Apple just pushed a key smart home feature into 2025
Looking forward to using Siri and HomeKit to control your robot vacuum? Your wait just got a little longer.
An edit to a teeny-tiny footnote at the bottom of the Apple Home product page indicates that robot vacuum support for HomeKit has been pushed back into “early 2025,” as noted by Macrumors.
During its annual developer’s conference in June, Apple promised that HomeKit, Siri, and the Apple Home app would gain the ability to work with robot vacuums this year, and many expected the feature to debut with the expected iOS 18.2 release later in December.
It’s not clear why Apple chose to put off the vacuum functionality, but assuming there are no more delays, smart home users won’t have to wait too much longer for the update.
Indeed, vacuum support for HomeKit could conceivably arrive in time for Apple’s rumored touchscreen “command center,” a long-anticipated HomePod-with-a-screen that’s said to boast smart home controls plus Apple Intelligence, among other features.
Once robot vacuums are supported in HomeKit, Apple users will be able to use Siri to control their trusty vacs.
For example, you’ll be able to ask Siri to have your vacuum sweep or mop one or more rooms, adjust the cleaning mode, and monitor battery status. You’ll also be able to include your vacuum (or vacuums, for those of us with more than one bot in our homes) in HomeKit automations, perfect for automatically starting a cleaning job when everyone leaves the house.
Apple announced Home support for robot vacuums roughly eight months after the smart home-unifying Matter standard got vacuum support.
There are already a few Matter-compliant robot vacuums on the market, and they would all presumably work with Apple Home once Apple hits the switch on HomeKit support.
It’s looking like 2025 will be a big year for Apple and the smart home—a welcome change after years of Apple Home and HomeKit getting short shrift during the company’s big keynotes.
Among the biggest expected announcements will be the aforementioned “command center,” which is said to comprise a HomePod with an integrated screen the size of two iPhone displays.
The Apple Intelligence-powered device will have smart home controls, according to rumors, making it ideal for starting a cleaning job with a tap on the screen.