Homekit: Switches vs. Lights

I know this subject has been touched on before. But let me add some details and see if anyone has any suggestions.

I have quite a few TPlink/Kasa wall switches that I use to control lights throughout my place. The initial generation had no direct Homekit support. I needed to use the Homebridge plugin to get them into Homekit. They showed up in Roomie as "Switches" even though I had selected "Display as Light" in the Home App. This was OK even if a bit confusing because I had other lights (e.g. Hue) that actually showed as lights in Roomie.

TPLink has since produced two new flavors/generations of switches. One has direct Homekit support and does not use Homebridge. But Roomie still sees them as Switches. The newest flavor has Matter support so it also supports direct integration with Homekit. These Matter switches do show up as Lights in Roomie. So things are now even more confusing.

Is there anything I can do in the Home app or Roomie to help with this?

This has been on the list for quite a few years. Because people stop asking for it, it doesn't bubble up to the top. Likely this item has been on the list of "we're about to implement this" for longer than anything else.

Keep requesting it, or like this Top Post, etc. The more we understand what people are needing, the more we can prioritize appropriately.

This change is much bigger than a simple one line fix, so that's why it keeps getting deferred. It really should be fixed inside HomeKit, but it's clear Apple is unlikely to address that in our lifetimes.

Thanks for the update. Agreed the best place to fix this is within Homekit. It's weird that Apple allows you to select "Display as Light" for switches and then treats them as lights in the Home app. But then doesn't "export" them that way.

I also understand that it isn't that straightforward to "fix" this in Roomie. But if you do manage to get to it, it would be greatly appreciated !

Jeff

I have this issue as well but didn’t request as l felt it’s too much to ask as it’s going to be a lot of efforts and ideally should be fixed by HK…Will’s message is encouraging ! I think the easiest way is to allow an option for every HomeKit device (or as a matter of fact any other way like easy/isy hub) that is brought into RR to choose the Category, for instance a sensor which would import as a on/off switch can be put in the sensor category with proper naming for on/off mapped to detected/not detected… likewise l use Insteon IO link for curtain trigger open close which shows as on off instead of open/close, if we had an option to put this in curtain category it can map to open/close.

Just an FYI update. I have a few Kasa motion sensor switches controlling room lights. These are only supported through Homebridge (and show as switches in Roomie). TP-Link has not released direct Homekit or Matter motion sensor switches.

I just bought and tested a Leviton switch that does motion sensing and also supports dimming (and 3-way if needed). It has built-in Homekit support. The Homekit integration does show up as a light in Roomie and as an added bonus the integrated occupancy sensor also gets exposed in Homekit if you need to use it for automation beyond just the attached light!

A major step up worth the slightly higher cost. I will probably replace my other motion sensor switches.

P.S. I see that Leviton has an early access program to add Matter support to their Decora Smart Wi-Fi 2nd Gen switches and plugs through a firmwsre upgrade. Another major plus.