If you use HomeKit There is one app that you should definitely install on your iPhone, iPad or Mac: HomePass, which has just been updated to a new version with new features and full compatibility with Matter. Here are the reasons why you should download it.
Renamed “HomePass for HomeKit and Matter,” the new version of HomePass has taken many months of work for its developer, Aaron Pierce, who has created this new version from scratch with a much more modern design and new features that make it even easier to save your HomeKit codes. That's the mission of this application: to store all the HomeKit configuration codes for your accessories, and now also those for Matter. It may seem like a small thing, but this is coming from someone who, after years of automating his home with HomeKit, has already accumulated so many accessories that he doesn't even know how many he has.
Why would I want to store my HomeKit codes? Well, because you're going to need them sooner or later. Like any piece of technology, at some point it's going to get misconfigured, or you're going to have to reset it to a different location, and then You will need that code that came on a card inside the box and that you no longer know where it is.Or maybe it was on a sticker on the back of the accessory, but it has been rubbed off or fallen off. Or it may be engraved on the battery cover, but it is now completely inaccessible and you have to peel it off the wall or door frame. If it hasn't happened to you before, it will happen again.
HomePass directly accesses all your accessories that you have already added to the HomeKit Home app, retrieves all their data (name, room, serial number, brand, etc.) and allows you to add the setup code manually or by scanning it with your phone's camera. You can also add notes and other attachments such as photos of the accessory. This way, you can retrieve that information at any time and use the setup code whenever you need it. All information is synchronized with iCloud, so if you do it on your iPhone you will also have it on your iPad, Mac or Apple Watch if you install the application, which works for all Apple platforms. You can also export all the information, which is very useful to have it in a PDF saved in your personal documents.
If you add accessories, the app will include them in the “Maintenance” section so that you know which accessories you have not yet completed, and you can do so without any problems (as you can see, I still have a lot of work to do with 40 new devices that I have not yet completed). If you make room or name changes, it will also indicate this to you, although here you will only have to confirm the change, since the information is automatically retrieved. The design of the app is very well cared for, everything is perfectly organized.Today the truth is that the database that it creates for you with all your HomeKit accessories is unbeatable.
This new version includes Full compatibility with Matter codes, the new standard that is increasingly used by manufacturers and that provides full compatibility with HomeKit, Alexa and Google Home. It also allows you to store accessories that connect directly to a bridge and do not have a code, but it stores their serial numbers that can be very useful, for example, for Hue accessories when configuring them again with their Hub. Another new feature is to identify the accessory, for when you don't know exactly which one it is (when you have several bulbs in a lamp, for example). In the case of lights, the identification makes them blink several times, other accessories make their status LED blink.
The app is free but has in-app purchases. The developer has had to opt for a new subscription model to be able to continue working on the development of their apps. But for Those of us who purchased the app at the time will automatically have all the functions unlocked. of the application, forever, which is very much appreciated. Of course, its developer plans to add new features, and for those we will have to pay the subscription if we want to be able to use them. We can choose a monthly payment of €1,99, an annual payment of €9,99 or a one-time payment forever of €44,99I assure you that it is worth what it costs.
