LG ThinQ App Adds Limited HomeKit Integration [U]

If you’re a user of smart LG devices and use the LG ThinQ app with them, there’s an update for the app that now adds limited HomeKit integration. This integration really is limited in a few ways, however.

As with these types of apps, regardless of whether they’re fully blown HomeKit apps, like Eve for HomeKit, or ones that just have access but aren’t fully featured, you have to grant access to your ‘Home Data’. Once granted, many but not all of your HomeKit devices will appear in the ThinQ app. That’s about it, unfortunately. If you happen to have a house full of ThinQ products, and therefore use this app, but only have a few HomeKit devices, then it makes sense to get access to your LG and HomeKit devices in this one app.

As you can see in the images above (provided by Eric Yao at WaveTech) the updated app allows for a selection of devices to be exposed, which in the tests we’ve conducted so far include smart bulbs (e.g. Hue), wired smart switches (e.g. Aqara E1), curtain motors (e.g. Aqara B1), and some hubs that have additional services (i.e. Aqara P3 – an outlet, AC controller, and hub). Other categories may show up, however, depending on your setup.

UPDATE: LG has released an update to the app that fixes the crashing bug when Home Data access is enabled.

One small word of caution, however; many users are seeing the app repeatedly crash once the app is given access to their Home Data. If this happens to you, the only way I’ve currently found to stop the app from crashing is to revoke access to your Home Data for the app, via the iOS settings section (not settings within the app itself).

What isn’t so great is that while you’re able to see LG devices alongside HomeKit ones in one app, you don’t have anything like the kind of control over devices you do within the Apple Home app, for example. In my particular setup, I have two dehumidifiers, a fridge freezer, and an LG Washing machine, and in the app, only the dehumidifiers allow any kind of automated control, in the form of schedules. With HomeKit devices exposed to the ThinQ app, you don’t get any form of automation or schedule control, so it would appear very limited in use from my perspective.

Maybe this will change, if or when LQ jump on Matter, but for now, it would seem to be of little use.