I would like to connect my Ecobee 3 so I read all Ecobee and HomeKit pages in the wiki, but those did not provide any insight.
I do not have Apple devices, thus no HomeKit hub or whatever.
I installed the HomeKit Bridge Integration and it does show a ton of devices that it automatically added (Tapo, Harmony, etc)
I then tried using the HomeKit Device Integration, which sees my Rachio (which I’m already using on the dedicated integration for) and all the devices in the HomeKit Bridge, but NOT Ecobee?.
Thank you for the help!
side note: I dont understand why HA doesnt have a proper Ecobee integration (where Ecobee recognizes it as an ‘App’) like most others do: Homeseer, Amazon, Google, Sense, Beestat, etc
Thank you, that helped. Its not obvious, and none of the HA docs mention it at all, that you need to ‘pair’ the Ecobee and it ONLY has that option on the physical device. The HS docs should really explain that, or at least, link to the Ecobee docs. When a person connects the Ecobee to a normal app (Amazon, Google, etc) you can do that though the Ecobee’s web UI
There are many Homekit compatible devices available and, to date, no one is willing to volunteer their time to document the specifics of each one.
Therefore the Prerequisites explain the essentials of the pairing process and the rest is left to the user to read their device’s instructions to learn how it manages its Homekit functionality.
It also has a good troubleshooting section. It seems to have been sufficient to allow at least 55000 users to employ the Homekit Device integration.
In my case, after reading Prerequisites, I referred to my ecobee device’s instructions to learn how it pairs/unpairs from a Homekit controller. Afterwards I successfully paired six devices to my Home Assistant server (one device that I had already paired to an ipad had to be unpaired from it first because it can only pair with one controller).
FWIW, I have been using the Homekit Device integration since its inception (several years ago; formerly known as Homekit Controller) and it has proven to be reliable and its maintainers keep it up to date.
Regarding the ecobee thermostat specifically, be advised that ecobee has not exposed all of the functionality available via their API to their implementation of the Homekit protocol. They ceased offering API keys last year (which is why Home Assistant’s native ecobee integration is no longer usable by new users), so it’s unfortunate they didn’t provide functional parity via Homekit.
All that is needed 2 sentences in the existing ecobee page… “You must open the Settings while physically on the device - an enable HomeKit there. This is not accessible via the Ecobee’s web UI”
And for the Ecobee app… looks like HA never had an true Ecobee “app”. If it did, individual users would never have needed an API key. Ecobee Apps (integrations) work fine and never used API keys, ever.
My Ecobee 3 is connected to Homeseer, Amazon, Google, Sense, and several more systems… using apps that connect/authenticate in the Ecobee UI.
If by “existing ecobee page” you mean the documentation for the ecobee integration, then Homekit-related instructions don’t belong there because the ecobee integration doesn’t use the Homekit protocol.
If you are aware of how ecobee’s app is able to communicate with ecobee’s servers, without employing their key-protected public API, please share it with the maintainers of the ecobee integration. I am sure they would be interested in knowing how to access a version of ecobee’s API without a key.
The info about making the Ecobee work with Homekit does1000% belong on the Home Assistant Ecobee page… since that page is 100% no longer relevant for any users who do not already have an API key. At least it would tell people something useful.
And to boot, the HomeKit Ecobee integration is 99% useless garbage. This is only-part of what Homeseer’s integrations exposes…
As I already stated twice… there are SEVERAL companies who have for many year has Ecobee plug-ins which DO NOT require each user to get a separate API key… they NEVER required ANY users to get API keys. Not sure how else I can state this. HA should have contacted Ecobee developer support years ago and created the plug-in using an approved method. Maybe Ecobee got tired of hundreds of “not actual developers” requesting and using separate API keys. Many other services sites, like Weather.com and WeatherUnderground, did the same thing.
I used caps since I’m not sure what part of my last two explanations on this was not clear; but here’s a screenshot of just the ones I have installed and still use daily…
If you’re convinced it belings there, click the Edit link at the bottom of the documentation page and submit your proposed additions. Your submission will be vetted and, if accepted, will be incorporated into the documentation.
Then Homeseer isn’t using Ecobee’s Homekit interface because the functionality you get via Homekit Device is all that Ecobee provides via its implementation of the Homekit protocol.
Maybe; only Ecobee knows for sure.
I suggest you contact the maintainers of the Ecobee integration and explain how others don’t need the end-user to acquire an API key. Undoubtedly they will appreciate your input and restore the integration to full functionality for all users.
