Introduction to homeKit apps

Brief introduction

This document is designed to help you write the HomeKit app. T he HomeKit Library is used to communicate and control home automation accessories that support Apple's HomeKit Accessory Protocol. H omeKit applications allow users to discover compatible accessories and configure them. U sers can create actions to control smart accessories, such as constant temperature or low light, group them, and trigger them with Siri. H omeKit objects are stored in the user's iOS device database, and iCloud allows you to sync to other iOS devices. H omeKit supports remote access to smart accessories and multiple user devices and multiple users. HomeKit also deals with the security and privacy of users.

Note: If you're a vendor of HomeKit hardware, you can go to the HomeKit page under Hardware Developers for information about MFi Program, or you can read External Accessory Programming Topics.

See also

The following resources provide more information about creating a HomeKit application:

• HomeKit User Interface Guidelines provide a guide to user interface design
• App Store Review Guidelines: HomeKit provides tips for speeding up app reviews
• HomeKit Framework Reference describes the classes and methods in the HomeKit framework
• External Accessory Framework Reference lists the discoveries and configurations provided by the system for wireless smart home product UI
• HomeKit Catalog provides examples of HomeKit features
• WWDC 2014: Introducting HomeKit's higher level analysis of HomeKit
• iOS Security describes how HomeKit handles security and privacy on iOS