Ring wins HomeKit certification for Spotlight Cam, Video Doorbell Pro

By Roger Fingas

Suggesting it may finally be ready to deliver on promises, Amazon's Ring has earned HomeKit certification for two key products, the Spotlight Cam and the Video Doorbell Pro.

The products are now listed on a developer-only webpage for MFi-licensed accessories, said Twitter user Daniel Feodorov, cited by Zats Not Funny. The page doesn't hint when support might go live.

Ring has promised HomeKit compatibility since June 2016, well before Amazon's takeover in February 2018, and even after Apple briefly purged the "Doorbell" category from its HomeKit accessories page.

"We're eager to bring HomeKit compatibility, and other exciting integrations, and will share information on timing as soon as we have it," Ring originally said in a boilerplate statement.

Ring is one of the most popular options in smarthome security, thanks not just to Amazon but it being an early entrant and offering a complete ecosystem. The only general platform integration it offers is Amazon Alexa, otherwise requiring proprietary apps.

Apple initially promoted doorbell control as one of the possibilities of the iOS Home app, but soon went silent for reasons unknown. Only two HomeKit-compatible doorbells have been announced, the Robin ProLine and the Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell, and August has admitted that it won't have support anytime soon because of the difficulty of HomeKit development and its desire to integrate lock and doorbell controls in the same interface.

The Spotlight Cam is a dedicated security camera, available in wired, battery, or solar-powered versions.