Home Connect Adds New Partners, Brings More Personalization and Convenience to the Smart Kitchen


  • Home Connect continues to cement its leadership in connectivity with its ever-strengthening lineup of partners that deliver convenient, customizable solutions for daily living
  • New partners are joining the open-platform ecosystem across three categories of focus: Food & Recipes, Voice Assistants & Smart Home Integration, and Connected Devices & Services
  • New partners coming onboard include: Josh.ai, Chefling, SideChef, Flic, LaMetric, Fibaro and ABB

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Home Connect, a dynamic ecosystem created to connect home appliances to the Internet of Things, continues to lead the way in providing a growing network of partners, products and services, all within one app. With a core focus on making the smart kitchen experience – and overall daily life -- more enjoyable, Home Connect is bringing on a variety of new partners across its three core areas of focus: Food & Recipes, Voice Assistants & Smart Home Integration, and Connected Devices & Services.  

“Consumers want solutions that make life more enjoyable and more convenient, and that is what Home Connect delivers,” said Patrick Palacio, director of business development and innovations for Home Connect. “All within one app, Home Connect empowers consumers to personalize the way they interact with appliances through any number of our partners and services – such as waking up to a fresh cup of coffee each day when the alarm goes off, setting the lights to flash when the washing machine cycle is finished or selecting a recipe that will communicate with the oven to ensure it’s utilizing the right program and temperature for optimal results.”

Because Home Connect is an open platform, the partners, services and appliance brands that can join the ecosystem are virtually limitless. That means consumers with Home Connect appliances will enjoy a growing experience over time – as more partners and services join, they will continue to enjoy updated and enhanced ways to enjoy their appliances.

Food & Recipes
Whether users want to find culinary inspiration by exploring recipes or assistance with finding the right temperature or setting for the oven, Home Connect Food & Recipes partners enable users to select from a number of apps to provide the support they want in the kitchen. Joining the lineup of partners, which currently includes Kitchen Stories, Drop and Innit, are:   

  • Chefling – Chefling is the first AI-powered kitchen assistant that provides pantry management, online shopping and intuitive recipe instructions. Users can choose any recipe from the Chefling app, with its UltraConnect™ technology that seamlessly integrates recipes with Home Connect appliances, to identify all the relevant Home Connect-enabled appliances. This allows them to adjust settings like temperature, mode, timing and even coordination across multiple appliances to match the selected recipe instructions.
     
  • SideChef – With SideChef, users with Home Connect appliances will be able to access the cooking content and features they want for their cooking journey. This cooking app provides 12,000 smart recipes with step-by-step instructions as well as partnerships, like in-app meal planning and grocery delivery.             

Voice Assistants and Smart Home Integration
With a growing number of voice assistant and professional smart home solutions in its partner network, Home Connect gives consumers more ways to streamline and personalize how they manage their connected appliances and smart home. Current partners in these categories include Amazon Alexa and Nest. Joining the lineup are:  

  • Josh.ai – Josh.ai integrates with Home Connect appliances for a seamless luxury experience that extends the boundaries of the home automation. Starting with coffee machine integration, homeowners will be able to ask Josh to brew their beverage of choice depending on the type, strength, and quantity, in whatever way is natural to them. Orders can be as simple or complex as desired, ranging from "OK Josh, prepare the coffee machine" to "OK Josh, make a strong large Espresso Macchiato, raise the blinds, and listen to music." Josh.ai is a professionally installed system and supports best-in-class connected home products and systems for a luxurious and intuitive experience. 
     
  • FIBARO – These smart devices enable users to create scenes/sequences that connect devices from different manufacturers. With the Home Connect partnership, users will be able to include their appliances in scenes, such as a “morning scene” that turns on the coffee machine, opens the blinds, turns on lighting and music playback. Home Connect appliances can also be scene triggers. For example, the end of a washing machine cycle can trigger the lights for a specific lamp in the living room.
     
  • ABB – This technology connects compatible devices and enables users to manage them from one easy-to-use interface – and soon users will be able to also control their Home Connect appliances through ABB-free@home™ Home Automation.             

Connected Devices and Services:
Home Connect Connected Devices & Services partners empower consumers to customize how they interact with their appliances. Joining the current partners in this space -- Amazon Dash Replenishment, IFTTT and EVE Connect – are:

  • LaMetric – Via the retro-styled LaMetric smart clock, users can receive information at-a-glance about Home Connect appliances – such as whether the oven has finished pre-heating or how much time is left in the dishwasher cycle. This adds extra convenience, so users don’t have to locate and look at their phone to check the Home Connect app for notifications.
     
  • Flic – This small, wireless smart button can be installed anywhere and enables users to give commands for their smart home with the push of a button. For example, users can place a Flic button on the nightstand and each morning with a quick press of the button start the Home Connect coffee machine as they get ready for the day.

With the intuitive Home Connect app, consumers may control their home appliances and access services whether they are home or away. Several appliance brands within the U.S. have joined Home Connect, including Bosch, Thermador and Gaggenau. By delivering a wide array of global partners, Home Connect empowers participating brands to leverage the strong network of partnerships, products and services to develop unique experiences tailored to the desires of their specific customers.

For example, the Thermador Connected Experience takes consumers on a journey that connects them to culinary experiences, personalized control, and exceptional service, allowing Thermador to uphold a meaningful relationship with consumers and easy pairing with technology already in their homes. Meanwhile, Bosch believes technology is at its best when it is simple to use. Bosch appliances with Home Connect are the link between technology and human interaction in the home, empowering consumers to master their day sooner and ultimately create more time to savor the moments that matter most.  

About Home Connect
Home Connect is the first solution in the world to allow home appliances from different brands to be controlled with a single app. The system is designed as an open platform that will keep evolving to cover a growing range of services. Home Connect is a global solution available in 34 countries and is offered in the US and Canada through BSH Home Appliances Corporation. Home appliances fitted with the Home Connect function and the accompanying app have been available in the US since October 2016. For more information about Home Connect, go to: http://www.home-connect.com/us/en.

Contact:
Debbie Ehrman
Finn Partners
310-552-4109
deborah@finnpartners.com