Robot vacuums are getting upgraded support for Apple Home

The release of Apple’s iOS 18.4 on Monday includes good news for robot vacuum owners. The update includes support for controlling robot vacuums and adding them to automations and scenes in the Apple Home app via the Matter protocol. With the official rollout of iOS 18.4, companies like Roborock, iRobot, and Ecovacs are introducing firmware updates so their robovacs will be fully compatible with Apple Home.

Roborock’s firmware update “enhances the implementation of the Matter protocol across several of its premium robot vacuum models,” according to a press release from the company. Roborock models that will be getting this expanded Matter support include the S8 MaxV Ultra, Saros Z70, Saros 10, Saros 10R, Qrevo Curv, Qrevo Edge, and Qrevo Master.

Roborock says the supported models will receive the firmware update sometime between April 1st and April 10th, allowing users to control their robovacs through the Home app on devices including the iPhone, Apple Watch, HomePod, and iPad. The update will also improve connectivity and Matter support with smart home platforms based on Google Home and Amazon Alexa. (That’s of course why Matter was created in the first place – to help make smart home devices platform-agnostic.)

Additional models, including the Roborock S8 Max Ultra and Qrevo Slim, will be getting Matter support in updates scheduled to be released “in the upcoming weeks and months.”

iRobot announced that the Roomba Combo 10 Max robot and Auto Wash Dock, released last August, will be its first robovac “compliant with Matter protocol and compatible with the Apple Home ecosystem.” Users will be able to start, stop, and schedule cleanings for specific rooms using the Home app or voice commands through Siri.

Several of Ecovacs’ robot vacuums, including the Deebot X2, X2 Combo, T50, T50 Max, and X8, will also be getting Matter 1.4 firmware updates starting today. The updates will start “rolling out across these models in phases,” Ecovacs’ Associate Brand Marketing Director, Michelle Jones, told The Verge in an email.

Apple originally announced support for robot vacuums in Apple Home through Matter during WWDC 2024 as one of the many changes coming with iOS 18, though the features will be limited to power control, switching between vacuuming and mopping modes, and specifying which rooms to clean. Matter doesn’t support more advanced cleaning features like mapping and configuring zones for robovacs to avoid, so those functions might only be available through each manufacturer’s own app.