Apple just announced Siri support on third-party hardware; the preview demo used the ecobee SmartThermostat (sometimes called ecobee5).
ecobee's press announcement is linked below and doesn't mention the ecobee4, so at this point it looks like Siri will not be available on older ecobees that supported voice control.
I wonder if the ecobee server is in the control chain? If so, based on the downtime I experience I expect to hear about a lot of disappointed Siri customers.
Doesn’t sound like it based on what was said in Apple’s Keynote. Third party devices still need an Apple device on the local network like a Homepod or AppleTV as it basically just forwards the request to it for processing. They called out that for privacy reasons, but that will have other advantages too, now that local voice processing is coming to Siri as well.
Indeed, the presenter specifically said, "the request is sent directly to the homepod for processing".
My take: apple isn't really "extending Siri to third party devices" as they implied, they are only allowing third parties to take advantage of Siri via a proxy that apple controls (the home pod).
Ecobee’s press-release makes it clear the processing is done by a HomePod or HomePod mini. The point remains that ecobee is the first third-party device that this access has been given to.
As I understand it, this is definitely an announcement. But we are still far from the correct interaction of Siri with the "smart home". Only how should face recognition be established, and how many years have passed. I would not have hoped that in the coming year, Siri will be able to properly manage the house.
They should make it work with the Apple TV
The rollout has started:
Download the Hubitat app
