Kidde talked about adding new smarts and connectivity to its smoke alarm products last year, but we didn’t see as much of that come to light as we’d hoped. This year at CES, the company was showing a RemoteLync bridge that will be HomeKit compatible. The RemoteLync Wireless Bridge will connect your Kidde intelligent, wire-free alarms with the Internet through your Wi-Fi network to notify you on your mobile device when an alarm goes off—regardless of where you are.
In addition to the useful notifications, HomeKit compatibility would also theoretically allow you to control other devices in your home based on an alarm event. For example, you might turn on lights if an alarm sounds at night time or turn off the heat if the carbon monoxide sensor is triggered.
The Wireless Bridge can also be used to notify home occupants of activity detected by RemoteLync cameras by announcing such events on connected Kidde alarms’ built-in speakers. It will even notify the household of emergency weather events with similar announcements.
We expect the RemoteLync Bridge to be available in the first quarter of 2018 with a retail price of around $100, and no additional service fee is required. It’ll be compatible with Kidde’s latest Wire-Free Alarms, including both hardwired and battery operated models, and other Kidde products.
