The smart home space has absolutely exploded in the past couple years, and as such, there are now a zillion different connected gizmos you can put your house — everything from smart locks, to lights, to automatic window shades. The only problem, however, is that this much-hyped Internet of Things is fragmented. Not all smart devices speak the same language. Some speak Zigbee, some speak Z-Wave, others only hablo Insteon, and the overwhelming majority only know WiFi or Bluetooth. And if they don’t speak the same language, they can’t work together.
Revolv aims to solve this problem. Armed with a whopping seven different radios underneath its hood, the device is designed to be something of a universal translator — it can speak to pretty much any smart device in the biz, and can also link them together. The idea is that this hub can unify all your different smart devices and give you access to their controls all from a single mobile app.
It’s a pretty brilliant idea, and when we reviewed Revolv earlier this year, we found that it does indeed solve a lot of the interconnectivity problems plaguing the smart home right now. There was, however, one big drawback. Back then, Revolv only worked with iPhone. If you were an Android user, you were out of luck and couldn’t use it.
Today, that changes. Revolv has finally announced its new support for Android and official integration with the popular Nest Learning Thermostat. Additionally, the company released an updated version of its iOS app. Both Android and iOS apps are available today in the Google Play and Apple stores, respectively.
Revolv also added improved geofencing features to both apps, as well as support for multiple “authorized phones,” so it no longer turns off that Nest if an authorized user is still home. We haven’t had a chance to try out the new apps and features quite yet, but assuming they work as promised, this is a huge step forward for Revolv that solves what was arguably the device’s biggest drawback.
Find out more here.
