Apple Suspiciously Killed off Smart Doorbells on Its HomeKit Page

Ring Video Doorbell Credit: Ring
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Apple has quietly removed all references to smart doorbells from its list of HomeKit-compatible accessories, placing further doubt that the product category will be added to the company’s ecosystem anytime soon.

The change appears to have occurred sometime this week. A “doorbell” icon was purged from an infographic containing supported smart home devices and accessories on the Home accessories page.

In addition, the entire doorbell category in the list of supported devices has also been removed. Previously, the list featured the August Doorbell Cam and said that HomeKit support was “coming soon.”

It’s not currently clear why Apple removed the August Doorbell Cam or the other references to smart doorbell devices.

Two Years of Broken Promises

Apple prominently showed off video doorbell support when it first debuted the Home app in iOS 10 a couple years back. Apple announced that HomeKit users would be able to view live video feeds, use a two-way intercom, and unlock their door from a Home app notification.

Devices from prominent manufacturers like August and Ring were showed off. Both smart device makers pledged to add HomeKit support in a future software update, but neither of the firms have made good on that promise.

The last update given by Ring came in the form of a Twitter response back in June. The company said that they’re “still eager to introduce HomeKit, but don’t have a launch date at this time.”

It’s worth noting that Ring was recently acquired by Amazon, which owns a competing smart home ecosystem controlled by its Alexa digital assistant.

And, as CNET points out, a Reddit user wrote to August back in March of this year about the issue. In response, August reportedly said that they currently “do not have plans to have HomeKit for our doorbell cameras. If anything does change in the future, we will announce it on our website.”

August, for its part, has released a range of HomeKit-supported smart locks and door accessories.

All in all, the addition of smart doorbell support to the HomeKit ecosystem has apparently been bogged down since WWDC ’16.

But Why?

It’s impossible to tell why it’s been so difficult for doorbell manufacturers to add HomeKit support. Apple’s unusually strong encryption may be a factor, or it could be an issue in getting the hardware and software to integrate properly.

The lack of video doorbell support has also been a rare weak point in Apple’s HomeKit lineup. Besides that one product category, the list of available and supported devices has been growing over the past few years.

To be clear, Apple has probably not given up on the doorbell category entirely. But the removal of references to the product type means that a working HomeKit doorbell may very well be a few years away.

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