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“HEY SIRI, TURN ON A LIGHT IN THE LIVING ROOM”: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VITREA-APPLE INTEGRATION

In a digital and fast world where we use our voice to search the Internet, record a message on WhatsApp or send voice text using various AI tools, it is only necessary that we can control our smart home systems using voice as well. In recent years, “voice assistants” have been added to our lives and we find ourselves sending various requests at them: “Hey Siri, turn on the light in the living room” is just one of them. We sat down Noam Ives, Director of Integration Development at Vitrea, for a brief interview about everything you need to know about voice commands, and the integration between Vitrea and Apple.


 

“Noam, let’s get it straight: What voice assistants are there today?”

“You can refer to four popular voice assistants: the first is Alexa, which is Amazon’s voice assistant, the second is Apple’s Siri, which is built into iPhones and iPads, and you can also mention Bixby, Samsung’s voice assistant, and Google Assistant on Android and Google devices. The first two voice assistants (Alexa and Siri) are the most common in our customers’ homes, and with them our smart electrical systems know how to interface perfectly.”

“How can voice assistants improve the smart home living experience?”

“Let’s imagine a daily situation where we’re sitting on the couch in the living room, in exactly the perfect position, but at some point we get too hot/cold. Instead of having to get up and change the temperature, you can simply voice command Siri and enjoy the temperature you want, in seconds and effortlessly. Voice assistants actually allow us to control the smart home system, using only voice. You can ask them to turn the light on or off, turn on the air conditioner, and implement various scenarios that have been predefined in the system.”

“Tell us about the integration between Vitrea’s smart home systems and Apple”

Our smart home systems fully interface with the Apple HomeKit app, which is Apple’s app for controlling a smart home through various products: smart TV, smart watch, iPad, smart door lock and more. When a Vitrea smart home system is installed in your home, you can give your Apple voice assistant voice commands and integrate with other Apple tools (for example, connect an Apple smart TV) and if you also have a smart speaker, it allows for an additional layer of integration. You can also launch Vitrea’s system from the Apple HomeKit app and you don’t need to log in to the app, just scroll from the top to enter the phone’s main function screen.”

 

“What advantage does operating a smart home through the Apple HomeKit app have over operating through the Vitrea app?”

“The most significant advantage is that with the Apple HomeKit app, you can build new scenarios based on time, location, weather, and even sensor-based devices that support Apple HomeKit. The app works best with Apple’s smart speakers – which makes it possible to create different types of scenarios, and also operate them remotely when you are not even at home: if you have an Apple smart speaker, the smartphone will know how to communicate with it remotely and use voice commands to operate various electrical systems in the home. You can also import different scenarios from within the Vitrea app and activate the smart assistant via Siri, which opens up a lot of advanced options.”

“And finally, let us know what voice command you personally use most?”

“Wow, here there is a big competition between 3 voice commands:
“Hey Siri, I’m leaving”
, “Hey Siri, Good Night”

All three are scenarios I created in the Apple HomeKit app that combine actions on all the smart products in my home: smart TVs, smart speakers, Vitrea’s smart home system, of course, and an alarm system.”