Apple-Backed 'Project CHIP' to Start Smart Home Device Certification in Late 2021
In late 2019, Apple along with Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance announced plans to develop a universal standard for smart home products, leveraging existing protocols like Apple's HomeKit, Amazon's Alexa, and Google's Weave.
The so-called "Project Connected Home over IP" or "Project CHIP" aims to make it easier for device manufacturers to build devices that are compatible with a variety of smart home platforms and voice assistants by defining a specific set of IP-based networking technologies for device certification. The new open source standard will rely on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, and Thread for device setup and connectivity.
According to a webinar hosted by the Zigbee Alliance earlier this week, highlighted by The Verge, companies participating in the project will be able to get devices certified beginning in late 2021. The standard will be available across several categories, including lights, locks, cameras, thermostats, window coverings/shades, TVs, and even smart home bridges to bring Project CHIP to older smart home products.
If the Project CHIP standard is successful, customers will have greater confidence that smart home products they purchase are compatible with a wide variety of smart home platforms and smart home products they already own.
Related Stories
Google today announced that its Google One VPN is available to iPhone and iPad users, one and a half years after promising to bring it to iOS devices.
The service, which has on Android smartphones and tablets since October 2020, is available for Google One members who have the 2TB Premium plan. Google One Premium is priced at $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, and in addition to VPN...
The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which includes Apple, Samsung, Google, Amazon, and others, today announced the launch of the "Matter" smart home standard has been delayed until the fall of 2022 (via The Verge).
Matter seeks to unify and simplify the smart home ecosystem with a new interoperable standard. Announced in 2019 as "Project CHiP," Matter is a unified IP-based...
The iPhone 14 could offer better battery life and feature Wi-Fi 6E connectivity thanks to a new 5G chip, supply chain sources claim.
Taiwan's Economic Daily News reports that TSMC has obtained all of Apple's orders for its 5G radio frequency (RF) chips for the iPhone 14 lineup, taking over from Samsung. The chips, likely related to Apple's selection of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X65 modem, are...
Apple's team of employees working on the company's long-rumored electric vehicle has "been dissolved for some time," and must be reorganized soon in order for mass production of the vehicle to begin by 2025, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a tweet today.
Apple's electric vehicle plans have reportedly faced numerous setbacks since the project was approved in 2014, including several leadership...
Sonos is today participating in an antitrust hearing on the smart home, where Sonos legal chief Eddie Lazarus had some commentary to share on the smart home market and the dominance of companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple.
Headed up by Amy Klobuchar, the Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights is today hosting a hearing on "Protecting Competition and Innovation ...
Apple today introduced a redesigned website for its Open Source projects, which houses Apple's open source work like Swift, WebKit, ResearchKit, FoundationDB, and more. The updated site can be found at opensource.apple.com.
The site includes two main sections, including Featured Projects to showcase a selection of Apple's open source work, and a second section for Releases.
The Featured...
Aqara HomeKit accessories are now available from the Apple Store Online in a range of European countries, the company has today announced.
Aqara products will be available from the Apple Store Online in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. To date, Aqara products have only been stocked in Apple Stores in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao.
Review: Aqara Camera Hub G2H and Sensors...
TP-Link today at CES 2022 announced that it will be expanding its Tapo line of smart home accessories from Europe to the United States, and some of the accessories will also be gaining support for Apple's smart home platform HomeKit, allowing the accessories to be controlled with Siri or the Home app on Apple devices.
Some of the HomeKit-enabled accessories will include the Tapo P125 Mini...
Popular Stories
Earlier this week, The Information's Wayne Ma outlined struggles that Apple has faced during the development of its long-rumored AR/VR headset. Now, in a follow-up report, he has shared several additional details about the wearable device. Apple headset render created by Ian Zelbo based on The Information reporting For starters, one of the headset's marquee features is said to be lifelike...
With around four months to go before Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 14 lineup, the overwhelming majority of rumors related to the new devices so far have focused on the iPhone 14 Pro, rather than the standard iPhone 14 – leading to questions about how different the iPhone 14 will actually be from its predecessor, the iPhone 13.
The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are expected...
Sony this week came out with an updated version of its popular over-ear noise canceling headphones, so we picked up a pair to compare them to the AirPods Max to see which headphones are better and whether it's worth buying the $400 WH-1000XM5 from Sony over Apple's $549 AirPods Max.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. First of all, the AirPods Max win out when it comes ...
Apple now plans to release a new 27-inch display with mini-LED backlighting in October due to the Shanghai lockdown, which has resulted in production of the display being delayed, according to display industry consultant Ross Young.
In a tweet, Young said Apple is in the process of moving production of the display from Quanta Computer to a different supplier and/or location, resulting in a...
Apple is working on an updated version of the HomePod that could come in the fourth quarter of 2022 or the first quarter of 2023, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo says that there "may not be much innovation in hardware design" for the new HomePod, and there is no word on what size the device will be and if it will be a HomePod mini successor or a larger speaker. Apple would ...
Solid markdowns on the AirTag, AirPods 3, and a few iPad models were introduced this week, and below you'll find all of the best deals of the past few days that are still available to purchase.
AirTag
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 site running.
What's the...
Top Rated Comments
#2 is the most important as buildings have very long lifetimes and no one wants to replace the switches, plugs, lightbulbs and thermostats every three years.
Apple has such a horrible reputation with #2 that until now you'd be nuts to use their products in a building. They really do need a standard that will last as long as a building stands.