Carrier has announced it will be launching a HomeKit-enabled version of its Côr smart thermostat, first introduced at CES 2015, in early 2017.

carrier-cor-homekit-thermostat

Image: CNET

Côr is a Wi-Fi thermostat equipped with a touchscreen for controlling heating, cooling, and other settings. Beyond manual programming, the thermostat intelligently adapts to your home for greater efficiency, while still meeting ideal comfort levels. Côr also provides energy reports and customized energy saving tips.

Apple HomeKit support will enable the thermostat to be controlled remotely with the Home app on iOS 10 or Siri voice commands on iPhone and iPad, while users can set up HomeKit-enabled products to work together based on triggers. The thermostat can also be controlled remotely with the free Carrier Côr Thermostat app.

Côr's main competitors include the Nest Learning Thermostat, ecobee3, and Honeywell Lyric Round and Lyric T5.

Pricing has yet to be announced.

Top Rated Comments

BJB Productions Avatar
90 months ago
I was going to jump on board with the Nest, but then I learned it was not HomeKit compatible. Kept me from purchasing.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BrentD Avatar
90 months ago
I have a Nest thermostat and absolutely love it. For something as basic as a thermostat, I haven't seen a real use case yet where HomeKit would be beneficial to me (and that has nothing to do with having already invested in a non-HomeKit option). I can understand lighting and other products with instantaneous needs at varying times, but my thermostat is scheduled to do things when I typically need them done. If I'm coming home early or from vacation or something, tapping the app and turning the A/C back on or something isn't a big deal. Particularly when it takes some time for it to reach a given temp anyway. The fact that I can't say "Hey Siri, turn the air down to 72 degrees" and have her tell me she didn't quite get that 3 times before I remember the exact wording I have to use isn't really something I feel I'm lacking. Takes me the same or less time to tap it down in the Nest app.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Alexlfm Avatar
90 months ago
If I understand my situation correctly, I have a Carrier HVAC and have been told that it is a proprietary system and I'm essentually stuck with Carrier thermostats. Am I incorrect? I'm still a little bit excited for this, but your experience is certainly a bummer.
The answer is, it depends; but more than likely you could change. I have a fairly high end multi stage Bryant (aka Carrier; The Bryant/Carrier are basically 100% the same) which I got a few years ago after I received a settlement rebate for my old broken unit (and took advantage of the tax credits) which came with one of their awful proprietary touchscreen controllers. After seeing the cost of their wifi connected thermostat I ended up going with the Ecobee 3, however I did have to rewire the connection from the thermostat to the furnace as the Carrier system uses a special 4 wire setup and with the dual stages (on AC and Heat) plus humidifier I needed the full 8 wires. In addition I had to change the air conditioner setup from the proprietary wire connection to the standard HVAC setup (however this didn't require any new wires to be run, just rearranging them). So long as you have a single zone system there shouldn't be any reason you couldn't change thermostats fairly easily (though you do need one that supports multiple stages). As far as multiple zones go, I believe that carrier does have a zone controller that uses the standard thermostat controller connections (and would work with the Ecobee or any controller) however I believe that this is an option though, and that their proprietary system comes standard; I've also heard (though I can't confirm) that as a cost cutting method (and to be the worlds biggest dicks) Carrier is/has eliminated the "old fashioned" generic HVAC interface on some models requiring you to replace the controller board to an "upgraded" model to use a generic thermostat.

The easiest thing to do in order to know if you could change yours would just be to pop the cover off your furnace and see if you have the standard W/W2/Y/Y2/G/R/Comm connectors on your control board or just the 4 pins of the custom interface. If you have a newer Carrier system then it will 100% be connected using their custom 4 wire connector, but you still may very well have the other connectors. If you have the connectors then you, at worst, would just have to pull a new, multi-strand wire. In the end, with mine, I was able to move to the Ecobee without loosing any functionality apart from the diagnostics codes (which does nothing for me) and the manual fan only mode speed control (however there is still a way to set it manually). The Ecobee does a much better job then their awful controller ever did and is much more energy efficient with things like away mode and changing to the different sensors depending upon where I am in the house.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iMerik Avatar
90 months ago
Cor sucks...at least there last version did. I have it and dislike it. Sure it's a wifi thermostat and it works decent but it has no smart features and the smartphone app is literally just the thermostat GUI put on your smartphone. Two weeks ago I get a update to the Cor app (First one since I got the thermostat over a year ago) and it's promising HomeKit support and Siri support with no mention new models. I am thrilled. I download the update and absolutely none of the features seem to be working. Look at the reviews for the app. It has one star. The thing is garbage and I don't have much faith for new one. I really hope they make the HomeKit stuff work on the first gen one. I strongly advise people to skip Cor.
If I understand my situation correctly, I have a Carrier HVAC and have been told that it is a proprietary system and I'm essentually stuck with Carrier thermostats. Am I incorrect? I'm still a little bit excited for this, but your experience is certainly a bummer.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Alexlfm Avatar
90 months ago
Thermostats work best when they are on a wall in the middle of rooms, not hidden away.
Exactly, and the only one to fix that is Ecobee with their wireless sensors. One thermostat can never cover the whole house no matter how well it's placed. At some point the thermostat will always be in the wrong place. When the thermostat is supposed to detect if I'm at home this is a major problem. Installing a new thermostat in the same place is difficult enough for most people, are you seriously suggesting they need to make sure it's in the optimal location as well?

