareplay".This means that you and one or two friends can share the same stream.As a mechanism, everyone participating in the viewing session is synchronized through FaceTime.As you have more opportunities to watch TV with others, Apple TV apps will display items that you can see what other people are interested in.If everyone is in the same room, use the "for all of you" function to consolidate programs and movies that everyone is interested in on Apple TV.

If you have Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini, you can use HomePod mini as a background speaker in the living room.HomePod mini is also compatible with Apple Music's roses audio.In addition, the voice recognition function allows you to identify someone in your family.

Apple Watch users can use smartwatches as a smart home security controller.Not only that, you can also call the Homekit -compatible live security camera with a voice command.If you have luggage at the entrance, Apple Watch will let you know.You can also program the iPhone so that Apple Watch is linked to the compatible smart lock.If you need to broad cast a message to your home, you can send an announcement to the HomePod speaker connected using the Apple Watch.

The biggest announcement of smart home announced today is that Siri can now be used with third -party products.Apple users have been hoping for many years to open Siri so that Siri can be used with third -party accessories.Homekit is a high -performance, but is still a limited ecosystem.Siri can operate home devices other than Apple products, and support the smart home standard "Matter" will make Homekit -compatible devices one after another at the end of the year.

Postscript: Ecobee has announced that the company's smart thermostat will be one of the first devices to support Siri.New and existing owners of smart thermostats can enable Siri and activate with the "Hey Siri" command.