Dean Roddey said:
I guess I should have asked in there somewhere, can you point to any example of an auto-generated user interface for a Homekit system? So that we could see how 'smart' it can be on its own? I've never seen one, but I've not been really looking for one either.
Remember that the Homekit software framework runs at the iOS level. Homekit stores all the information about your homes, rooms, accessories, triggers, scenes, etc. It also replicates this data through iCloud so if you have multiple iOS devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), they stay synced. Plus you can give guest access to others (they aren't allowed to add or delete accessories, etc). So your spouse's iPhone and iPad can also control the system.
Because the Homekit framework manages the data, you can use a variety of iOS apps to interact with it. One of the more highly regarded ones is "Home" by
Mattias Hochgatterer ($15). The following article gives a decent overview of using Home:
http://www.imore.com/home-app-program-apple-should-have-shipped-homekit
NB the part where the author creates an "Emergency Alert" scene and sets it up to trigger when the temperature drops below a certain point. (BTW, the author notes that this part of the app was rather clumsy to use. It has been updated a couple of times since then.)
Most accessory makers ship a fairly simple iOS app that lets you configure and control their product...and little more. Elgato's Eve app (free, even if you don't use their hardware) is much better. Their web page has a number of screenshots that show different ways of viewing/controlling a variety of accessories.
https://www.elgato.com/en/eve/eve-app
As far as "customization", the main thing is that the user defines the rooms and gives meaningful names to their accessories, rooms, zones and scenes. For example, in addition to the normal rooms, I have called "Front yard" which contains a smart plug named "Landscape lights". I can tell Siri to 'turn on my landscape lights' or 'turn on my front yard lights'. (I don't; Homekit timers run them.) I could have a Zone (say called Outside) that contains the Front yard, Patio and Back yard. Then Siri could turn all the Outside lights on/off at once. Scenes, like "Emergency Alert" are very simple to create.
I don't think any of the apps has an exemplary approach to creating triggers, yet. As you say, a lot of users struggle to express 'if this then that' logic.
Maybe not _as_ flexible as CQC. But not completely brain dead.
Craig
PS Homekit was introduced at WWDC 2014, significantly upgraded by WWDC 2015. WWDC 2016 is in 1.5 months. If it _isn't_ significantly upgraded again, then it's a dead parrot.