[DISCUSSION] iOS13 Home.app changes

[radokristof]

I don't know if this requires any change from our side (there is no such information yet on this), but it is nice to track new changes we know here.

One article showing Home app from iOS 13 is here

[crxporter]

This is going to be really fun. Anything this plugin can do will still be around - but automations will be much more fun.

I, for one, am looking forward to playing my theme song on all speakers when I get home from work every day.

[radokristof]

I didn't had time to dig up everything on the internet regarding this. However this 'Secure Video' supposes to be just another API. If it would be accessible like the HomeKit API (or a part of the HomeKit API - I don't know) it means that we could do motion detection on any "dump" camera - and no need to have a seperate device for that (and I also hope that Apple's algorithm is better than we can achieve with other motion detection technologies). And also you could store the recordings in iCloud (however I highly doubt that this will be that easy to access - I think this needs an agreement from Apple to manufacturers...).

[crxporter]

My guess on the new video thing is it’ll work with current cameras. The rtsp stream will be recorded for a few seconds (on an Apple TV?) in response to a motion detector or doorbell trigger.

I’ll be very happy to load up a developer iPad os once it’s public so I can test this! Any progress on that camera thing yet, @shaquu?

[crxporter]

I think they said public beta will be July. I’ll plan on starting the testing right when it’s available...

[radokristof]

Would be great if you can test it. Maybe just because to see if the Home works just out of the box without any changes... Yes the public Beta comes in July, now IPSW files are available (not that easy to install) and I think 1-2 weeks and developer profiles will be available. I will try to install the developer one when the profiles are out, but I don't really have a spare newer device to test these things...

[crxporter]

I’ve got 2 or 3 “extra” iPhones (used for work occasionally) plus an iPad that I use to test new features before moving things to my home setup. Currently iOS 13 is only available to paid developers, I believe the devices have to be registered through the Apple developer system. Come July it’ll be public beta - I’m already signed up in that.

Since I don’t use these devices regularly, they’re perfect for running tests!

PS- the new homekit article you linked has some very good looking screenshots. The multi sensor view and HomePod control are especially exciting to me.

[Shaquu]

First thing. I think there will not be much to implement on our side as we still rely on HAP-Nodejs. I think they should add new Services (I assume Secure Video [I will call it SecV from now] will be a new Service/Accessory Type). You have to remember that SecV will be released first on vendors like Eufy, Logitech and Netatmo. So if it's only a new Service then it's good. If we need more work like pre encryption or so then it's bad for us since we lack a proper documentation. And we have to remember that to use it we will need iCloud (200gb option?).

I like to think that Home.app automation is nothing in compare to Node-RED possibilites. I would like to see iOS Workflow like automation in Home.app.

Since I am always looking for budget version for Home automation then instead of thinking about HomePod and Airplay2 I think about RaspberryPi + Speaker(cannot be wireless I believe) + PiMusicBox. It is said that it has terminal (CLI) and works with Spotify (and some other providers). So with that we could automate playing music right now when @crxporter enters his house. Home.app detects if someone is home and starts a flow on NodeRED. NodeRED connects via ssh and executes bash script to play music (example here). @crxporter try that if you have some spare time. I dare you... :)

About cameras in direct answer. I'm still working on that. I have planned to spend 2 days (after work) every week for NRCHKB development so new updates will come sooner then later. I can promise I will be first before SecV arrives.... ;)

[radokristof]

@Shaquu Yes I know that mostly HAP changes required for this. But this is great to discuss here, what is good to spend some time on if not working! A few points:

• If I got it right, you don't need extra iCloud storage! Max 200 GB video can be stored, but it is not counting as your storage! Correct me if I'm wrong.
• I also like DIY solutions - bundled like 'native' solution. HomeKit does this for me... however some DIY things can last me long to finish...

Ps.: I also found videos showing the new Home app, but nothing in detail. So I think we will have to wait...

[radokristof]

@Shaquu you were right... only at 200GB plan and one camera... https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/06/apple-secure-video-icloud-storage-requirements/

[crxporter]

if you have some spare time. I dare you... :)

I of course COULD set that up. (I do have nighttime lullabies for my kids using esp8266 and DFPlayer - double click their light switch and music plays for an hour)

I'm an interesting case though. I have some native homekit accessories (lock, garage doors, thermostat, homepods, motion detectors) alongside my DIY devices (lights, curtain, camera, fans, smoke detectors, sprinklers). We use the speakers to play music in the whole house, including audio receiver playing zone 2 in our kids' rooms and zone 3 in the garage. This could be matched by an option like sonos but would be much more difficult for my family to use. For example my 5 year old daughter loves "hey siri water the butterfly garden" and playing the Beatles any time she likes.

It's the combo of everything working like native devices that I really like.

As for the cameras, that article says for "cameras that support secure video..." which leads me to believe it will be a new device in HAP-Nodejs. Totally fine, that group is likely just as excited as we are to start using this stuff. For the current camera thing I'll be right behind @Shaquu in switching over once we get a working example.

