Apps as Accessories

[joeyhoer]

It would be awesome if Tidbit apps would show as accessories in Homekit. This would allow you to set scenes and issue voice commands to display data on the Tidbyt.

Until the Tidbyt API returns the currently displayed app (I don't believe this information is available), the app should probably "auto-off" after being set, so the state is always "off" as toggling the switch would simply initiate a push action.

I'm thinking it could be cool if the UI in the Home app allowed combined control of both the "switch" (app) and brightness (display configuration), so these could be automated. However, having these appear a ungrouped accessories may lead to less duplication.

[drudge]

Hi @joeyhoer,

That's a great idea!

I'm not sure about grouping the brightness with the app switches, but let me take a look at how I can make switches for Custom Apps so they can be triggered by automations.

PS - Thanks for Big Clock, it's pretty sweet!

[joeyhoer]

I updated Big Clock to accept config values — including config values for color. If you manage to get apps working as accessories, Big Clock could benefit from being a colored light rather than a switch—the Home app color value could be passed to the app as a config value, and then the display could be "colorized" natively within the Home app.

[drudge]

That's another great idea, @joeyhoer!

I need to spend some time thinking about how to configure (or not) an accessory of a specific type by custom app and how the event handlers will work.