# \[Apple\] HomeKit Integration **URL:** \ **Category:** Feature Requests\ **Created:** [June 8, 2020, 6:37am UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178 "2020-06-08T06:37:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GaryFunk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/garyfunk/32/5729_2.png) [@GaryFunk](https://community.tempest.earth/u/GaryFunk)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/22 "2020-07-31T15:25:45Z")
> [@glavoy](#): > > our Pro Hub, which is still in active development Can you give me the link to where this is mentioned? I did a search and can’t find it. ---
**Author:** ![ICWX](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/icwx/32/8367_2.png) [@ICWX](https://community.tempest.earth/u/ICWX)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/23 "2020-07-31T15:27:34Z")
It’s on the right side of the Kickstarter and Indiegogo page. Look for Tempest - Storm & Fire Ready Kit. ---
**Author:** ![ICWX](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/icwx/32/8367_2.png) [@ICWX](https://community.tempest.earth/u/ICWX)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/24 "2020-07-31T15:28:40Z")
On Kickstarter and Indiegogo sites, the section listing Tempest Storm & Fire Ready Kit is grayed out. ---
**Author:** ![GaryFunk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/garyfunk/32/5729_2.png) [@GaryFunk](https://community.tempest.earth/u/GaryFunk)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 3:38pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/25 "2020-07-31T15:38:23Z")
I think it may be disabled because both campaigns are closed. That’s just a guess. ---
**Author:** ![dsj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/dsj/32/3_2.png) [@dsj](https://community.tempest.earth/u/dsj)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/26 "2020-07-31T17:19:11Z")
> [@GaryFunk](#): > > Can you give me the link to where this is mentioned? I did a search and can’t find it. It’s in this thread, post 7 above: > [@dsj](#): > > HomeKit integration will be available with our Pro Hub, which is still in active development. ---
**Author:** ![gizmoev](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/gizmoev/32/941_2.png) [@gizmoev](https://community.tempest.earth/u/gizmoev)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/27 "2020-07-31T17:27:32Z")
> [@GaryFunk](#): > > I think it may be disabled because both campaigns are closed. Just go to the links provided and look at the side, for example: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/sws/original/2X/b/bee0e7b536aeba299a495c1749ed013db2c12c4c.png) Links were also posted [here](https://community.tempest.earth/t/switching-the-regular-hub-to-cellular-hub/8284/9). ---
**Author:** ![glavoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/848f3c/32.png) [@glavoy](https://community.tempest.earth/u/glavoy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/28 "2020-07-31T20:13:30Z")
Thanks DSJ. right now, those campaigns only let you get a full system. My hope would be that once you have them shipping, I can buy just the pro hub to use with my tempest station to get the HomeKit support. Hopefully that will be affordable. I don’t care about the cellular support. ---
**Author:** ![gizmoev](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/gizmoev/32/941_2.png) [@gizmoev](https://community.tempest.earth/u/gizmoev)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/29 "2020-07-31T20:44:32Z")
> [@glavoy](#): > > My hope would be that once you have them shipping, I can buy just the pro hub to use with my tempest station to get the HomeKit support. Given that an email to WF for ordering just a single component is all it takes for current products (and some older ones), I would be shocked if you couldn’t just purchase the “pro hub” when it becomes available. ---
**Author:** ![glavoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/848f3c/32.png) [@glavoy](https://community.tempest.earth/u/glavoy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/30 "2020-07-31T21:53:07Z")
Yep - that’s my hope. 👍 ---
**Author:** ![ryanschwartz80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/90db22/32.png) [@ryanschwartz80](https://community.tempest.earth/u/ryanschwartz80)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/31 "2020-08-02T13:18:59Z")
I contributed to the “Storm and Fire Ready” Kit campaign on Indiegogo and also run HomeKit, so I’m looking forward to this integration in the future! Some handy automations - shutting sprinkler off if it rains and shutting off A/C if dew point drops below a certain level. ---
**Author:** ![alex](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/alex/32/5256_2.png) [@alex](https://community.tempest.earth/u/alex)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/32 "2020-08-03T20:05:14Z")
> [@dsj](#): > > Correct. There is a Pro Hub in the works, as discussed in the Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns. It will include everything the current Hub can do, plus at least two extra features: cellular communications and HomeKit support. Would be awesome if it included an ethernet port so we can avoid any wifi issues and if it was PoE that would be double awesome. ---
