THE NEW SMART HOME IS HERE

APPLE S WITCHING T O ARM–BASED PROCE SSING MEANS BIG THING S FOR Y OUR SMART HOME

This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) was, understandably, a little different than before, and not only in the way it was presented. This was a transition year, dominated by the not–entirely–unexpected news of Apple’s forthcoming move away from Intel to its own homegrown Apple silicon. Switching from x86 to ARM–based processing means big things for your smart home, and not only within the context of HomeKit; it brings macOS, iPadOS and iOS closer than ever, and the second version of porting tool Catalyst makes moving apps from mobile hardware to your desk far easier.

Apple’s two–year–old macOS port of the Home app (which, you’ll surely have noticed, is basically the same as the iPad version) was really just a taster. There will be absolutely no reason why the same software that drives your smart home through your phone, HomeKit or not, can’t make an appearance on your main machine in either its original or an enhanced form. Is that speculation? Sure! Will it happen? We’d put money on it. If Catalyst is now as easy as Apple claims, and if the codebases