Apple HomeKit integration.. when?!

@fastbagger how do you know "Never"?

I don't just venting.

Same here. I'd join the class if there was one. I spoke to a sales representative and he said they were expecting it "in the next few months' when I purchased the product in May 2018. I told him I only wanted it if it would support HomeKit soon. He said that they had just released Alexa capability and he was sure that HomeKit would be there soon. I feel very misled.

If you want HomeKit capability look at iota from abode... https://goabode.com/homekit
Cost is same plus offer self Monitoring in addition.

I'll be switching spring if SimpliSafe doesn't make good on HomeKit integration by then .

Yup same here

As a published set of protocols HomeKit can be supported without some sort of express approval from Apple. I have never heard of a manufacturer or vendor delaying support for Homekit because "Apple can't keep up with approvals", and I question whether Apple getting "hammered in the last 2 years for their garbage" is 1) remotely true or 2) constructive or relevant to the point at hand: SimpliSafe mentioned that Homekit integration was coming in 2018 Q2 wayyy back in January/February 2018.

Instead, they've used the past year+ to introduce Google Assistant and Alexa functionality. As someone that uses the Apple ecosystem (as I'm assuming anyone interested in this thread does), my smart security systems are relatively limited - Ring, Nest, and Abode are the major frontrunners. Ring is owned by Amazon and Nest by Google so those devices already have security systems with first-order support - why cover that ground again? SimpliSafe is squandering the opportunity to be the ONLY security vendor with HomeKit support, and at this rate I think Abode might beat them to the punch despite announcing the work a full year later.

Look at the Honeywell lyric system.  It is HomeKit compatible. They even have a recommended door video camera that is compatible. And with their total control software, you can monitor it or control it from anywhere in the world. Provided you pay a local carrier a nominal fee for that. $16 more or less.

It's not cheap, but is the system I'm thinking of getting. They even have a wired to wireless board for under $100 that you can convert a fully wired system into their wireless system.

@bstendal
Homebridge and Simplisafe3 works for me - note for SS3 you need to use this plugin:
https://github.com/chowielin/homebridge-simplisafe-security-system

Hi there! I just received an email stating that they will not become compatible with HomeKit and have stopped working on it, due to disputes with Apple. As recently as 5/11/19 they have stated that they ARE working on it. They owe a refund to those of us who purchased the product based on this open and notorious promise. This was advertised and they have failed to deliver. It was advertised on the SimpliSafe website and the Apple website.

bstendal, can you please provide the text of the email you received on 5/11/19 as well?

Homebridge Set-up on Mac OS X Catalina

I've used Homebridge before and found it a little tedious.  Not anymore!  There is a new Homebridge UI that is awesome, and a new SimpliSafe plugin that allows you to control just about everything with the system, and view your camera feed, all within the Home app.

If you're not familiar with Homebridge don't worry, with the user interface it is very easy to use, in an hour or two you will have your SimpliSafe 3 system working with HomeKit.  Once Homebridge is installed and configured, from your Home app add an accessory, scan the Homebridge set-up code, and Homebridge will install itself as a bridge between your SimpliSafe 3 alarm system and Apple's HomeKit.

Once you install the bridge the Home app will cycle through all of your compatible SimpliSafe devices (contacts, locks, motion detectors, smoke detectors, temperature sensors, water sensors) so you can set the name, room and toggle favorite for each device.  After set-up you can see status of all devices, lock and unlock doors, and set the alarm to home, away or off.  At this point you will be so amazed you won't even care that keypads, glass break sensors and panic buttons do not appear in the Home app.

Step-by-step instructions for a Mac installation can be found here:  https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge/wiki/Install-Homebridge-on-macOS.  If you are running a different OS use GitHub to find the correct installation details.

My Mac Installation notes (current as of 2/8/20) -  
I opted to install the Current version of node.js including the latest features:  Node.js Version v13.8.0 and Npm Version:  v6.13.6.  Having installed Homebridge before on a different Mac, I cannot say enough good things about the easy-to-use interface in Homebridge Config UI X:  homebridge-config-ui-x v4.10.0.  The plugin I used to control my system is Homebridge Simplisafe3:  homebridge-simplisafe3 v1.4.6.  With Homebridge Config UI X you are able to change your configuration (json file) within the interface, rather than using Atom (or another text editor), and the settings page for each plug-in allows you to make changes to your configuration which in turn updates your json file.  So, if you are intimidated by making changes to your json file, once you've done your initial set-up the UI does it all for you.  

To view cameras I suggest you first set your Simplisafe3 plugin to 'Persist Accessories' (under advanced settings), otherwise if set-up fails on a device (in my case upon initial set-up 2 of 5 cameras failed installation) the failed camera(s) simply disappear from the Home app.  To see my remaining two cameras in my Home app I ended up clearing cache, resetting my Homebridge set-up, changing persist accessories settings to on, and then repeating set-up.

To view your your SimpliCams or Video Doorbell Pros you need to install ffmpeg.  To do so you will need to first install homebrew:  https://brew.sh/ and then ffmpeg:  https://github.com/fluent-ffmpeg/node-fluent-ffmpeg/wiki/Installing-ffmpeg-on-Mac-OS-X.  Initially I could only see a still shot, not live stream, but fixed that by finding and installing proper codecs.

After you have home brew and ffmpeg installed go back into your Home app, add an accessory, select don't have a code or cannot scan, and each of your SimpliCam and Video Doorbell Pro devices will appear.  For each camera select it, scan or enter the code that is displayed in your Homebridge interface, and (with persist accessories setting 'on') the camera will install.

The integration with HomeKit is so complete that I have disabled my SimpliSafe notifications.  The only thing I cannot do within my Home app is talk to someone at the doorbell (but I do get an alert from Home app that the button was pushed).

This set-up is so cool I wanted to put the steps together for you so you can have an awesome HomeKit integrated SimpliSafe 3 system too, and avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered upon initial installation.