AppleInsider Staff
Owners of virtually any garage door opener will be able to use Siri to open, close, or check the status of their garage, and also control its lights, via a new HomeKit-compatible hub accessory coming later this year from Chamberlain.
The new Chamberlain Smart Garage Hub will add smartphone control to an existing garage door opener. According to Chamberlain, the hub should work with "virtually any brand of garage door opener."
The MyQ-branded hub uses a home Wi-Fi connection to connect garage door controls to the internet. And because it includes integrated HomeKit support, it will allow users to open, close or check the status of their garage door via iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or with Siri.
Chamberlain's Smart Garage Hub is scheduled to arrive in July. Pricing has not yet been announced.
In addition, Chamberlain also announced the MyQ Home Bridge, an accessory that adds HomeKit compatibility to existing MyQ-connected devices. That includes MyQ Garage (1st generation), any Chamberlain Wi-Fi Garage Door Opener, or any MyQ Enabled Garage Door Openers that use an internet gateway.
The MyQ Home Bridge will carry a special introductory price of $49.99 before returning to its regular price of $69.99. It's scheduled to arrive in April of 2017.
See AppleInsider's ongoing coverage of CES 2017 for more Apple-connected devices announced at this week's Consumer Electronics Show.
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
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Andrew Orr
11 Comments
I'll believe it when I see it's been 2 years in the making...
"We're going to provide a free update for HomeKit compatibility. That's slotted for that June/July (2015) timeframe." -Cory Sorice, VP of Marketing, Connected Products for Chamberlain, March 2015
A $69.99 momentary switch.
finally
It's unfortunate they never really clarified the whole HomeKit compatibility fiasco. There has never been a way to update the software of a smart device to work with HomeKit, and once they realized that Chamberlain just stopped commenting, leaving many people confused and pissed. I've been using the Homebridge workaround for a long time, but there are many people who either do not have the technical know how, or just do not want to deal with it that now have to buy the new hardware to get HomeKit.
Willl this work for some detached garages? I can't get a wifi signal in my detached garage that is about 5-7m from the house.