Elain Brown Tech 06.07.2022 02:Jun AM EDT

WWDC 2022: Apple's Home App Gets New Categories, Redesigned Home Tab, and More

Apple's worldwide developers conference, WWDC 2022, has just wrapped up, leaving with the all-new Home App for users to enjoy.

Aside from the updates released for macOS, Apple Watch, and iPadOS, the HomeKit app has gained a bigger update this time with a redesigned Home tab and support for Matter with iOS 16. The company unveiled its upgrade for the HomeKit's home app platform at WWDC.

The app will be redesigned for iOS 16 later this year. Apple claimed the app's new architecture makes it more efficient and dependable, especially for homes with several gadgets. The Home app, which lets users operate Apple's HomeKit smart home gadgets with Siri, has been around since 2016. This revamp, however simple, is one of the app's biggest updates so far.

WWDC 2022: All-new Home App

At WWDC 2022, the newly revamped Home app introduces new tile sizes, icon designs, and grouping capabilities.

Due to the increased size of the app's tiles, the Home app is now able to prioritize the display of safety features such as door locks over lighting, and the rooms in a user's home are no longer organized under a distinct tab on the app's home screen on the iPhone.

As reported by The Verge, another upgraded feature for the app is the navigation. It has also been revamped to make it easier to find, organize, and control devices. In addition, there is a new category section that will allow users to access the devices related to climate, lighting, speakers and TVs, water (sprinklers and faucets), and security all from a single location. Even though they are located in different rooms, this should make it much easier to switch off all of the lights and lock all of the doors.

Furthermore, users can now have full access to what their home looks like in the app. An integrated feature called the new multi-camera view shows four security cameras on the Home tab, allowing users to view more of their home as they scroll.

This horizontal scrolling feature will allow users to view all corners of their home more efficiently rather than switching between multiple camera views.

Apple Connectivity To Matter

Apple also presented Matter for the first time at WWDC 2022. The company was successful in rolling out the Matter smart home standard in spite of a number of obstacles that have extended the distribution beyond the initial time period that had been planned for it.

During the speech, Corey Wang stated that Apple contributed HomeKit as the foundation of this new standard, and that Matter supports some of the essential concepts that are outlined in HomeKit. These principles include the highest levels of security and privacy.

She also dropped hints about how Matter will assist HomeKit users in integrating other device categories into their smart homes. This will enable HomeKit users to select from a wider selection of compatible smart home accessories and utilize Siri and the Home app to operate those accessories.

According to iMore, Apple stated that there are currently 130 items that will support Matter that are in the development stage. Later on in this year, consumers will be able to purchase products on the market that were created by companies like Google, Amazon, Schlage, Eve, Philips Hue, and August.

Apple's Matter is scheduled to be released later this year, most likely around the same time as iOS 16 is made available. Apple has stated that the Home app will have support for the standard with the release of the new operating system.