Vratislav Holub The concept of a smart home is growing every year. Thanks to this, today we have at our disposal a wide range of various accessories that can make everyday life more pleasant or easier. It's no longer just about lighting - there are, for example, smart thermal heads, sockets, security elements, weather stations, thermostats, various controls or switches and many others. However, the system is absolutely key for proper functioning. Apple therefore offers its HomeKit, with the help of which you can build your own smart home that will understand your Apple products.
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Jiří Filip HomeKit therefore combines individual accessories and allows you to control them via individual devices – for example via iPhone, Apple Watch or voice via the HomePod (mini) smart speaker. In addition, as we know the Cupertino giant, great emphasis is placed on the level of security and the importance of privacy. Although the HomeKit smart home is very popular, so-called routers with HomeKit support are not talked about that much. What do routers actually offer compared to regular models, what are they for and what is behind their (un)popularity? This is exactly what we are going to shed light on together now.
HomeKit routers
Apple officially revealed the arrival of HomeKit routers on the occasion of the WWDC 2019 developer conference, when it also emphasized their biggest benefit. With their help, the security of the entire smart home can be strengthened even more. As Apple mentioned directly at the conference, such a router automatically creates a firewall for devices falling under the Apple smart home, thereby trying to achieve maximum security and prevent potential problems. The main benefit therefore lies in safety. The potential problem is that HomeKit products connected to the Internet are theoretically susceptible to cyber attacks, which naturally creates a risk. In addition, some accessory manufacturers were found to be sending data without the user's permission. This is exactly something that HomeKit routers that build on HomeKit Secure Router technology can easily prevent.
Although security is extremely important in today's Internet era, we unfortunately do not find any other advantages with HomeKit routers. The Apple HomeKit smart home will work for you without the slightest limitations even if you do not have this device, which does not make routers an obligation. With a bit of exaggeration, we can therefore say that most users can do without a HomeKit router. In this direction, we are also moving to another fundamental question regarding popularity.
Popularity and prevalence
As we already indicated in the very introduction, routers with support for the HomeKit smart home are not so widespread, in fact, on the contrary. People tend to overlook them and many apple growers don't even know they exist. This is quite understandable given their capabilities. In principle, these are completely ordinary routers, which in addition only offer the aforementioned higher level of security. At the same time, they are not the cheapest either. When you visit the Apple Store Online menu, you will find only one model - the Linksys Velop AX4200 (2 nodes) - which will cost you CZK 9.
There is still one HomeKit-enabled router available. Like Apple right on its own support pages states, in addition to the Linksys Velop AX4200 model, the AmpliFi Alien continues to boast this benefit. Although the Eero Pro 6, for example, is compatible with HomeKit, Apple does not mention it on its website. Anyway, that's the end of it. The Cupertino giant simply does not name any other router, which clearly indicates another deficiency. Not only are these products not very popular among Apple users, but at the same time router manufacturers themselves do not flock to them. This can be justified by expensive licensing.
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Adam Kos 