iOS 13 has arrived with many new features, among them and also occupying one of the most prominent places, the changes that have been made in HomeKit. Aesthetic changes with a new design of some sections of the Home application, accessories that are grouped together, direct access to more functions, and new possibilities that include the possibility of (finally) being able to use our HomePod and Apple TV within automations and environments.
We show you all these changes in the first Beta of iOS 13 in a video that summarizes the main news. Apple's home automation platform takes several steps forward modernizing its design and with new functions, many of which we looked forward to. Do you want to know about the changes? Well, in this video and article you have the most important ones.
New Design
Although the main screen of the Home application is identical in iOS 13 and iOS 12, as soon as you start using it, you notice the first changes in design and functionality. Those devices that had several functionalities before were added separately, so if you had a temperature, humidity and air quality sensor, each of these functions would appear as if it were a separate device. Now they are all included in one that shows all the information. This is the case for example with environmental sensors, power strips, air conditioning controls, etc. This had design has some problems that will be fixed in future updates, such as that you cannot choose what to see on the main screen.
It also greatly improves the control of smart lights. What previously only showed us a switch and we had to navigate through several menus to be able to regulate the color, now everything is on the same screen, and the configuration of favorite colors that we want to use with those lights is also much easier. We also have new icons to identify accessories and functions, and the bridges that we have added, which are relegated to within the Home settings, will no longer appear on the main screen.
New Settings
Within the Home application we also see changes in the Settings game. In addition to the aforementioned, that is where the bridges that we have added now appear, we have new menus to control notifications, which we can now configure by device type. We will have all the accessories of the same class gathered in a single menu and thus we will be able to configure notifications much faster.
HomePod and Apple TV in Automations and Environments
Something that we missed a lot was the possibility of including our HomePod (or Apple TV) in automations. Now we can finally select them and create an automation that makes HomePod play your music list when you get home favorite. We can also create environments with these accessories, and this also allows us to execute shortcuts in a simple way that, for example, allows us to turn off the alarm that wakes us up every morning to start playing a music list on the HomePod.
At the moment we can only use Apple Music as a sound source, not a podcast, nor can we choose video applications on the Apple TV, but it is a first step and we hope that between now and the release of the final version, new functions will be added that allow the HomePod and Apple TV to be exploited within the Home application and through the Shortcuts.
other developments
New possibilities with HomeKit-compatible security cameras such as video storage in iCloud, new HomeKit-compatible routers that guarantee your safety and that no one can spy on what you do online, and other options that we will see over the next few weeks as new Betas appear and that manufacturers update software to be compatible with this new iOS 13.