Since this is a discussion of iOS 13 new stuff - the simplified brightness+color for a colored bulb looks great. The summary page for multi sensors looks great. The new automation options will be very cool - I've wanted homepod control through homekit ever since I got a homepod.

Now! If someone like shairport could get airplay 2 going we could start building airplay speakers out of raspberry pi. I check over there for new updates every few months...

[NorthernMan54]

For the homebridge camera ffmpeg plugin I had added storage to google drive of snapshots. Why not do something similiar in Node Red?

On Jun 6, 2019, at 3:08 PM, crxporter notifications@github.com wrote:

if you have some spare time. I dare you... :)

I of course COULD set that up. (I do have nighttime lullabies for my kids using esp8266 and DFPlayer - double click their light switch and music plays for an hour)

I'm an interesting case though. I have some native homekit accessories (lock, garage doors, thermostat, homepods, motion detectors) alongside my DIY devices (lights, curtain, camera, fans, smoke detectors, sprinklers). We use the speakers to play music in the whole house, including audio receiver playing zone 2 in our kids' rooms and zone 3 in the garage. This could be matched by an option like sonos but would be much more difficult for my family to use. For example my 5 year old daughter loves "hey siri water the butterfly garden" and playing the Beatles any time she likes.

It's the combo of everything working like native devices that I really like.

As for the cameras, that article says for "cameras that support secure video..." which leads me to believe it will be a new device in HAP-Nodejs. Totally fine, that group is likely just as excited as we are to start using this stuff. For the current camera thing I'll be right behind @Shaquu in switching over once we get a working example.

Since this is a discussion of iOS 13 new stuff - the simplified brightness+color for a colored bulb looks great. The summary page for multi sensors looks great. The new automation options will be very cool - I've wanted homepod control through homekit ever since I got a homepod.

Now! If someone like shairport could get airplay 2 going we could start building airplay speakers out of raspberry pi. I check over there for new updates every few months...

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[djiwondee]

just FYI: interesting overview about usability changes of the Home.App in iOS13 from AppleInsider Would be good to know what the roadmap from the is for moving forward with all of that

[Shaquu]

I was thinking about adding it already @NorthernMan54 :)

[radokristof]

@Shaquu @NorthernMan54 you mean a gdrive backup node?

[Shaquu]

We mean backup for camera snapshots but included in our node directly.

[Shaquu]

I assume there is nothing new? If not then I am closing this.

_{Sent with GitHawk}

[djiwondee]

Hello @Shaquu , even it is closed - I've just downloaded and installed iOS13 public beta and have started to test the home.app on it. Right now everything I have in my setup driven by NRCHKB services

• Temp, CO2, humidity sensors
• Battery Level
• Switches
• Contact Sensors
• Occupation Sensors
• Window Coverings used for Blinds and Awning
• Window used for check whether windows open or closed to trigger blinds

seems to work. Will play a little bit with that the next couple of days.

If requested I can share some screenshots just to give you a glue how it looks like in iOS13.

[Shaquu]

@djiwondee any feedback from iOS13 would be great so please share what you found!

[radokristof]

Would be great if you can share a lot of screenshots... I'm interested in, how a real Home looks like in iOS 13

[djiwondee]

Attached some screenshot taken from iOS 13 first public beta witch dark mode enabled. I took those screens that are using NRCHKB provided accessory connectivity. Apologise but all images using German localisation, but I'm sure you can imagine what's behind:

Room with climatic sensors and window accessories

CO2 Accessory detail

CO2 Accessory settings

Window Accessory

Window Accessory settings

Room Overview

Window Blind Settings

Switch

Switch settings

Occupancy Sensor settings

Automation with Window and Window Blind

Automation with Window and Blind Detail

If you have special requests, please drop me a note.

I hope that the publication of the screenshots does not violate Apple's Terms of Use for the Public Beta Program. In this case I will remove it.

[Shaquu]

iOS 13 is official. It would be good to review what is written here and how HomeKit behaves now.

[Shaquu]

Right now iOS 13 is terrible and HomeKit app crashes a lot. I don't recommend an update to anyone yet.

[crxporter]

@shaquu - I'm curious what issues you have been having? I'm 1500 miles from home and updated my phone last night, everything seems to be working just as before.

Camera works live and with previews - switches are working (just turned the lights off and on to watch my kids react)... Sprinklers are turning on and off as expected...

The camera actually shows as a bell now! There is actually a slider switch to enable/disable doorbell notifications.

I really like the new interface and look. Now I just need updates to ipad, apple tv, homepod, and mac then we will really be ready to party!

[Shaquu]

I have issues with crashing apps mostly.

In HomeKit:

• every time I open app after a while it loads scenes and accessories
• sometimes when I open settings for accessory it returns empty view, and sometimes crashes app

Well, maybe it's just Apple trying to persuade me to switch from iPhone 6s?

[radokristof]

Maybe :)

I'm using now 13.1 beta which will go public this Tuesday and said to be much better. I don't have any issues like this. I can say that it works the same as on IOS 12. Slightly slower state load time maybe... But that's all.

