iOS10 makes you see HomeKit in a new light

"Hey Siri, switch on my lights" ... ' Your lights are now on ' - I get a kick out of that.

Yesterday I got myself the new Philips Hue bridge to take advantage of the new HomeKit integration in iOS10 for my living room lights. 

Apple's Home App

iOS 10 integrates access to HomeKit devices with Control Center and Siri. It seems like a small change, but it makes all the difference because it means goodbye to complicated proprietary Apps and space-hungry Widget solutions. Now controlling your lights is as simple and fast as playing a music track or putting your device into Airplane mode.

And yes, you can use your voice.

"Dim my Reading Light to 50%, switch off all others"

All you need to do is open the new iOS 10 Home app and hit + to add a compatible accessory. The app locates it on your Wifi and asks for its HomeKit code to set it up. It's a mini iTunes card redemption code that you'll find on the accessory and/or the box it came in. Enter it and then that's that. Home already knew all of my Hue bulbs, their names and their preferred color and brightness. It doesn’t get any simpler.

A capable system

Anyone familiar with SONOS will understand HomeKit immediately as accessories are sorted by rooms. They are displayed as white squares, displaying their name and status. Tap them to toggle on/off and tap & hold to access more functions. For lights this includes dimming, setting color and accessing individual bulb settings like their name or grouping them with others, which is perfect if you have lamps with more than one bulb for instance or a pair of lamps you want to keep in sync.

Swiping the whole screen gives access to other rooms.

HomeKit start screen, dimmer, color setting, individual light setting

Beyond this you can create scenes, which are fixed settings for your accessories. I created a dimmed, yellow light scenario with 2 lights for watching TV, a brighter one with all lights for dinner and a focused one for reading with a slightly more blue color for higher concentration on only one light.

Last but not least there is Automation, an IFTTT type of conditional setting that lets accessories react to a given trigger. Say, you want to switch on your lights when you come home.

To be fair, all of this was possible before iOS10, but when it comes to UX and usability, it's the little things that make all the difference and determine whether the market despises it or can't live without it.  

Control Center integration on iPad lock screen

The new integration with Control Center means instant and simple access to your accessories at any time and from any app. Since Apple has also changed the way the lock screen works in iOS10, both Control Center and notifications work perfectly without the ‘premature login’ glitches of iOS9.

"Siri, set for Dinner"

But what’s really impressive (or embarrassingly cheesy, depending on your friend circle) is sitting around the table and telling Siri to switch lights to ‘Dinner' without even touching your phone. The fact that Siri confirms and does what you want puts you right into the captain's chair of the Enterprise.

Now, if only I could teach Siri to address me as Kirk, but there's always the hope for iOS 11.