Image: Apple
There are now many smart home apps on the market. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. For this reason, we have taken a close look at user interfaces and operating concepts. To evaluate software, the software quality standards (ISO25010) can be used as a support. For us, the most important criteria for evaluating user interfaces include simplicity, comprehensibility, range of functions and future viability. The first two criteria mentioned reflect the intuitiveness of use. Here, providers differ greatly. Apps with a high range of functions often appear very complex and overloaded. Other apps, on the other hand, lack important functions like push notifications (messages sent from an app) or even have serious security flaws. As a result, you often lose time or nerves when using them. Obviously, this is something to be explicitly avoided.
Future viability is also a criterion that is often overlooked and cannot be found directly in the aforementioned ISO standard. Here we also evaluate less the software itself, but look behind the scenes: Who is the provider? Are future-proof technologies being used? Can we still expect support in the form of updates or support in the next few years?
Since the end of 2019, Apple’s Homekit is open source. For us, this meant that we could adapt our systems to the user interface of the Apple Home app. Instead of our originally planned approach of creating a completely new app, we hereby found a solution that met our requirement. Thus, we channeled our energy into developing an interface to make our systems compatible, not only with Apple, but with the most popular manufacturers. The use of software from well-known manufacturers means that you can use comfort functions at the highest level. One of them, for example, is the voice assistant. Our seamless integration of your home, for example, into the Apple world, has the advantage that you can use Siri as a voice assistant for control. In addition, you can configure your own scenes or add automations super easy and without any help from us.
Image: Google/ Amazon
We have created an interface to make the installed technical components of your home usable for the Apple Home App. Our systems use free and standardized protocols to transfer data and are therefore universally applicable.
Therefore, our systems can also be used with Google Home Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa. We will be happy to go through the advantages and disadvantages of the providers with you, so that you are well informed about the alternatives. So please let us know which system you prefer.
One of the essential factors in the use of smart home is the almost infinite possibilities of combinations. Once the elements of your home are digital, they can be linked together at any time or expanded to include your functions. A practical example is a classic light switch. This can be provided with a short press to switch the light on or off. In addition, it can be provided with a long press, for example, to switch off all lights at the same time when leaving the house. A light switch could also be used as a garage door opener or to move all your blinds – you always have the choice.
This is where it gets creative! Together we plan the elements room by room, respond to your wishes and give you suggestions for the design.
Set house connection. Preparation of walls, ceilings and floors. Laying of cables. Pre-placement of the elements.
Once the electrical work is complete, the smart home center and network are installed.
We breathe life into the system. All functions and automations are programmed in this step and then extensively tested.
Your satisfaction is close to our hearts. Only when you approve the system with the planned functions, we are finished. You want to settle in and try everything out in peace? No problem – we’ll be back in a bit.
You have now been getting to know the system for a while. Of course, it can happen that you have change requests or extensions. We will gladly take care of this on this date.
One last time, we would like to make sure that everything is configured according to your wishes and get your feedback. On the one hand, this helps us to constantly improve our service and you also benefit directly from it.
Even after the installation we are still there for you. You can take advantage of our optional support offer to constantly get the latest features and stay up to date.
The system we apply is compatible with all popular home assistants.