Smart thermostat Ecobee3 adds Apple HomeKit support

Smart thermostat Ecobee3 (Product Introduction: Ecobee3 Smart Thermostat) has added support to Apple HomeKit with its latest firmware update. With the support to the platform, users can now control their Ecobee3 remote sensors via Apple’s mobile devices.

Ecobee3 works with remote sensors which detect both motion and temperature in individual rooms. After users get the HomeKit support update, they will see the Ecobee icon in the Apple Home app.

Each Ecobee sensor shows up twice in the app, once as a temperature sensor and the other as a motion detector. As for the smart thermostats itself, the Ecobee3 pops up three times in the app – first as an HVAC controller, second as a motion detector for the whole house to detect occupancy, and third as a motion sensor for the room where it’s located.

For example, if users have one Ecobee3 thermostat and three remote sensors working with it, they will see a total of 11 plates in the Home app. Users can further assign the sensors to different rooms in the Home app since the default setting is called ‘Default Room.’

Once finishing the setup, users can start to communicate with their Ecobee3 via Apple’s mobile devices and combine the features with other smart home devices which also support HomeKit.

For instance, users can ask virtual assistant Siri about the temperature in the living room, or even order the Home app to automatically turn the hallway light once motion is detected from the sensor, but only after sunset.

The latest firmware update also includes automatic HomeKit connection restore in case Ecobee3 got disconnected from HomeKit and needs reboot to reconnect.

The Ecobee3 firmware is an automatic update. The new HomeKit features are only available to users with version 3.7.0.969 of the Ecobee3 thermostat firmware updated.