Apple will support new smart home devices; Third party map view

Apple is reportedly planning to support several new smart home accessories in the upcoming iOS 17.6 update, potentially bringing new features to Apple Home.

According to Apple news website Apple insiderSeveral changes have been made to address new features available on new versions of Apple platforms in the publicly accessible Matter code repository.

The site reports adding code relating to support for new features in “mid-2024.” in iOS 17.6, macOS 14.6, watchOS 10.6 and tvOS 17.6. Here’s more from Apple Insider:

As for the new features we will see, some of them point to support for new features that were recently implemented in the Matter 1.3 spec.

This includes more reliable air quality monitoring, energy management and water valves. There appear to be references in the code strings to monitoring CO, CO2, formaldehyde, PM10, PM2.5, PM1 and radon.

There are also other references, including to robotic vacuum cleaners. They were part of the Matter 1.2 update.

That said, we can’t say definitively that this will finally be supported in iOS 17.6.

However, Apple has not yet formalized any of these updates, although the company is expected to shed some light before the WWDC event begins on June 10.

In other Apple news, the third-party Controller for HomeKit app in a new update has added the ability to create a floor plan of your Apple home and connect it to devices, rooms, scenes and workflows using your iPhone or iPad’s LiDAR sensor.

This feature is similar to what Samsung and Amazon offer through their respective smart home apps, but through a third-party app. This creates a depth map of the room’s scope for a 3D image of the surroundings, which includes doors, furniture, cabinets, shelves, appliances, and more.

Users can scan multiple floors and switch between floors.