HomeKit Support For IKEA’s Smart Blinds Delayed Until Next Year

Published on December 11, 2019
HomeKit Support For IKEA’s Smart Blinds Delayed Until Next Year
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If you’re investing in smart blinds, you’d expect them to work with the hubs they’d work with. Unfortunately, if you’re planning to buy Fyrtur Smart Blinds from Ikea, or you’ve already installed them in your home, we’ve got some bad news if you’ve got Apple’s HomeKit. It appears that these smart roller-style blackout blinds will not be compatible with HomeKit until early 2020. This information comes from a tweet made on Twitter by Ikea U.K. Support.

The Fyrtur blinds are capable of remote operation and can be automatically opened and closed on a timer. They are currently on the Ikea website in different sizes and start at $129 each. The blind will work remotely with Ikea’s Smart Home App and the remote with which they come, but they were supposed to be right out of the box compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and HomeKit.

Unfortunately, there was no support for Alexa and it only works with Google and HomeKit if you get some add-ons. You will need the TRÅDFRI gateway and the IKEA Home Smart app to get them to work with Google Assistant. With Apple’s HomeBridge, they can also be linked to HomeKit if you want to put the effort and cost of installing a bridge to your system. There is still no news on when there will be funding for Alexa. The website also says, “The service for Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa will be available later as well.”

This wasn’t the Swedish company’s first problem with its smart blinds. At the launch a number of things started to go wrong. In the beginning, the blinds were expected to go on sale in the U.S., but they skipped not just spring, but also summer. It wasn’t until October that Ikea customers were finally able to get the smart curtain and even then in limited stores in the U.S. it was only available.

As they become available, we will keep you up to date on new developments. Take a look at our top picks for 2019’s best smart home devices.

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