Homatic IP have a LiveStream on Youtube (in German, mainly on Monday) “Homematic IP Live | Smart Home FAQ with Holger and Annika” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaNA61oS5zI . I think this is a good opportunity to follow up here. The more people ask here … the more attention.
Good point! I don’t want to be the party pooper here, but this has been attempted countless times before – especially with HomeKit – and unfortunately, I already know the answers by heart. “We’re looking into it,” “We’re waiting to see how it develops,” etc.
The reality is: eQ-3 waited so long that HomeKit is already being replaced by Matter.
And I truly meant it when I said there’s a lack of willingness on eQ-3’s side. From what I can tell, their main goal with the Connect API is to bring other manufacturers into their own ecosystem – not the other way around. But what we need is exactly the opposite.
Since I don’t have a Google account (and never will), I’ll leave it to others to raise the question there again. But I actually think @Doekse approach of using his direct contacts is far more promising anyway.
Also – I work in project management myself, so I can’t help but be curious about how things are handled internally at eQ-3. I’d honestly love to sit in on one of their product development meetings someday, just to better understand their perspective and priorities. Watching it all unfold from the outside can be a bit frustrating at times – which probably just comes from wanting to see this whole topic finally move forward.
Unfortunately, it seems that the Homematic team has decided at the last minute not to participate in IFA…. 
Dear Abe, I just came across something interesting. It turns out that it is not necessary to write a plugin for eQ-3’s HCU / Connect API in order to create a Homey app for Homematic. Instead, one could rely on the already existing REST-API. Someone just mentioned this in another forum, which makes it clear:
“When the Connect API is accessed via Home Assistant’s WebSocket, it essentially corresponds to the reverse-engineered REST-API, except that it additionally allows local communication with an HCU. There is still no official documentation for cloud communication. As mentioned, a plugin running on the HCU is not necessary for access from Home Assistant.”
Moreover, another completely local integration is currently under development, which does not rely on cloud services at all.
Do these insights help in further developing the existing Homematic app for Homey, while potentially avoiding the need to engage in dialogue with eQ-3?
1 Like
Then you misunderstood something or received incorrect information. The API for the Homematic IP Access Point is not identical to the Connect API for the Homematic IP Home Control Unit.
The statement you quoted from SukramJ on another forum is simply false. To communicate with the Homematic IP Home Control Unit, it requires the Connect API released by eQ-3 and either a remote plugin or an installed plugin.
The problem, or rather the challenge, is not to write a remote plugin or an installed plugin based on the documentation provided by eQ-3 for the Connect API.
The problem is that a normal user would also have to activate developer mode to even be able to use or install such a plugin. This would then result in the loss of support from the manufacturer eQ-3 for the Homematic IP Home Control Unit.
It is therefore essential for a manufacturer like Athom that the plugin is a certified one, meaning it must be approved by eQ-3. Only if the plugin is certified does the user not need to activate developer mode.
So it’s up to the manufacturer eQ-3, and as announced here in the past, they must ensure that plugins created by other cooperation partners are also certified by eQ-3 and listed as certified plugins. Only then can you install it normally as a user without being forced to activate developer mode yourself and thereby losing support.
eQ-3 Announcement (24.10.2024):
”In the next expansion phase, eQ-3 plans to release officially certified plug-ins that have been tested for functionality and safety. The company will announce further information at a later date.”
So you as a user and other manufacturers like Athom have no choice but to wait until eQ-3 enters this phase and allows certified plugins, which you can then use as an end user of such a system.
The question is: Is it possible to integrate the devices into Homey without waiting for a certified plugin?
Yes, it is possible – via the WebSocket connection. As you already mentioned, the developer mode of the HCU has to be activated for this. Once that’s done, the devices can be read out. In this respect, SukramJ’s statement is correct: the devices can indeed be accessed without a plugin. Personally, I would always choose this approach.
This means it is not strictly necessary to wait for the certified plugins. The key question, therefore, is whether this approach could be a viable way to enable integration with Homey. And in my view, the answer is clearly yes.
That being said, the certified plugins would of course be the more elegant and user-friendly solution in the long run.
This is exactly the principle on which the emerging Home Assistant integration is based. It works entirely locally, as described here:
So the real question is whether users are willing to activate developer mode or not. Because: no certified plugin is required for that. And that’s precisely the point I wanted to make – that this could be a possible way for Athom/Homey if one doesn’t want to wait any longer for eQ3’s so-called certified plugins.
If you mean the Homematic IP Home Control Unit, then you definitely need a plugin.
Websocket is used by the plugin, but you need a plugin at least for the Homematic IP Home Control Unit.
Repeating it again doesn’t make it any more correct. The REST API has nothing in common with eQ-3’s Connect API and is an official eQ-3 API, unlike the REST API that SukramJ mentions.
I don’t know how you personally came to this incorrect conclusion. With the Homematic IP Home Control Unit, you can only access it locally and officially via a plugin using the Connect API.
Nobody said that, only that you lose technical support from the manufacturer eQ-3 if you install a plugin in developer mode. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether they want that or not.
And what exactly do you mean by this approach? Nobody has denied that you, or anyone else, can write a plugin yourself.
The Connect API basically works locally, as described by the manufacturer eQ-3.
As already mentioned, everyone has to decide for themselves whether they want to lose support from the manufacturer or not, but you cannot install a plugin on the Homematic IP Home Control Unit without activating developer mode.
Again, I don’t know how you came to this wrong personal conclusion, you absolutely need a plugin to access the Homematic IP Home Control Unit via the Connect API.
Athom or anyone else is, of course, free to write a plugin for the Homematic IP Home Control Unit, which would require enabling developer mode. Personally, I doubt this would be well-received by users of a production system if it meant losing technical support from the manufacturer eQ-3.
Personally, I wouldn’t want to install such a plugin.
Do you feel so important that people have to follow you? There are actually other users who simply own a Homey Pro and a Homermatic IP Home Control Unit like me. Therefore, I’m just as interested in LG (Athom) reaching an agreement with eQ-3 and releasing an official plugin. Reading this thread, it seems that the problem, or the effort to establish contact and reach a conclusion, clearly lies not with Athom, but rather with the manufacturer, eQ-3.
I corrected my text above. My only question is whether I understood correctly if Athom, or someone else capable of developing a Homematic app for Homey, wants to wait for the certified route or not. I hope I got this right. I personally would install an app even if that means I would have to activate the developer mode for my HCU. But that ist up to the user.
