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Comment by vmception | Hacker News Reader

HomeKit often times is better than the OEM's app for their own product.

It's a bit of a recurring pattern with Apple software. Good example is with tvOS, where streaming apps based on the template app that Apple provides are typically less frustrating and more functional than bespoke streaming apps.

Similarly, on iPadOS streaming services delivered through Apple TV+ channels often have better quality than those delivered via provider apps — this has been extremely visible going from watching Star Trek through the CBS TV+ channel w/4k video and 7.1 surround to The Expanse through the Prime Video app which delivers a "1080p" stream that often looks worse than Youtube 720p.

I think the root problem with all of these examples is companies treating software as a checkbox when it should be treated as core to the product.

I don't know what it is about Amazon software, but at least in the Apple ecosystem, it's terrible. I downloaded the macOS version of the Kindle reader because I was reading a programming-related book. A single page turn would take seconds to complete on a Mac Pro. I ended up profiling it with Instruments. It was a QT app that they had obviously ported from another platform and done no performance tuning on. It turned out it was redrawing the page 4 or 5 times, and allocating and freeing something like 40MB of memory on each redraw. It seemed like just having a statically allocated 40MB buffer would have solved the problem, but who knows? It was pretty appalling.

The ratings for their own software on their own web site show all the problems.[0]

[0]https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Digital-Services-LLC-Download/...

No idea, but the Audible app is bad in ways I can’t understand.

I'd be interested in seeing if products can become HomeKit only. Unfortunately you still sort of need your own app for setup, etc. It's a decently sized barrier for manufacturers, and their app ends up shit anyway.

You can actually set up some devices without downloading a manufacturer app. I did this for an iDevices thermostat I bought recently, although I downloaded their app later because the home app has no idea how to do "keep the temperature between this range during these hours". (The app is not half bad, FWIW.)

I had a really good experience with their customer support - it was great talking to a real human who wasn’t following a script.

Most the HomeKit products I've tried don't need the native apps, just Homekit native on the phone.

Vocolinc and Wemo both are like this. In fact, the latest Vocolinc app has a "Homekit" mode, where it's basically just passthrough. Used for updating firmware only, pretty much.

I recently added a new Wemo smart-plug and used Homekit, not the app. The plug works fine in Homekit, doesn't even appear in the Wemo app. The only downside is no way to update firmware.

Biggest downside to Homekit only, is that you lose specific functionality a manufacturer might have. That said, I find Homekit to be better than the vendor stuff anyway, so stick with it.

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