Apple could showcase its new co-developed smart home accessories as soon as next week. Ahead of that, a new leak reveals a HomeKit feature exclusive to these "second-party" accessories.
Earlier this week, Aaron Perris discovered code references to a new feature where "nearby smart home accessories could show controls in the Dynamic Island." Now, @itspdfu has found more details about how the feature will work. In a social media post, pdfu says Apple's "second-party" home accessories co-developed with LG will support this "Proximity Control" feature.
When you tap or bring your iPhone near one of LG's accessories, a notification will pop out of the Dynamic Island. For accessories like thermostats, it will show an "Open Controls" button. For cameras and doorbells, you'll see a "camera viewer." The accessory writes an "apple-deviceid" into the Matter payload stored on its NFC tag so iOS can identify it when tapped, and it broadcasts a Bluetooth Low Energy advertisement for Apple Proximity Control. The feature will seemingly be switchable off in the Home app.
Bloomberg first reported on Apple's collaboration with LG earlier this week, detailing smart home products including a thermostat, deadbolt lock, indoor security camera, outdoor security camera, and flood light camera. According to Bloomberg, Apple likely won't release these accessories "for at least a few more months," though they could still be shown off at next week's "Welcome home" Apple event. As always, features in Apple's code might not ship, or could work differently at launch.
Source: 9to5Mac · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing