At WWDC 2019, Apple announced that HomeKit will soon be supported by routers from Eero, Linksys and Charter Spectrum. So far, neither of these companies has actually launched HomeKit support for their routers, but new evidence suggests that Eero support may be coming soon.
Eero today released an update for its Eero and Eero Pro routers, bringing them to version 3.18. The release notes for the update are relatively inaccurate, highlighting "customer data accuracy improvements" and "system stability improvements". As it turns out, however, this update also includes what appears to be HomeKit Preliminary Support (via Adam Miarka).
After upgrading to the latest firmware, Eero and Eero Pro appear in the Home app as accessories that you can add. Unfortunately, because there is no valid configuration code for HomeKit, the Home application presents an error and says that Eero routers cannot be added to HomeKit. The application also warns that Eero routers are still "not certified" at this time.
With version 3.17 of the Eero firmware, the Eero routers did not appear in the Home application as nearby accessories. It is clear that something has changed with version 3.18, but things are obviously still very early.
Moreover, an Eero developer went to Reddit today to provide more details about what's included in the backdrop in the update to version 3.18. Among other technical changes, the developer drops a feature "(REDACTED) for users (REDACTED)", describing it as "biggy, but I'm still not allowed to talk about it."
When will you be able to control and monitor your Eero router through the Home app? We don't have a release date yet for when full capabilities will be released, but today's evidence suggests that Eero could beat Linksys and others to market.
Apple says HomeKit routers will provide security benefits, such as the ability to bypass accessories, preventing them from accessing the entire network. "Improve security by monitoring the network activity of your home accessories and preventing unsafe connections," says Apple.
Currently, the Apple site lists Eero, Eero Pro and LIiksys Velop as the three routers expected to add HomeKit support at any one time. Whether or not other producers are joining in remains to be seen.
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