Voice Control in 2021: How Far We've Come

Voice Control Has Grown Up

Remember when voice assistants could barely understand your accent, let alone control your home? Those days are firmly behind us. In 2021, voice control has become one of the most natural and intuitive ways to interact with your smart home.

At Thinka, we have supported all three major voice assistants — Siri (via HomeKit), Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant — for years. But the improvements we have seen in 2021 have been remarkable.

Siri Gets Smarter

Apple's Siri has become significantly more responsive and context-aware. With iOS 15, Siri can now process many requests on-device, making responses faster and more private. For KNX homeowners using Thinka, this means near-instant control of lights, blinds, thermostats, and more — all without your voice data leaving your home network.

Alexa Routines and Hunches

Amazon's Alexa has introduced "Hunches" — the ability to proactively suggest actions based on your habits. Combined with Thinka's Alexa integration, your KNX home can now anticipate your needs. Forgot to turn off the lights before bed? Alexa will notice and offer to do it for you.

Google's Ambient Computing Vision

Google has been pushing its vision of "ambient computing" — technology that fades into the background and just works. With improved natural language processing and the Nest Hub Max's ultrasound sensing, Google Assistant can now detect your presence and adjust your KNX-controlled environment accordingly through Thinka.

The future of smart home control is multimodal — voice, touch, and automation working together seamlessly. And Thinka is at the centre of it all, connecting your KNX system to every major platform.