Belkin has announced that it will at long last be bringing HomeKit to its lineup of Wemo home automation accessories. The added compatibility will come in the form of a new HomeKit-enabled Wemo Bridge that will provide the interface between existing Wemo Smart Plugs and Light Switches — including the company’s recently-launched Wemo Dimmer — to enable them to be used with Apple’s HomeKit system.
Although Wemo created some of the earliest iOS-based home automation products, for unknown reasons the company was oddly not on board with HomeKit when Apple first launched, leaving Wemo products as outliers in a home automation ecosystem that’s become increasingly dominated by HomeKit accessories due to their higher degree of interoperability. Despite the lack of HomeKit support, Wemo continued to expand its compatibility in other areas, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Nest, and IFTTT.
Much like other HomeKit bridge solutions from companies like Philips and Lutron, the Wemo Bridge will connect to any home Wi-Fi router via an Ethernet cable, pairing with HomeKit as a single accessory and exposing all associated WeMo devices to the HomeKit platform. The Wemo Bridge for HomeKit is expected to be available later this fall.
