Oliver Haslam·

iOS 14 Has Two New Streaming Device Categories In The Home App

Apple continues to flesh out its Home app along with the HomeKit framework that it runs on and the launch of iOS 14 is another example of that.

While we already know of some of those new features, it seems that there is one that has slipped through the net. Apple has added two new types of streaming device to the Home app.

Reported by Apple Insider, the new streaming devices come under two different categories. The first of those is a Set Top Box, while the other is a TV Stick. The two options appear when you try to add a new accessory to your Home and it seems they were first added in iOS 14 beta 5.

The final release of iOS 14 is the first time those two device types have been graced with icons, however.

Since beta 5, Apple had not made any changes or added any icons, leading us to believe Apple may remove them ahead of iOS 14’s release. Yet when the GM of iOS 14 was released to beta testers, icons were at last added to the new categories, implying they are here to stay and new devices could be coming in not-too-distant future.

Apple hasn’t said anything about these new devices but it’s great to see it adding more categories to HomeKit. There are no third-party devices that could fir into these categories as yet, but it’s easy to imagine that changing in the future. Apple has already made its TV app almost ubiquitous and allowing others to make devices similar to the Apple TV box could be an interesting move. Make them all HomeKit-capable and things start to get very exciting indeed.

Especially if someone can make something like an Apple TV cheaper – maybe akin to a Fire TV Stick?

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