Ikea comes with cheap HomeKit sockets
With the Trådfri series, Ikea has been offering a small portfolio of starter home accessories for a while now. This includes, for example, lights, sensors and other smart devices. According to the Swedish site Teknikveckan it does not take longer before this series is expanded with new products. The Swedish furniture store, for example, is planning the introduction of a cheap smart outlet that is also compatible with HomeKit.
Ikea outlet HomeKit
Our Swedish colleagues from Teknikveckan received a screenshot that allegedly shows Ikea’s internal product database. This shows a smart socket, which has to come out in October and will cost around 10 euros. A bundle with remote control has to go over 20 euros for the counter. This remote has a magnetic back to attach it easily to a supplied wall holder. The remote only costs 15 euro.
In addition to the remote control, you can operate the socket via Apple HomeKit and Siri, Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant . The only thing you can do with it is switch on and off – dimming or other functions are not included.
Trådfri becomes more and more complete
Even if it is not in the database, it is very likely that the socket falls into the Trådfri series. However, the introduction of the HomeKit support for the products did not go smoothly. The company said that Trådfri from August 2017 had to support HomeKit through a software update. A few hours later the release was postponed to October. Then it was ‘technical problems’ that caused the HomeKit support not to come. Only since November 2017, Trådfri users can control their smart Ikea home with HomeKit.