Finally - a HomeKit App

Finally.

It's been 2 years.

TWO YEARS.

But that wait is over.

Today, Apple announced that iOS 10 will have a dedicated HomeKit app, called "Home".

This isn't the huge step forward that we may have been hoping for. We'll have to wait for that Alexa-style Apple speaker.

But it's the first tangible step we've seen from Apple on the HomeKit front since... well, since HomeKit was announced.

Home will act as a single controller for all of your HomeKit devices.

You'll be able to set scenes, and use proximity triggers for those scenes. For instance, the lights will turn on when my wife pulls into the garage at night.

Time will tell - but this should kick HomeKit into high gear.

With guaranteed real-estate on every iPhone, developers will be more likely to support Apple's ecosystem.

Adding channels to tvOS just got better.

The other huge takeaway from WWDC? Single sign-on for all tvOS apps.

Today, adding a tvOS app is an almost hilarious chore.

We have to download the app, enter our TV provider (still DirecTV... until August), and get a code.

Then we have to run to the office, fire up the iMac, go to the TV channel's "activate" screen, remember our sign-in credentials for DirecTV, fail at least 3 times, get locked out, and eventually remember the login and enter the code.

Then, it's back to the living room and the AppleTV, to find that our kids/wife/friends already found something else to watch and no longer care.

Then, when you want another app, you repeat the entire process.

With Single Sign-on, you'll enter your TV provider once.

And that login will be stored on the AppleTV, and will not require individualized log-ins for every app.

SlingTV for AppleTV

Here's another big step forward.

Apple may say "the future of TV is apps" - but I don't necessarily agree with them.

There's a place for streaming on-demand content... but there's also a place for watching what's on right now.

SlingTV brings a huge slate of live TV to the Apple TV - including ESPN.

We're getting closer and closer to my dream scenario, in which the AppleTV's "default" is live television, and you "flip through" the various channels and content providers you've chosen.

Anyway - a big day for Apple. OSX becomes macOS, and gains Siri. watchOS gets a lot more powerful and intuitive. Huge changes to Messages and Maps - and third-party APIs everywhere.

But tvOS and Home are my 2 favorite takeaways. I'm really looking forward to going all-in with HomeKit when iOS 10 lands this fall.