Brookfield Residential Announces Plans to Offer HomeKit Standard in New Homes

Wednesday May 3, 2017 10:26 AM PDT by Juli Clover
Homebuilding company Brookfield Residential today announced plans to offer Apple HomeKit as standard in new communities where it builds homes.

The Delano neighborhood in the Eastwood Village of Irvine, California will be the first to feature all connected homes that are able to interface with HomeKit and will be equipped with HomeKit-compatible accessories like lights, thermostats, locks, and more.

"In our new neighborhoods, the future comes standard: As with other consumer innovations such as keyless autos, what is novel today will soon be pervasive," said Foley. "And Apple Home is the most innovative yet easy-to-use system for smart homes, giving homebuyers connected living at their fingertips - or at the command of their voices, using Siri. This makes their appliances work for them, providing joy, ease, security and privacy."
Specific HomeKit accessories that will come standard in all homes include Lutron Caseta lighting, the Honeywell Lyric T6 Smart WiFi Thermostat, Schlage Sense Smart Deadbolts, and Ubiquiti Wireless Access Points for "peak WiFi performance throughout the home."

Along with new homes in Irvine, Brookfield also has plans to build HomeKit-compatible homes in many other areas of Southern California including Playa Vista, Chula Vista, San Marcos, Azusa, and Ontario Ranch.

There are multiple homebuilding companies that have announced plans to support Apple's HomeKit platform, including KB Home, Lennar, Weberhaus in Germany, and R&F properties in China.

Tag: HomeKit Guide
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adamjackson
32 months ago

While I like Ubiquiti products it has no HomeKit compatibility AFAIK.


Correct but as square footage grows or as people want to control outdoor speaker systems from their iPad, a strong WiFi network that can handle dozens of low energy devices is pretty important.

I have over 70 devices in my Unifi Cloud Key in the last 24 hours in a house that's only 1500 square feet. A smart home may not use a ton of bandwidth but it needs to balance these devices with two 4K televisions streaming UHD content from Netflix / Amazon as well as 3 Macs backing up to a Synology via Time Machine protocol.

I would argue a modern Mesh system would do just fine versus a Unifi system but I'd highly recommend Unifi for those who can afford it.
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justperry
32 months ago

No one can hack a manual lock, so you have that advantage. If you're concerned with security, I would stick with HomeKit.


Erm, yes you can.... with an axe.:D

Kidding aside, you actually can "hack" a normal lock, it's called lock picking.
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adamjackson
32 months ago

Sometimes its better to not tell people how much high-priced stuff you have. It incentivizes the thieves.


Anyone that reads my blog knows where I live and what stuff I Have. That's what home security and insurance is for. I'm a nut for technology and like writing about it and making videos about it. Living in fear is no way to live.
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kalex
32 months ago

I still wonder if it is as reliable and secure as a good lock or what other / additional / different vulnerabilities might be encountered. I do wonder about battery life in cold weather climates (I.e., northeastern US), too.



Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I'm ready to trust TIoT yet. My home becoming part of a botnet is one of my concerns.


I've been using 2 schlage locks for past 3 years. Zero issues. Batteries last about a year and you get a notification when its running low. I'm in Northeast and winters were no issue for my schlage touchscreen lock.
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