**Author:** ![neil](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/neil/32/10308_2.png) [@neil](https://community.tempest.earth/u/neil)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2020, 11:15am UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/33 "2020-11-08T11:15:14Z")
I’d be interested to know what any planned HomeKit support would expose to HomeKit and how it could be used. I was about to buy a Netatmo weather station (which supports HomeKit) until I discovered that the rain sensor and anemometer modules (potentially the most useful data for automation) don’t feed into HomeKit, so you’re limited to readings like temperature and humidity. Furthermore, it seems like HomeKit isn’t actually able to use any of these readings for event triggers. I’m not sure if this is a limit of Netatmo’s implementation or of HomeKit itself, so I’m trying to work out if it’s worth waiting for a HomeKit version of Tempest to be available in the UK or if that’s going to have the same restrictions. ---
**Author:** ![dsj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/dsj/32/3_2.png) [@dsj](https://community.tempest.earth/u/dsj)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/34 "2020-11-10T14:42:30Z")
> [@neil](#): > > I’d be interested to know what any planned HomeKit support would expose to HomeKit and how it could be used. Hi Neil. You have hit on a point that has been clear to us for some time, but difficult to explain to users: HomeKit is not yet very useful for weather data. The short answer is that we intend to expose whatever parameters or “characteristic types” the Apple HomeKit ecosystem supports. Now, as you have noticed, [that list of types](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/homekit/hmcharacteristic/characteristic_types) is not heavy on weather parameters. In fact, it’s not really aimed at outdoor parameters at all. The three possible candidates at the moment are temperature, humidity and light level (although, their “light level” is more about the _setting value_ of an artificial light rather than the _observed value_ of natural sunlight). Still, we expect to populate those three types with values from the Tempest system. We also intend to expose all other weather parameters from the Tempest system to HomeKit via custom characteristic types. Apps must know about these custom types in order to make use of them, however, so they have limited functionality unless & until Apple adds them as standard types. Meanwhile, regardless of the fate of HomeKit, we are strongly committed to supporting the Apple ecosystem in general. We have recently added Siri shortcuts to the Tempest iOS app, and we have iOS Widgets, Apple Watch and Apple TV on our road map (in addition to HomeKit). We would actually love to help Apple define the set of weather characteristic types for HomeKit. And as members of the [National Mesonet Program](https://nationalmesonet.us/), we have a lot of experience defining data standards in the meteorological space. So, if you know anyone working in Apple HomeKit, tell them about us! ---
**Author:** ![neil](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/neil/32/10308_2.png) [@neil](https://community.tempest.earth/u/neil)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/35 "2020-11-10T15:06:39Z")
Thanks for the very comprehensive answer. I guess my concern would be Apple implementing support for other data (e.g. wind speed) in HomeKit in the future and being stuck with a device that only supported legacy HomeKit data (e.g. temperature), but I guess if a device is HomeKit certified, you can still expose new data to HomeKit now even if at this time, it’ll just ignore it? Or would you need to understand Apple’s device-specific HomeKit implementation before you could bake it into an existing product in anticipation? ---
**Author:** ![dsj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/dsj/32/3_2.png) [@dsj](https://community.tempest.earth/u/dsj)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/36 "2020-11-10T16:17:31Z")
> [@neil](#): > > you can still expose new data to HomeKit now even if at this time, it’ll just ignore it? Right, my understanding is that you can add custom characteristic types (like wind & rain) but the Home app will ignore them and other apps must build in support directly for them. > [@neil](#): > > would you need to understand Apple’s device-specific HomeKit implementation before you could bake it into an existing product in anticipation? You would, but presumably we would be able to add support for future characteristics with a firmware update (not a hardware change). If, for example, we added custom support for wind & rain and other parameters, and then Apple later released official support for those parameters, we would be able to support them as well with a firmware update. That’s the hope anyway - no guarantees when it comes to the HomeKit spec! Out of curiosity, what is it you are trying to do? Maybe it can be done without HomeKit. ---