As far as design goes, I won't argue that the Nest looks slightly better, but because of that and its small size it's harder to operate and requires the wall it's installed on to be either in perfect shape under the old thermostat or else fixed and well painted/blended with the old paint. This means that for the vast majority of installations the Nest will look much WORSE not better then the competition since the larger size of the Ecobee makes it more likely to cover problem/holes which would be exposed otherwise.

On top of that, I know it's subjective, but I would hardly say the Ecobee3 (or even for the most part, this Carrier one) is ugly. It's a black slab with rounded corners and a white back...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ThatsMrsGeek2U Avatar
90 months ago
If I understand my situation correctly, I have a Carrier HVAC and have been told that it is a proprietary system and I'm essentually stuck with Carrier thermostats. Am I incorrect? I'm still a little bit excited for this, but your experience is certainly a bummer.
i have a carrier havoc with 4 zones and it is not compatible with Nest or many other systems, even the hackers have not gotten it working. so I'm in the same boat as you and will look forward to this coming out and streaming my complicated home heating
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 17

iOS 17.2 Will Add These 12 New Features to Your iPhone

Friday December 1, 2023 12:19 pm PST by
iOS 17.2 has been in beta testing for over a month, and it should be released to all users in a few more weeks. The software update includes many new features and changes for iPhones, including the dozen that we have highlighted below. iOS 17.2 is expected to be released to the public in mid-December. To learn about even more features coming in the update, check out our full list. Journal ...
anker new xmas 1

Anker's Cyber Week Sale Enters Final Days With Up to 60% Off Sitewide

Friday December 1, 2023 12:05 pm PST by
Anker's Black Friday/Cyber Week event is entering its final days this weekend, and it's still offering up to 60 percent off sitewide. There are also a few "mystery boxes" that can include hundreds of dollars in savings, if you're willing to risk not knowing what you're buying ahead of time. All of these sales will end on December 3. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Anker. When you...
iOS 17

28 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in December's iOS 17.2 Update

Friday December 1, 2023 2:57 am PST by
Apple made the first beta of iOS 17.2 available to developers in October. Since then we've seen three more betas, and with each iteration Apple continues to add more new features and changes, many of which users have been anticipating for quite a while. Below, we've listed 28 new things that are coming to your iPhone when the finalized version is publicly released this December. 1. Help...
top stories 2dec2023

Top Stories: iOS 17.1.2 Released, NameDrop Misinformation, and More

Saturday December 2, 2023 6:00 am PST by
Apple employees are back to work following a Thanksgiving break, and that means this week saw a number of new operating system updates for both public release and beta testing. This week also saw some misinformation about Apple's new NameDrop feature making the rounds, while Apple and Goldman Sachs appear to be on the verge of a break-up in their Apple Card and savings account partnership,...
General Apps Messages

Green Bubbles on iPhone to Gain These 7 New Features Next Year

Thursday November 30, 2023 9:00 am PST by
Earlier this month, Apple announced that it will finally support RCS in the Messages app on the iPhone starting later next year. This change will result in several improvements to the messaging experience between iPhones and Android devices. RCS will become the new default standard for messaging between iPhones and Android devices, but these conversations will still have green bubbles like...
m2 macbook air green

Get Apple's M2 MacBook Air and M3 MacBook Pro for Record Low Prices

Friday December 1, 2023 6:59 am PST by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models to all-time low prices today. We're tracking these deals below in addition to great discounts on the Apple Pencil 2 and Apple Watch Ultra 1. MacBook Air Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the...
iPhone 16 Mock Header Updated 1

iPhone 16 to Include Action Button Across Entire Lineup

Thursday November 30, 2023 4:08 pm PST by
The release of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max saw the introduction of an entirely new user-configurable button known as the Action button, and now, MacRumors has seen extensive evidence confirming Apple is planning to include the Action button on the entire iPhone 16 range. Designs and plans for the Action button date back to at least 2021, as the button was intended for release alongside hapt...