As promised earlier this year, Ikea has quietly release firmware updates adding HomeKit support to its Trådfri smart lighting product lineup. Ikea’s Trådfri lineup is comprised of a wide range of inexpensive smart bulbs that associate with a residential gateway for use with a physical remote control or companion IOS app. With individual bulbs selling for as low as $12 and the bridge priced at $30, Ikea’s system is now one of the most inexpensive HomeKit-enabled lighting solutions on the market.
This update is particularly noteworthy as is represents the first instance of an existing smart home product gaining HomeKit support via a simple firmware update. In the past, systems such as Lutron’s Caséta and Philips Hue have required users to replace legacy bridges with newer HomeKit compatible versions. Although there have been situations where products included the necessary HomeKit hardware and merely awaiting software updates to be unlocked, Apple also recently loosened its HomeKit restrictions to allow developers to integrate HomeKit security into their products at the software level instead of requiring an Apple-designed authentication chip, so it’s unclear whether Ikea built its Trådfri system with HomeKit authentication chips or is taking advantage of Apple’s new software APIs to add HomeKit support after the fact. [via AppleInsider]
Update: According to an update from MacRumors, an Ikea representative has acknowledged that the company’s earlier statement was made in error:
“There has been information going out today about the compatibility of Trådfri. We can now inform you that Trådfri is not yet compatible with Apple, Amazon and Google. The plan is that everything will work as we’d like this fall. We are very sorry for the confusion!”