Sent from my iPhone

On 2019. Sep 22., at 19:05, Shaq notifications@github.com wrote:

 I have issues with crashing apps mostly.

In HomeKit:

every time I open app after a while it loads scenes and accessories sometimes when I open settings for accessory it returns empty view, and sometimes crashes app Well, maybe it's just Apple trying to persuade me to switch from iPhone 6s?

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[mishakim]

iOS 13 (through at least 13.1.2) has lost rich notifications for doorbells that aren't integrated accessories. That is, I'm using Node-Red to implement the doorbell accessory/service, but my camera (Circle 2) and lock (Yale/August) are official HomeKit. Under iOS 12, when the doorbell rang, the notification included the view from the camera and the option to unlock the lock, simply based on them being assigned to the same room. Now, I just get the doorbell notification with no options, and tapping it opens the Home app at the top level. I'm not sure there's anything to be done on the Node side, I guess I could switch to using a non-native camera and combining it with the doorbell within Node-Red, but that would still leave the lock out.

[Shaquu]

I hope Apple is not trying to break our HomeKit third party libraries :)

[radokristof]

I also thought about it, when Apple will close this door and not let us to use 'Not certified' devices :)

[Shaquu]

Let's hope not... Anyone has hands on latest iOS beta and HomeKit?

[crxporter]

I've just tested rich notifications (I have a parent service VIDEO_DOORBELL and a linked service CAMERA_CONTROL) running iOS 13.1.2 on an iPhone 11 Pro.

Rich notification came through without issue.

[mishakim]

I've just tested rich notifications (I have a parent service VIDEO_DOORBELL and a linked service CAMERA_CONTROL) running iOS 13.1.2 on an iPhone 11 Pro.

Rich notification came through without issue.

That's still expected for a linked service. Did the rich notification include controls for other accessories in the same room (locks, lights)? That's what broke in 13.

[Shaquu]

@mishakim iOS 13.2 is about grouping so maybe they will fix it.

[djiwondee]

Different to https://github.com/NRCHKB/node-red-contrib-homekit-bridged/issues/123#issuecomment-505767071 and for sure interesting to see: since the latest upgrades of iOS 13 and macOS Catalina the home apps doesn't show the "uncertified" message anymore. Neither on the bridge settings

nor on accessories:

[crxporter]

@djiwondee - this is interesting, my phone (iOS 13.2) is the only device I have with yesterday's updates. It still shows the "may not work properly" warning along with my computer and iPad (updating now).

Were you one of the lucky ones who got HomePod version 13.2 and it didn't brick your HomePod? Perhaps that is where the upgrade lives? I will edit this post in a few minutes once my computer and ipad have updated.

[djiwondee]

@crxporter

Were you one of the lucky ones who got HomePod version 13.2 and it didn't brick your HomePod?

I don't own a HomePod. My HomeKit central is an Apple TV and fortunately it got not bricked with the recent update of tvOS. However, the recent update and probably also the cloud sync for HomeKit seems to be improved since the beta testing phase and the initial x.0 releases of iOS, iPadOS, macOS and overall. I also guess 0.8.0 of NRCHKB with the new Hap-NodeJS release beneath it is also contributing to more reliability. @Shaquu job well done!

Coming back to the "not certified" message. I think Apple has been started to relax the conditions and/or has had especially made some effort to harden HAP. And their current strategic decisions looking promising for the future!

[radokristof]

I still has the "not certified" message on every accessory/bridge... However my iPad (which is the Hub in this case) is not updated yet...

[crxporter]

Update: no change here. Perhaps the warning goes away once all hubs are updated?

Has anyone else updated everything who can check?

[mishakim]

@mishakim iOS 13.2 is about grouping so maybe they will fix it.

Does not appear to be fixed in 13.2 -- still no rich notification for separate devices that are in the same room

[djiwondee]

@radokristof

I still has the "not certified" message on every accessory/bridge...

Crazy - only my iPad on iPadOS is showing the "not certified" message. Any other device running the home app (iPhones, MacBook, iMac) don't show this anymore. Guess it is one of the many small problems Apple has right now with OS issues. Anyway, facing very less reliability of iCloud sync and stable working automation of HomeKit regardless of NRCHKB at all since upgrade to iOS 13 and Catalina :-(

[radokristof]

@djiwondee Same.. I thought I figured out this bug, that automation based on location won't update my switches, but it seems that after some days, it is the same. I had 2 Hubs visible in the Home app, though I only have 1 iPad. So I disabled the Hub, waited and re-enabled. I only had one after this and it seemed more reliable. But now it is back to the original, sometimes it won't change.

I firstly thought that is because I have a garage under the house where usually I don't have Cellular data neither WiFi and it seems that if the change based on location happens at this time, it will not be able to connect to the servers, and it won't retry later... This seems how this works, but I also had this problem when I didn't used the garage...

[Shaquu]

Any new thoughts guys?

[radokristof]

I think this can be closed.