Apple iOS 9 may integrate smart home applications

Beijing time, May 21 morning news, American technology blog 9to5Mac reported that Apple may be planning to release a new application to manage partners' smart home products. These smart home products will go on sale from next month.

According to reports, Apple employees are testing a version of iOS 9 that includes an app called Home. Through this app, users can set up new smart home products, classify them into different rooms, connect them to Apple TV set-top boxes, and find new products to buy. This means that this app is not designed to help users control their home environment, but more to cooperate with Apple's smart home backend HomeKit.

Home may also be just an internal test application of Apple and will not be released publicly. However, according to the screenshots provided by 9to5Mac, this application will help users find new applications and products, so it is likely to be released publicly in the end. Apple has not yet commented on this news.

Apple wants HomeKit to be the backbone of smart home products, helping multiple smart home devices to connect to each other through the iOS system. These devices can be controlled by Siri and third-party applications. In addition to Siri, Apple does not seem to provide related applications to control HomeKit devices. Even so, users who buy HomeKit devices still need to set up these products in some way, so a dedicated Home application will be a reasonable tool. If this application is released publicly, it will most likely be at this year's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. The conference will be held on June 8.