**Author:** ![neil](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/neil/32/10308_2.png) [@neil](https://community.tempest.earth/u/neil)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/37 "2020-11-10T17:18:02Z")
At this time I don’t have a specific use-case in mind (so I need to be careful I’m not wishing for something that I’m never going to have a practical use for), but I can see potential for this type of data, even if it’s very basic (e.g. turn the garden sprinkler off if it’s raining, send me an alert if the wind speed reaches a limit). I’m trying to move more of my home automations into Home now it’s beginning to mature (slightly!) so I’m not having to deal with multiple manufacturers’ apps and services like IFTTT. Besides, I quite like the Applesque simplicity of HomeKit, despite its limitations (which are maybe good for reigning-in some of my automation-for-the-sake-of-it ideas). However, even if Apple do expand to support weather stations, I do wonder how useful they would be as event triggers given that HomeKit data has no historical context - if a single drop of rain falls on a sensor, I suspect HomeKit would consider that as “rain detected” even if it was the one and only drop all day. Even if HomeKit could process accumulated rainfall, hitting a 10mm total over a 24hr period gives no indication of how heavy it was actually raining when the device hit that threshold - 9.99mm could have fallen much earlier in the day. I guess it would really depend whether HomeKit was pulling raw or derived data fields from the devices. Anyway, it’s somewhat academic right now until I can get my hands on a Tempest in the UK 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![vreihen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/vreihen/32/13217_2.png) [@vreihen](https://community.tempest.earth/u/vreihen)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/38 "2020-11-10T19:32:22Z")
The free Eve app can apparently get 27 different weather observations and weather forecast values out of this HomeBridge plugin, which also offers some hackish mappings into fake (virtual) devices to access some of the unsupported values in Apple’s Home app: > **[naofireblade/homebridge-weather-plus](https://github.com/naofireblade/homebridge-weather-plus#observations-and-forecasts)** > > A comprehensive weather plugin for homebridge. Contribute to naofireblade/homebridge-weather-plus development by creating an account on GitHub. If you do not have HomeBridge installed yet, I highly recommend using the HOOBS free Raspberry Pi Linux distro: > **[HOOBS - USER FRIENDLY HOME AUTOMATION FOR EVERYONE](https://hoobs.org)** > > USER FRIENDLY HOME AUTOMATION – FOR EVERYONE I’m running HOOBS in a Docker container on my Synology NAS, as a bridge between HomeKit and my Hubitat home automation system. With all of the plugins available for HomeBridge, the Hubitat could almost just be a Z-Wave bridge. Speaking of plugins, feel free to write one for the WF PWS and forecast APIs, using the above as an example… ---
**Author:** ![TempestCY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@TempestCY](https://community.tempest.earth/u/TempestCY)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 11:06am UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/39 "2020-11-13T11:06:37Z")
Add me as well, new Tempest owner here. ---
**Author:** ![HighTechJoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/45deac/32.png) [@HighTechJoe](https://community.tempest.earth/u/HighTechJoe)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/40 "2020-11-19T20:25:51Z")
Those 3 specifically would be useful to me. I will control shades based on outside temperature and radiance for example. For the custom attributes, am I able to use those to control automations in Homekit directly? ---
**Author:** ![dsj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tempest.earth/dsj/32/3_2.png) [@dsj](https://community.tempest.earth/u/dsj)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178/41 "2020-11-19T23:07:11Z")
> [@HighTechJoe](#): > > I will control shades based on outside temperature and radiance for example. You actually can’t use those three parameters yet in the Home app to trigger actions. You can only view them. You need a third-party app to do anything useful with those three parameters. > [@HighTechJoe](#): > > For the custom attributes, am I able to use those to control automations in Homekit directly? No, you would need a third-party app that was aware of the custom attributes or a customizable solution like HomeBridge. Both of these issues are what make HomeKit nearly useless for home weather stations at the present time. Services like IFTTT are much more useful. [Previous page](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178.md?page=1) [Next page](https://community.tempest.earth/t/apple-homekit-integration/8178.md?page=3)