Use native Homekit devices in Homey Flows

Devices
1

Hi - total (and so far, very happy) noob here, so please bear with me if I am asking something very trivial.

I installed the Homekit App and can now control my Sonos connect amps (among other non-homekit devices) from iOS Home app as though the were Homekit-compatible.

However, it would be a waste to use Homey as a raspberry homebridge/assistant just for this purpose. So I intend to use it as the PRIMARY automation controller.

The question is, how do I do the exact opposite - make NATIVE HUBLESS homekit devices usable by Homey?

I can use Philips Hue but it’s got it’s own hub and the respective Homey app.

But I also have a bunch of WiFi Homekit plugs (P1EU) and BLE door/window sensors (DW1) by Koogeek, which are directly Homekit-compatible, without a hub.

How do I add these as Devices to Homey?

Am I missing something obvious here?

Thanks!

2 Likes
2

You need a Homey app for Kogeek devices, which hasn’t been made yet (as far as I can see).
You would then connect directly to the devices through either Wifi or BLE (which hasn’t been enabled in Homey yet) to manage them with Homey. But until there’s an app there’s probably no way to add these devices to Homey.

3

I’ve been playing with the idea of creating a “HomeKit client” app, one that would act as the Home app does on iOS, and provide the ability to manage any HomeKit devices that it can find.

There’s a Node.js module called hap-client that can be used to implement such an app, but it won’t be exactly trivial to get it up and running on Homey since it relies on a few native modules that need to be crosscompiled before they can run on Homey.

If I have a bit more time, I intend to look further into it, but right now, to answer your question: you’re not missing something obvious, this functionality just isn’t available on Homey (yet).

2 Likes
4

You can use “Virtual Devices”-app in combination with “Homekit”-app to control Apple Homekit devices and let the devices report back to Homey.

2 Likes
5

Reddit users asked for a review, so here you go - not really a review, just first impressions

6

Has anyone tried this ?

If it works there is no need to make an app for Homey I guess
when there if the device is already working with Apple Homekit…

7

Yes - i’m using it.

I have a Homekit-managed camera;

I’ve installed “HomeyKit”-app and “Virtual Devices”-app and installed a Mode-Virtual-Device - called “Movement”.

HomeyKit presents the device virtual-device-“Movement” to Homekit and it shows up in my mobile Home-app.
In the mobile Home-app i’ve made an automation that whenever my camera detects movement it turn-on the “Movement”-virtual-device.
In a Homey-flow i turn on a lamp whenever the “Movement”-virtual-device is turned on.
Works perfect :slight_smile:

1 Like
8

Nifty! Thanks for sharing, will try!

9

@robertklep
I would certainly like to see a HomeKit client app for Homey. I don’t know if it would help you but apparently this capability is possible with Home-Assistant. Perhaps reviewing the code for its implementation may provide some helpful pointers.

See - https://www.home-assistant.io/components/homekit_controller/

10

I pretty much stopped developing for Homey, so I will likely not continue working on the HomeKit client app.