Homematic IP Adds Geofencing, CarPlay, Android Auto
eQ-3 has started rolling out Homematic IP app version 3.9.13, a free update that brings location-based automation, in-car controls, and a more open hub to its European smart home system. The rollout began on October 27, 2026, and, as usual for Homematic IP, is reaching users gradually over a few days. Alongside the app, the Homematic IP Home Control Unit is receiving version 1.8.10, which adds support for widely used communication standards and partner plugins.
Taken together, the updates point in a clear direction: Homematic IP is becoming less tied to a single app on a single phone, and more present in the places where people already make decisions about their homes — on the road, at the front door, and across other systems in the building.
Geofencing arrives, with a guided setup
The headline feature is geofencing. In Homematic IP, geofencing lets the smart home trigger actions based on the location of one or more connected smartphones. The example eQ-3 gives is deliberately practical: when the last person leaves the house, the heating can be turned down and the front door locked. It is the kind of automation that is hard to reproduce with a fixed schedule, because it follows people rather than the clock.
Setting up location-based automation can be fiddly, so eQ-3 has added a newly created Homematic IP Assistant to guide users through the process. Two typical use cases are available as pre-configured actions: location-based access control and heating control. For users who want to go further, geofencing can also serve as a trigger for custom location-based automations, so arrival and departure can become conditions in a wider set of routines rather than a single fixed behaviour.
That flexibility matters, but it also rewards a careful setup. Because geofencing depends on the phones that are enrolled, households should think about whose phone counts as “home” and whose counts as “away,” and test the boundary behaviour before relying on it for security-critical actions such as locking a door. A geofence that is too tight can trigger while someone is still nearby; one that is too loose can delay the automation that was supposed to happen on departure. The guided assistant should lower that barrier, but a short period of real-world testing remains the sensible way to tune it.
Your car becomes another Homematic IP controller
The update also brings Homematic IP to the dashboard. With Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support, users can control many functions of their Homematic IP smart home directly from the car’s infotainment system. The app offers three tabs, each of which can be assigned three actions — up to nine quick actions in total, arranged the way the driver wants them.
eQ-3’s examples show why that layout is useful. A driver approaching home can open the garage door from the car screen, and can also check the home’s alarm status without reaching for a phone. Important notifications, such as burglary or danger alerts, can be displayed directly on the car’s screen as well. For a system that includes heating, access control, and security, that turns the car from a dead zone in the smart home into a useful control point at exactly the moment when people are arriving or leaving.
There is a balance to strike here, and the design of the feature reflects it. Limiting the interface to a small set of assigned actions keeps the driver’s attention on the road, while still covering the handful of things people actually want to do from the car: open a gate or garage, check whether the home is armed, and see an urgent alert. It is not a replacement for the full app, and it does not need to be. The value is in the few actions that are time-sensitive when you are behind the wheel.
A safer way back in if a phone is lost
Another change addresses a less visible but genuinely important problem: what happens when the phone that administers the smart home is lost or broken? Alongside the existing recovery key, eQ-3 now offers a second method of regaining administrator access — transferring the rights of an existing administrator.
The safeguards are explicit. The administrator PIN must be entered to carry out the transfer, and the existing administrator can refuse it. That combination matters: a recovery path that is too easy becomes a security risk, while one that is too hard can lock a household out of its own system. By requiring the PIN and giving the current administrator a veto, eQ-3 keeps the recovery route usable without making it a back door.
For households, the practical advice is unchanged but worth repeating: keep the recovery key somewhere safe, know the administrator PIN, and make sure more than one trusted person understands how access recovery works. The new transfer option helps when a phone disappears, but it is not a substitute for that basic housekeeping.
Security cameras gain finer control
The update also continues work on Homematic IP security cameras. As announced when the cameras launched, they are undergoing continuous development, and version 3.9.13 adds new features and usability improvements. Users can now define individual alarm zones, so a camera can be told which parts of its view matter and which do not — a useful distinction when a busy street or a swaying tree would otherwise generate alerts. Doors can also be unlocked directly from the live camera view, bringing access control and video together in a single step.
Full details of current and planned camera optimisations are available in the feature roadmap on the Homematic IP website. The incremental approach is consistent with how eQ-3 has positioned the cameras: a system that improves over time rather than a finished product that stands still after launch.
Home Control Unit opens up with Modbus and MQTT
Perhaps the most significant change for advanced users is not in the app at all, but in the hub. Home Control Unit version 1.8.10 adds plugins for Modbus and MQTT, two established communication standards, along with the option to install partner plugins on the smart home hub.
For context, Modbus is a long-established protocol widely used in building and industrial control, while MQTT is a lightweight messaging standard that has become popular in home automation and do-it-yourself smart home projects. Support for both, plus partner plugins, means the Home Control Unit can integrate more easily with additional solutions beyond the Homematic IP range itself. eQ-3 frames this as expanding the system with new features and opening it up for seamless integration — a notable step for a platform that has historically been strongest within its own ecosystem.
For existing Homematic IP users, the immediate benefit may be modest: most households will not need Modbus or MQTT on day one. But for anyone combining Homematic IP with other building systems, energy equipment, or a broader home automation setup, the plugin support removes a barrier that previously required workarounds. It also signals where eQ-3 sees the platform heading: a hub that can sit comfortably in a mixed system, rather than only at the centre of a single-brand installation.
What this means for Homematic IP users
Version 3.9.13 is best understood as three updates in one. Geofencing makes the home respond to where people actually are. CarPlay and Android Auto extend control to the car, where arrival and departure decisions happen. And the Home Control Unit update makes the system more connectable to the rest of the building. The camera improvements and the new administrator recovery option fill in the gaps around security and everyday reliability.
None of these features requires new hardware on its own, which is part of the appeal: the value comes from software that reaches existing users through a gradual rollout. Users who do not see version 3.9.13 immediately should not worry — eQ-3 says the rollout should complete within a few days. When it arrives, the geofencing assistant is the natural first stop, followed by setting up the handful of car actions that will actually get used. The rest — alarm zones, camera improvements, and hub plugins — can be explored at a more relaxed pace, as the household’s needs dictate.
Homematic IP comes from eQ-3, which describes itself as one of the leading technology providers in the European smart home market, with one of the industry’s most extensive smart home portfolios. The company is part of the owner-managed ELV/eQ-3 group, headquartered in Leer in Lower Saxony, with more than 45 years of experience and more than 1,100 employees, along with its own research, development, and manufacturing capacity. That scale helps explain the character of this update: evolutionary rather than flashy, focused on automation, access, and integration rather than a single headline device. For the households already invested in the platform, that is arguably the more useful kind of progress.